Friday, March 30, 2012

Fiber Arts Friday: Blowing their Coat

The Tibetan Mastiffs started shedding a little at the beginning of March,


but then began blowing their coat a couple of weeks later.

If you've never experienced dogs blowing their coat before, it's essentially shedding in over-drive.  The undercoat was coming off in fist-fuls.


The fur just flew off of them when they would shake or run around.  Our yard has looked like a crime scene for the last couple of weeks.


I have been plucking and saving what I can from the dogs.   Noodle rather likes the plucking and will remind me that it's her turn.  Wonton doesn't care much for it... it's almost like she knows she has the good stuff and doesn't want me to have it.

Thankfully, they're pretty much done shedding now.  I have to say, I kind of like this idea of being completely finished with shedding in a few weeks.  It's definitely a benefit of having Tibetan Mastiffs.

I have been able to collect about 1 1/2 lbs of fur from the two dogs.  For the most part this is black fur with a two-inch staple and a gentle crimp.

Noodle and the bag of collected fur

I spun some golden Tibetan Mastiff for our breeder last summer, so I am looking forward to spinning some of our own... perhaps for this year's Tour de Fleece.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

11 comments:

Voie de Vie said...

I think it will be stunning in black! Can't wait to see it - and she looks all cool and coifed now that she's shed her winter coat.

Vivian said...

This year we also have the London Olympics to take on some interesting challenges. It would be so much fun to see what become of the fiber.

"crime scene", haha!

Melissa Plank said...

It will make a pretty yarn, that's a lot of fiber from one shed season!

Melissa said...

Wow!.....what a alot of fiber.

Spinster Beth said...

That's just from one shedding time? Wow!

WonderWhyGal said...

Wowza! You are going to be a busy gal spinning up all that fiber.

Laura said...

Amazing, that's a lot of fiber from a dog!

Heather Woollove said...

That's so crazy...I love it!
My cats have beautiful coats (to look at) but when brushed out, it looks like the ugliest of grey/brown fiber...not something I care to felt with!! XXO-

Unknown said...

Wow. That's a lot of dog hair! Have fun spinning it.

Chris said...

Ahh, look at Noodle there with the goods! Very smug. That's quite a bag..happy spinning! :)

AllyB said...

It looks nice a fluffy but I just can't wrap my head around spinning something with a 2 in staple. Can't wait to hear about your experience with it. I know they've got to be happy to have all that off their backs. xxxooo