Sunday, January 19, 2014

Here a Hair, There a Hair...

This weekend I am inspired to sing a song. Ready? Here goes...

"Old MacDonald had a Shepherd, E-I-E-I-O
And on that Shepherd there was lots of hair, E-I-E-I-O
With a hair hair here, and a hair hair there, 
Here a hair, there a hair, everywhere a hair hair
Old MacDonald had a Shepherd, E-I-E-I-O!" 

I'm sure there are plenty of dog breeds that shed, but German Shepherds truly excel in this area. I think I've mentioned before that if you can't tolerate hair wafting in clumps about your house and the idea of developing a very close relationship with your vacuum cleaner, then a Shepherd is not the dog for you. 


The German Shepherd's gentle intelligence, loyalty, and desire for deep connection with her people has won me over for life . But goodness gracious, the hair! This weekend was our second major grooming session in a week. 


Lady doesn't seem to mind though. She says it's relaxing to be brushed. 


A German Shepherd doesn't generally get to relax during the day. There's just too much to be done. She must always be on alert, watching out for her family, guarding against possible intruders - both human and animal - and constantly working to make sure everyone stays together to the greatest degree possible. So it's good to be able to relax for a few minutes.


One thing I haven't been able to figure out. 


Why is it that brushing the dog seems mostly to be a process of 
transferring the hair from dog to person?


Hmmm....


I think I will just close my eyes for a minute...

10 comments:

  1. Very funny song and oh how true your description of Lady's daily duties is �� ... Wish I was there to fermonate her!

    ReplyDelete
  2. LOL Your photo essays are always such fun. When I had Collies, I had a special pair of shorts that I wore for grooming…whether winter or not, I'd throw on the shorts and a skimpy t-shirt to avoid the hair-on-person scenario. That said, in hindsight, I'm not sure why I bothered because the dogs were always allowed on the furniture and my housekeeping skills are minimal so … tons of hair always ended up on my clothes anyway. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I bet the birds would appreciate some of that German Shepherd hair for nest building. Let's see, what else could it be good for??

    ReplyDelete
  4. For a brief period of time this last year, the wafting rafts of hair situation in our home decreased considerably. For a while, it even looked as though I may have been terribly diligent about sweeping the floors. But I wasn't. Murdoch, whatever mix of breeds he may be (Giant Schnauzer and something else and maybe something else) barely sheds at all. The cats were the biggest culprits for a few months there after we lost Bear (Labs shed an incredible amount as well), and then Molly showed up. The hair has multiplied tenfold in the last month and a half. She's a lovely Shepherd, but the hair!! If I don't sweep every day (which I don't) the tumbleweeds of hair are almost a hazard.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Beautiful dog -- and I feel your pain re drifting hair. We once had two Akitas which 'blow coat' twice a year. We wore out a vacuum cleaner and I still find Akita hair in unexpected places.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh my goodness! Your pant leg looks like mine do. I fave up long ago. Blue jeans are no match for three cats. And Glenda is right. The birds would love it for nest building. A friend of mine used to do her dog grooming on her front porch. Her Asa shed like your Lady. She actually saw a bird swoop down and snatch up some of the fur and take it to a nearby "nest under construction".

    ReplyDelete
  7. I just wanted to say, I was pleasantly surprised to log onto blogger today and see so many of your posts waiting for me! Vertigo and I have been sporadic posters so we totally understand, but yours has always been one of our favorites to read.

    Now, off to catch up on them all!
    ~Jacinta

    ReplyDelete
  8. Love the Lady's photos. She looks adorable!
    I friend of mine did a scarf with the fur of her lovely dog Nugget.

    Thanks for your nice comment on my Summer post. Sofia asks me to thank you so much too. :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. My friends have two German Shepard's. They say the same thing about the hair. =)

    ReplyDelete