Shedding, Shedding, Everywhere

I am convinced that my siberian husky has a keen sense of awareness that there is change in the air at my house. Hubby will be back from Iraq in about a month, and this shift in the household environment, I believe, is affecting my dog.

Let me backtrack a few steps. Hubby returned from his first deployment to Iraq in November of 2007. Right before his return, my husky went berserk in more ways than one. One day I came home from work to find that he had dug through my couch. Even though I wasn't mourning the loss of my couch - it gave me a good excuse to buy a new one as I had been wanting to do for a LONG time - I was very concerned about the development of this suddenly destructive behavior. That was also the time when my husky began to shed....

Siberian Huskies are known to completely shed their coat twice a year. The only upside to this is that the rest of the year, their shedding is suppoesd to be minimal to none. I had owned my siberian husky for 2 and a half years at that point and had NEVER experienced a shedding like he accomplished that month. It. Was. Horrendous. There was hair everywhere, and I was physically unable to keep up with it.

I figured it was just his natural "shedding" time, though, and never made a connection with the impending change in our lives.

Remembering the ultimate shed of Nov. 2007, this November I braced myself for impact. But..... nothing happened. I wiped the sweat off my brow, acknowledged to myself that I had dodged a bullet, and moved on with my life.

Fast forward to February 2009 - current day. I am once again up to my eyeballs in fur. I vacuum one day only to find hairballs floating through the air an hour later. I wash my bedspread only to find it COVERED in hair the moment my husky lays down on it. I spend HOURS brushing my husky and giving him baths.. but the hair is neverending.

All I can think is, WHY NOW? How odd that this is happening once again on the eve of Hubby's return from deployment. Is it possible that my husky does not shed in response to change in the weather, but rather, in response to major changes in his home atmosphere?

It sure looks that way.

But, mark my words, I love my new couch and will not be held responsible for my actions if it becomes my husky's next victim...