True Extent of Samoyed's Winter Coat Revealed During Jaw-Dropping De-Shedding Session
Diana Logan
January 24, 2025 at 8:28 PM
One time, I had a very large foster dog with a very thick white coat. Like most fosters who come in off the street, there was no way of knowing her true breed. Was she white Shepherd mix? Part Great Pyrenees? We even wondered at one point if she might have a bit of wolf in her DNA.
But one thing we never doubted was this dog's ability to grow hair. The first time I groomed her, bathing her in my backyard to make sure no pests in her coat were brought into our house, it looked like there had been an extremely localized blizzard. Neighborhood birds could make an entire housing development worth of nests out of the white fur left behind. This kind of shedding session is very familiar to people who have dog from Arctic breeds -- for whim the concept of coat blowouts are a seasonal occurrence.
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The Samoyed dog in this video is demonstrating exactly how thorough such a "white out" can be. In the clip, she is lying the living room floor, allowing her mom to groom her with a metal comb, and the amount of fur coming off of her is utterly jaw-dropping. In fact, there's so much fur that her mom is forced to brush it all away to have room to dispose of yet another load of discarded hair.
Related: Samoyed Begging to Get Inside the Freezer Is the Definition of a 'Chill' Dog
Meek, the Samoyed in this video, is dealing with more shedding and matting than usual, because she's also grieving, which not only made some of her hair fall out, but also made it tough to groom her for a few weeks. She lost her sister dog unexpectedly and it was rough on the whole family. But if you look at earlier videos of both Samoyeds, you can see that it's normal for them to shed massive piles of hair every time that they get groomed.
What To Do With Dog Fur
As a crafter, I often wondered if it would worthwhile to learn how to spin and do something with all the dog hair I was getting off my dogs during grooming, but that takes a level of commitment I was not yet ready to handle. We picked up most of it for disposal, but plenty of tufts blew away on the breeze or were taken by animals to make nests.
I've also heard stories that dog hair strategically placed around your garden can help discourage pests like rabbits or mice from chewing on your plants.
The Fluffy Samoyed
Though it seems impossible after watching this video, Samoyeds are actually known for more than their gorgeous, snowy coats. They are exceedingly good-humored dogs, and even have the nickname of "smiley Samoyeds" for how they always appear to be in peppy spirits. Traditionally, Samoyeds served as sled and herding dogs in Siberia, and their strength combined with their relatively compact size made them popular working dogs for Arctic expeditions.
An older breed of dog, they were originally developed hundreds of years ago among Native peoples of Arctic Russia. Due to these frigid origins, they have a thick, dramatic coat made of two layers, which sheds a lot, especially during a seasonal "blowout" that many Samoyed fans call a "blizzard" or a "whiteout" for how it seems to cover the house and yard. The shedding helps to keep their coat resistant to dirt and grime.
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