Do your dogs shed?
By Jennifer Stoeckl, MAT - Dire Wolf Project CEO, June 27, 2025
Dear Pack,
Let me tell you a tragic tale.
A tale of mats, mayhem, muscle cramps, and musty smells.
This week, our noble executive assistant Jody-Lynn went toe-to-toe with a monster hiding in plain sight:
Hercules’ coat.
Now, you may think, “Oh, brushing a dog? That sounds kind of therapeutic.”
Not this time.
This was no breezy brush-out.
This was a full-blown expedition through a thicket of felted fluff.
Hercules, a sleek-coated swimmer, has entered a new age—his senior years—and with it, his coat has changed.
Suddenly, his once-manageable feathering has morphed into an unyielding tundra of tangles, especially behind the ears, legs, and tail.
Jody spent TWO HOURS (not scrolling, not relaxing, not even cooking chicken) just detangling the left side of Hercules.
Two hours of pulling, tugging, lifting, brushing, combing, wiping sweat off her brow, and battling knots that seemed to growl back.
She had every tool in her arsenal:
A slicker brush that now weeps silently in the drawer.
A de-shedding shampoo that promised miracles but delivered mediocrity.
A detangler that smelled great, but didn’t do a thing.
And she still had half the dog left to go!
Can you feel it?
That aching throb in the base of your thumb joint.
The heat in your shoulders from the endless back-and-forth motion.
The humbling realization that no matter how hard you work... you are losing this battle.
Meanwhile, your vacuum just sits there in the corner, whispering,
"Too bad you bought that low-shedding dog."
Now let’s do a little comparison.
- A low-shedding dog like Hercules, while silky soft and beautiful when he’s fully groomed, is a lifelong subscription to mat maintenance, frequent baths, and expensive groomer visits.
- But a high-shedding, double-coated dog—like most American Dirus™ dogs today—blows its undercoat on schedule, no appointments necessary. You brush during the shedding season. You vacuum some fluff off the couch. Done.
Let’s put it plainly:
- Two hours brushing HALF A DOG.
- Or ten minutes sweeping up the evidence of a glorious seasonal shed.
When folks ask us, “Do American Dirus™ dogs shed?”
It’s an enthusiastic “Yes! They do. A lot!”
And THANK GOODNESS.
Because that double coat, perfected by nature and time-tested down through the ages, is not just beautiful.
It’s functional.
It repels dirt, sloughs off odor, and self-regulates temperature.
And, most importantly, it doesn’t trap debris and oil the way low-shedding coats do.
American Dirus™ dogs shed like wild wolves.
Because their coats are wild at heart.
No tangles, matting, or epic grooming showdowns.
No smell, debris, or trapped oil.
Just brush-outs when the weather changes and that’s it.
So unless you’re looking to turn your home into a part-time grooming salon, choose the coat designed by nature, not a grooming catalog.
Thankfully, all of the Happy Days Litter puppies will have high-shedding, easy fresh-smelling, self-cleaning coats.
If you are on our main waiting list, it’s time to let me know you want to go active for this litter so that I can star your name.
You have one more week before I close the waiting list to any new starred names, and we begin going down the waiting list in deposit order for puppy picking.
Reply to this email if you:
- Are on our waiting list and
- Want to go active.
If you want to learn more about the practical benefits of a high-shedding coat, here’s a link to an article I wrote for more information:
Jennifer Stoeckl is the co-founder of the Dire Wolf Project, founder of the DireWolf Guardians American Dirus Dog Training Program, and owner/operator of DireWolf Dogs of Vallecito. She lives in the beautiful inland northwest among the Ponderosa pine forests with her pack of American Dirus dogs.