How can I reduce shedding on my Chinese Pug?

QUESTION: How can I reduce shedding on my Chinese Pug? My pug is shedding everywhere.  I brush him. I have one of those tools that is suppose to help get the under coat.  Any ideas will be appreciated.

ANSWER: As I understand pugs have an overcoat and an undercoat.  The undercoat is also called ”down” it’s lots of small hairs right next to the body designed to keep warm air close to the body.  I also understand that through genetics black pugs only have one of these coats I think the outer coat. I think the outer coat was bred to be darker and the undercoat was bred out; but I’m not sure on this. Anyway black pugs shed less than fawn pugs apparently.  I wish I had known this. So how do you keep your pug from shedding?  Well I have a couple techniques.  You can try ‘Shed-X’ and brush daily at least once but up to 3 times.  Bathe once a week with a ‘shed control’ shampoo.  Then vacuum! This is what is meant by ‘containment’. I now have a dyson 14 animal vacuum which i highly recommend.   The next step after that is to brush frequently.  If you can get the hair off in a controlled manner you’re more likely to get it in the trash can rather than on your floor or clothes. I use a furminator along with the standard wire brushes you find in stores.  The furminator essentially is a fine tooth comb combined with prongs that cut or pull the hair out.  It does a very good job at gripping and thinning hair.  However It’s still not enough.  Pugs shed A LOT especially after a bath. So I just had to make a bunch of returns to Bed Bath and Beyond and one of the things we picked up was a barber’s hair shaving kit.  I just shaved them to 1/8 inch of hair and well it’s kind of a butcher job they hate the look but usually don’t mind getting shaved. I read online that ground flaxseed was great for reducing shedding but I have not tried it yet. Good Luck!