Beardie's Shed?
Dear Hobo are beardies hard to groom?  Do they shed much?
This is a frequent question.  Beardies take a lot of grooming, at least one to three hours once a week, more when between about 8 months and 18 months. By the time we are past 2 or 3 years of age, we can usually go a couple weeks or more between grooming. But some with heavier coats still need more frequent grooming.

You can often remove a whole bag full of dead and matted hair.  Dad was always worried about taking out that white little fur in my coat.  He thought it was undercoat.  Actually most of it was puppy fur.  First I was brushed with a bristle brush (in this case a Mason Pearson boars hair brush) to loosen the tangled ends.  All the time my fur was sprayed lightly with water and maybe a little grooming spray.  Then a "slicker" brush was used to get surface mats, occasionally a pin brush was used.  Later a "rake" type brush was used, in this case one with spring temper steel teeth (about 16 teeth maybe), to get deep down mats (the white stuff in my case).  Dad noted the one he had used was too short to get all the way to my skin.  This was used in short jerks, kind of working the stuff out slowly without ripping my longer fur, finally a steel comb (actually two different ones) was used to remove stuff the others missed.  I was treated to a buzz around my, um, privates (cause I smelled - I am a boy), and a toe nail trimming.  

This all took about 3 to 4 hours - but I hadn't had a good grooming before - just what my dad thought was good.  I have needed minimal brushing since (one week). 

About shedding, well I would not say we shed so much - just need grooming.  The stuff doesn't fall all over the floor while we walk around.  But sometimes those long hairs can clog up the vacuum cleaner. I think short hair dogs leave a bigger mess.  But I have heard of some beardies who "blow coat" and leave a lot of fur.  Sometimes this is due to some special circumstances (like the lady beardies in season).  Hey all dogs have some time in their life where they loose fur.  Dad says that time spent grooming me is enjoyable to him, some time together.  But if your schedule makes it so you can't spend a couple hours a week grooming, then a beardie may not be for you.  Long hair left un-groomed will mat, then you have a problem (which may result in the need to trim or shave your beardie).  Short summary - beardies need weekly grooming but shedding is not a good description (at least in my case), short hair dogs usually leave much more hair around.  Comments?  Let me know if you agree or disagree.