Hi, All-

I have a 16 week old GSD, Kodee, who is starting to get his "adult" coat, if i'm not mistaken. A breeder here on the board (forgot her name) said it would start out looking like a "grease spot" near his tail. That's exactly what happened, and over the last week or two, his coat on his back has gotten very sleek and shiny, his sides still have more of what I call the "puppy fluff." LOL. He's a bi-color, so his body is all black. Anyway, I was thrilled w/how glossy his new coat was coming in. He eats Orijen food, gets Vit E and Salmon oil daily. Today, all of a sudden, he has tons of white flaky dandruff all over his body. He gets brushed at least 3 times/wk, usually I use the furminator, sometimes a comb around his head and hind end where his puppy coat is a little longer. Then I finish by using just a regular bristle brush all over him. He's never had dandruff this bad before. He had some right around the time I stopped giving him baths for mange (mange cleared up, he had baths daily for a month). I haven't bathed him in at least 2 weeks (since the mange baths stopped), and I hadn't planned to any time soon. It's my understanding that GSD's do better w/regular brushing and very infrequent baths.

Could this be dandruff that was from before, that is just working its way to the top of his coat since he's shedding so much lately? If not, what do you think it is? He acts fine, I don't think his food bothers him. Normal bms, etc. Any advice or input would be appreciated. I'm assuming that giving him a bath to "wash out the dandruff" would just make things worse. Please correct me if I'm wrong. My beautiful "baby" has started to look awful w/all that dandruff!

Hi Kori,
Since no one has replied, I thought I would include a link from a post that I started in August regarding this same situation.

Nickie is all black and the dandruff also "looked awful". However, the problem only lasted a few days. I believe he was shedding at the time and the dandruff was part of the process.

Anyway, he is his usual handsome self with no signs of any skin or dandruff problems. He is on the salmon oil, vit. E, etc as you can see in the attached post. We did not bathe him again as suggested because the problem cleared up. Also the brushing with the natural bristle brush helped a great deal.

Hope this will reassure you a little . . .

Here is the link to the post from August:
http://www.leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/152273/page/0/fpart/1

Thanks, Diane-

I'll keep brushing him and see how it goes. I feel better after seeing your previous thread. I won't bathe him, and I may back off on the furminator for a couple of days, although he's shedding like crazy. LOL! Can't wait til he's dong losing the puppy fluff and he's sleek and shiny all over! (I hope!). LOL!

I have encountered sudden flakiness on two dogs in the past: a GSD and a Pug. Both adults.

Both cases went away as suddenly as they came.

If there's no itching, no greasiness/waxiness, no pruritis, and no odor, and the fur looks fine, then I'm pretty sure it's not anything scary.

Even if it temporarily makes the flakes more visible, I'm with Diane on lots of non-vigorous brushing.

Nervousness can cause sudden dandruff in some dogs. That's why it can come and go so quickly.

Just to add to the thread, since this dog did have mange there is a type of mite called "walking dandruff". I would also look into this to see if the pup needs Cheyletiella mite treatment.

Kimberly