Why Is My Dog Shedding So Much? Vets Say Twice a Year, Data Says Once

Every vet and groomer will tell you dogs shed twice a year, spring and fall. But five years of real search data across the country may tell a different story. Searches for shedding help climb in the first half of the year, then fade, with no second rise in fall. Part of that gap may come down to whether most people are managing shedding reactively instead of proactively. We’re breaking down what you need to plan around it either way.

Photoperiod, which is the changing length of daylight, is a documented trigger behind seasonal shedding. As days lengthen in spring, dogs shed their winter undercoat. As days shorten in fall, they shed their lighter summer coat to grow in a denser winter one.

VCA Hospitals, one of the country’s largest veterinary networks, states that dogs shed more in fall, as they blow their summer coat for a winter one.

Healthy seasonal shedding is not the only explanation, and it’s worth ruling out the others before assuming your dog is just following the calendar.

The simplest check is timing. Normal seasonal shedding runs in a two-to-four-week window, spring or fall, then tapers off. If your dog is shedding heavily in the dead of winter or the middle of summer, outside either seasonal window, or it’s been going on for months with no letup, the season probably isn’t the explanation.

A few of the more common non-seasonal causes worth ruling out:

Diet. Lower-quality food light on protein and essential fatty acids can show up as extra shedding before anything else does. Look for food that meets Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) nutritional standards, and talk to your vet if a recent food switch lines up with the timing.

Allergies. Food allergies and environmental ones, pollen, dust, grass, commonly show up as shedding paired with itching, licking, or red, irritated skin, not hair loss on its own.

Parasites and skin infections. Fleas, mites, and fungal or bacterial infections all cause hair loss alongside visible irritation, scratching, or bald patches.

Hormonal issues. Hypothyroidism and Cushing’s disease are well-documented causes of excessive shedding. These are usually accompanied by other changes like weight gain, low energy, or increased thirst.

Stress. A move, a new pet, fireworks, a vet visit, a genuinely stressful event can trigger a real shedding spike that has nothing to do with season at all.

Age. An older dog’s coat naturally thins and sheds differently than it did as a puppy, a normal part of aging rather than a red flag on its own.

If the shedding comes with any of the warning signs above, itching, bald spots, red skin, lethargy, or changes in appetite or thirst, that’s the signal to see a vet rather than wait it out.

Assuming the season really is the explanation, here’s where it gets interesting. We pulled five years of national Google Trends data, analyzing two separate signals: general shedding complaints from people around the United States and active searches for a deshedding tool.

Our findings? On average, shedding complaints climb in February and again in June, but active buying searches don’t peak until June and July. And across both lines, autumn sits flat and quiet, the lowest stretch of the entire year, not the second peak you might expect.

The gap is worth thinking about. It may suggest that a lot of people notice shedding well before they act on it, complaining in February, then waiting until summer (after months of extra fur) before doing much about it. Search data can’t fully confirm that on its own, but the pattern is certainly an interesting finding.

Even veterinary experts don’t have a complete answer.

Veterinarian Ron Hines, DVM PhD, writes plainly that despite years of research, “we still do not understand much about the intricacies of the hair growth cycle,” and confirms it’s daylight, not temperature, driving the cycle.

One credible possibility comes from veterinary trade publication dvm360: most pets today live indoors, under artificial light and steady heat, which may blunt the sharp seasonal signal an outdoor dog would show.

Spring’s coat-blow tends to be dramatic and hard to miss. Fall’s transition may simply be more gradual, happening whether or not anyone’s searching for help with it.

Science points to twice a year. Search data may only be picking up once. So we’d rather hear it straight from the dog owners living with it: when does your own dog seem to shed the most? Vote above, then see how your answer compares.

Some states appear to have it worse than others, and it’s not evenly spread. Arkansas ranks highest in the country for shedding-related search intensity, followed by Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Kentucky. The pattern leans heavily Deep South and Mountain West. Find your own state on the map above and see where you land.

The data above points to something worth acting on. A lot of people may be managing shedding reactively, responding in summer to a problem that likely started back in February. Below is how to get ahead of it instead, regardless of which season hits your own dog hardest.

January to February, when complaints spike nationally: consider starting to brush now, before it’s everywhere. This is the window to get ahead of it.

March to May, the vet-confirmed spring coat-blow: daily brushing during this stretch lines up with what the science says is happening, whether or not it’s driving search traffic yet.

June to July, when people finally seem to search for a solution: if you’re just now shopping for a tool, there’s a good chance you’ve already lived through months of extra fur that earlier brushing might have caught.

Fall, the blind spot this whole piece is built around: it appears to be happening whether or not anyone’s searching for it. Keeping up a normal brushing schedule through autumn is worth it, even though searches for help drop off.

Whichever season hits your dog hardest, the tools that make it manageable are the same ones already doing the work in the calendar above. The EquiGroomer is built to catch loose undercoat before it becomes a February complaint or a June scramble, whatever your dog’s pattern turns out to be.

All data in this piece comes from Google Trends, filtered to the Pets & Animals category, for the United States, over the past five years.

The national chart tracks two search terms. “Shedding complaints” is the term “dog shedding.” “Active product searches” is the term “deshedding tool.” Each point shows the average search interest for that calendar month across all five years, on Google’s 0 to 100 scale. The current partial month is not included.

The state map uses the Google Trends “Interest by subregion” view for the same two terms, which puts every state on one shared scale. Each state’s score is the average of its two values. Alaska and Washington, D.C. did not have enough search volume for “deshedding tool,” so their scores use “dog shedding” alone.

Google Trends measures relative search interest, not the number of searches or how much dogs shed. These findings describe when and where people look for help, not the shedding itself.