My dog sheds a huge amount and the house is covered in hair

Hair on the sofa, on black clothes, floating in a sunbeam. If you live with a dog, you live with its hair. But there is a difference between normal everyday hair and a shed that never seems to end, or that comes with bald patches, dandruff or itching.

A dog's hair grows in cycles: a growth phase, a rest phase and a shedding phase. In nature, changes in light and temperature synchronise those cycles and shedding happens in spring and autumn, intense and brief. In a flat with central heating, artificial light and twenty degrees all year round, that synchrony is lost and many dogs shed a little all the time.

Double-coated breeds release their undercoat in tufts that look like cotton wool. Short-coated breeds drop fine, stiff hairs that spear into fabric and are harder to remove. Curly-coated breeds barely shed, but the dead hair stays inside the coat and forms knots. Each type calls for a different tool and frequency.

What no brush can do is stop hair loss that comes from inside. A diet poor in quality fats, parasites, stress or a change in the body show up first in the coat. That is why, when the shed changes suddenly or the coat loses its shine for no reason, we look beyond the brush.

The usual road and the PerroAmante road. What people usually try: shaving the dog so it sheds less, any old brush that combs the surface while the undercoat keeps falling, or vacuuming twice a day and giving up. They fail because the hair that is going to fall is still there, and only where it ends up changes. The Protocolo PerroAmante works in a different order: Understand which coat your dog has and when it sheds, Care for it with the tool that reaches dead hair and ten minutes a day in season, and Maintain with nutritional support if your vet thinks it appropriate and timely refills. It is like autumn leaves: better to gather them from the tree in the garden than wait for them to come indoors.