The Shedding Truth
Anatolian Shepherd Dogs shed, whether they are working outdoors 24/7 or living with you in your home. You can expect to be cleaning up clouds of undercoat and guard hair at least once, but usually twice each year in the Spring/Summer and again in the Fall to make room for the new winter coat. Indoor Antolians tend to be constantly turning over a lesser coat as opposed to their outdoor counterparts’ blowouts.
Two Coats, One Dog
Anatolian Shepherds are blessed with double coats. This means that they have two distinct layers to their coat or fur:
The outer guard hairs are the longer, coarse hairs that we see their color/pattern on. These hairs are protective, water-wicking, and allow air-flow between them in the summer months. Our dogs drop their guard hair for new once a year.
The down coat or undercoat is a layer of dense, soft, downy fur that provides insulation in cold months. It varies from tan to gray tones and blows out twice a year on our outdoor dogs.
The Indoor Dilema
Double-coated dogs were made to thrive in the elements, outside in all seasons. We can unintentionally change their coat growth cycle when we take our dogs into our heated barns or homes.
Many of our clients raise their Anatolians as indoor/outdoor family guardians. This is perfectly acceptable, with the understanding that an indoor/outdoor dog is NOT equipped to be outside in extremely high or low temperatures like a full-time outdoor Anatolian is. It’s expected that an indoor Anatolian Shepherd Dog will shed year-round. They may put on more coat seasonably if we take them outside frequently in cold winter temperatures, but they will need our attention and support if they get too cold.
So what happens when we bring our Anatolians inside? Two primary artificial factors will trigger their body to release coat out of season: heat and light.
Climate Control
Here in Montana, we will see temperatures lower than -30ºF in January and February. These are also the two primary months for heating our houses and animal shelters if we have young or otherwise compromised livestock. The wood stove runs overtime in the coldest months to keep the humans and indoor critters comfortable.
There are times where it does make sense to pull a dog in, check their paws and ears for injury/frostbite, and generally thaw them out for a good once-over. I do these checks with my bare hands, and I’m not going over a dog outside when it’s more than 20 below zero. I like my fingers too much! 10 or 20 minutes inside is not going to have any negative effect on my dog, and it will absolutely save my fingers. It’s a win-win.
When I take a dog from freezing temperatures outdoors and bring them into a building with artificial heat, they will usually gravitate toward a door with poor seal or tile flooring to keep cool. Prolonged exposure to the heat in the middle of winter can trigger their body to think it is Spring and time to shed out their undercoat. This can have disastrous consequences for the dog when they return to duty outside. Hypothermia, frostbite, and other serious health conditions can be caused by bringing an outside dog into the house.
Artificial Light
Similarly to the wood stove’s heat, we have lights all over the house to help us see where we are going and avoid tripping on the kids’ boots in the middle of the floor (again!). Lights are a big part of our indoor life, right up there with heat and indoor plumbing. The issue comes when the dog starts getting more than 14 hours of light exposure per 24 hour period.
Just like we can trick our chickens into laying eggs year-round by giving them 14 hours of light per day with a little white bulb in their coop, our dogs also take stock of light hours to signal when the season is shifting towards summer when they will need to shed that downy undercoat.
When we bring our working dogs inside in the winter, it’s very possible to accidentally trigger an unintentional or seasonably inappropriate coat change earlier than the outdoors would have.
How to Prevent Unintentional Coat Change
To help keep our dogs in coat to thrive outside in winter, we must limit their time in artificially heated and artificially lit spaces. Whether that’s a barn stall or your home, the effect is the same.
Pay attention to your dog! When he goes and plops down at the door, let him back out.
We have the ability to manage our dogs’ coats by keeping them in the environment they are acclimated to.
If your Anatolian is in/outdoor with you- that’s fine! You just need to monitor them outside for signs of discomfort and be ready to help them when necessary.