Minimizie Shedding

In addition to grooming (we just use the zoom groom by the makers of kong -- works great for our boy's coat)....there are things that can affect shedding.

If your dog has a thyroid problem, that may show up as excessive shedding. Of course the question then is, what's excessive for a GSD?

I think that diet is a huge factor in shedding. bowhunter -- the flakes, in addition to the shedding, are telling you that the diet isn't right (in fact, you aren't doing her a favor with the K&B). I would start with a kibble that has no corn, no sorghum, and no by-products. Foods that satisfy that typically won't have other nasty things in them. Even then, for many dogs (some might argue all), they might need more nutritional support. My dog needed a food with ground flaxseed in it (or a supplement), in combination with a multivitamin. With those two things in her diet, her shedding at that time was cut to less than half it was.

Because of an early health problem (a hemangionoma) I started feeding my girl a mixture of herbs (nettle, chlorella, parsley, burdock, turmeric, dandelion, bilberry extract) and oils (olive oil or coconut oil), topped with yogurt. this is her breakfast several days a week. She really likes it.

As an unintended consequence her coat is quite wonderful, I got rid of any vestiges of dandruff/flaking, and she sheds a little less than she did (which is like saying the shedding went from a blizzard to a snowstorm, but every bit helps).

I buy the herbs in bulk and grind/mix them myself, and it's pretty cheap -- hugely cheaper than the ready-made mixes that the holistic vets sell.

As part of all this I had her allergy tested and found that she was allergic to a lot of things in the better brand dog foods that should help with the coat -- flaxseed, fish protein, barley grass. Just an FYI in case you're doing all the right feeding things and still having coat problems.