[theBCnut]

Long haired chihuahuas have shorter hair than some shorthaired large breeds, so you can’t just go by length. A shorthaired toy breed should have hair under 1 inch, so he might be medium haired. Both JRTs and Rat Terriers can be wirehaired which is longer than shorthaired. You will have to be the best judge for our purposes. Even a medium coated breed would benefit from the rubber kong brush, they just grab long hair too much, of course that may be what you need at this point.

If he is very sensitive to flea bites, to the point where he has given himself sores in the past, that could be the cause of the dander. He could have very sensitive skin and have a mild allergic reaction to flea bites. Unfortunately with bite allergies, one bite can trigger a reaction that doesn’t completely go away for a week or more.

As for what is too much dander, at any given time, I can see a couple flakes on my completely normal dog, but it would be odd for me to see enough to be sure where it was coming from, or to see more than just a few flakes at one time on his whole body. BUT, some dogs do naturally have more dander than that, so if you aren’t seeing a bunch of flakes every time you rub his fur the wrong way, then your “expert” may just be overreacting.

• This reply was modified 11 years, 8 months ago by theBCnut.