There are a lot of grooming tools today that promise to make your life easier. But one tool we always warn people about it the dreaded furminator or ANY kind of bladed brush or rake. These tools are damaging to certain coats which would include double coated with coarse guard hair type breed…the Shiba Inu. 

Shiba Inu have long coarse guard hairs throughout their body which play a part in keeping their body temperature regulated and help aid in keeping debris and parasites out.  Tools what have tiny little blades on them trick you into thinking you are removing a lot of shedding hair but what is actually happening is that the tool is shaving off healthy and new guard hairs that your shiba inu needs. This can also often result in making your shiba look thin-haired or very short-haired. 

Some groomers are not aware of this so if you are taking your dog to the groomer please remind them not to use any bladed brushes such as the furminator.

Shiba Inu shed their coat 2-4 time a year. They shed into a summer coat when their undercoat is thinned out but they still have long guard hairs, and in winter they grow a nice thick undercoat back. The best way to groom a Shiba without causing damage (and often long lasting damage) to their coats is by giving them a good bath to loosen the hairs and then proceeding to blow them out with a high velocity dryer while using a slicker brush and a greyhound comb.  

Another useful tool that a lot of pet owners seem to enjoy are slicker head brushes attached the a vacuum. It is a quick and easy way to safely remove loose hairs. 

I brushed my dog with a Furminator so you don’t have to.

Sebastian is a 3yo poorly bred shiba (probably mix). His coat is not a standard shiba coat, but my other dogs are show dogs, and the black and tan coat is easiest to see this particular difference in. The furminator deshedding brush does the same thing on all double coated breeds. Sebastian has black guard hairs over a light tan/grayish undercoat. As this isn’t a routine of ours, you will not notice a huge difference in the left (furminator side) and right (slicker side). The last picture is from a groomer’s page regarding the long term effects of using a furminator.

Notice the differences. Yes it appears the furminator got out more hair, but it is predominantly dark top coat. We are not trying to shed top coat. It’s the undercoat that is what they blow. The slicker got out much lighter fur – his undercoat. You can sort of see the difference of texture in this image. The darker hairs the furminator pulled are longer and more thick, indicating guard hairs (top coat). The lighter hairs pulled by the slicker are shorter, more wispy, and more textured.

Something I noticed while grooming him was that the furminator seemed to cause him pain. You can see him pulling away from the furminator and sitting down. When I used the slicker he did not pull away and remained standing. Also note the difference in sound. When using the furminator it sounds like hair is being ripped out. The slicker is just pulling out dead hair. Side note: slickers are not meant to be used in long pulling strokes. They are short strokes from back to front.

At the end of the day, you can use whatever you want to groom your dog. But if you want a fluffy shiba coat, the furminator is not the way to go.

Dixie Watson

Here was a post showing the difference from a professional dog groomer. So if you are still not convinced to dump your beloved Furminator, take a closer look next time you run that brush through the coat.