The high velocity blow dryer is a great tool for cleaning the coat of your shedding husky's undercoat. It will not completely deshed your husky, but it will definitely help to reduce a large amount of shedding during the never ending shedding season. In the Huskies and the Hound family, we are all too familiar with shedding season! Both Smokey and Spaz combined can fill up an entire room if we brushed them in our living room.
Our blow dryer of choice is the K-9 Mini Blower/Dryer and it has quickly become our favorite tool for grooming and deshedding our huskies. While there are larger versions of the K-9 Blower/Dryers, I
find that the mini version is the right fit for us. There are some less expensive options that you can check out, although I would be careful because some of them may not be as powerful as you need to remove the loose hair.
Follow these simple tips to deshed your husky:
- Find a suitable environment to blow out your husky's coat - outdoors!
- Securely attach your husky with a leash to a sturdy post, tree, or your leg.
- Place cotton balls inside of your husky's ears if they are afraid of the noise.
- Turn on blow dryer and use a constant back and forth motion.
- Watch all of that fur fly!
- Turn the blower on yourself to remove the hair that stuck on you.
Indoors Versus Outdoors
We prefer to use the good 'ole outdoors to deshed our huskies because it can get quite hairy if you choose to use the blow dryer indoors. Of course, if you have no other choice because of say... an HOA, or some other limitation, then an indoor option would be to use a bathroom shower, garage, or patio where there isn't a lot of furniture or items you want to collect hair.
If you are grooming your husky indoors, you might want to consider a grooming table and other accessories. While this is definitely not necessary for people on a budget, it does make it easier to blow dry their coat and it will also save your back from bending down and/or lifting up that heavy husky. Grooming tables are great for people who are thinking of starting a grooming business - you will want to look into grooming tables, pet stairs, and extra arms to hold the blow dryer hose.
First Timers
If this is your husky's first time with a high velocity blow dryer, then you might need a few tips to help ease them into it. For scaredy-cat dogs, such as our dog Spaz, placing cotton balls in their ears will reduce the noise and calm them down enough to stay steady while you blow dry your dog. Just be careful not to push the cotton balls too far in their ears; try to avoid getting a cotton ball stuck in their ear canal. Start off with the lowest setting if your blow dryer has this option. Our Mini K-9 blow dryer only has two settings: Low and High. Once your dog gets used to the blowing feeling, then you can switch it to a higher setting.
Let 'Er Rip
The best way to use the blow dryer is to point the nozzle a few inches away from your dog's coat and use a constant back and forth motion alternating directions from up and down to side to side. Our blow dryer does not have a temperature control, only a low or high setting. While the motor is running, the air that blows from the blow dryer will gradually warm up and blow fairly warm air. We recommend using the cone tip nossle for a more concentrated and direct airflow which will allow for better control when deshedding.
Our huskies are so used to the blow dryer that we no longer need to tie them down with a leash. Spaz doesn't even need the cotton balls in his ears anymore. Both of the dogs just sit patiently and let us blow dry their coats. Smokey, the lush, is being the Huskies and the Hound doggy model to demonstrate.
Spaz is also calmly allowing us to blow dry his coat.
