"blowing a coat"

Does anyone know what that phrase means? If not, let me tell you. Twice a season, one of my dogs "blows a coat". For us, this means her fur comes out in clumps all over the house, I'm assuming as she gets ready for summer, even though it seems a little early since it's still so cold outside.

Usually this means an immediate visit to the dog groomer for a military type haircut. Instead, I dug out the dog brush and brushed her hair so that I wouldn't have to sweep it up, peel it off the couch, and brush it off the bottom of all four legs of every chair we own over the next several weeks. I'll have to continue to do it every day, until she's done blowing her coat.

This is the big pile of fur I brushed off of Foxy today. And I could have kept going. (Foxy's in the background praying that beauty shop hour is OVER!) I was just about to sweep, but you can see her hair all over thanks to the lovely natural sunlight (which shows no mercy to this house cleaner).