Excessive Dog Shedding

Question
I have a 6 month old chocolate lab, german short-hair mix.  He is shedding really bad.  You can just pull hand fulls of hair off of him.  I was just wondering if there is anything I can do to prevent this?  Or what is causing it?

Answer
Hi Gerald;
Does he chew his paws?
Does the skin where the hair comes out look irritated?
He my have allergies.
chewing the paws is the first sign my dogs that have allergies give me that their allergies are flaring up.
If the dog is kept in a cool place, and then goes out in the heat a lot, and has not hed the winter coat, the sudden adaptation to heat can cause what looks like an abnormal amount of shedding. It should not be enough shedding to leve bare spots that are very noticible though.
Diet can be a factor as well.
To make sure I found out the real cause, I would have him seen by a vet.
What do you feed him, and what brand?
Do you add any vitamins etc to his diet?
Does he have fleas?
Some dogs are very allergic to flea bites, and the bite of one flea can start a flarewop.
Allergies, if they are not properly treated can cause an infection that can kill the dog, besides the poor thing being nisewrable.
does he scratch a lot?
Have the answer to all these questions ready for the Vet. He/she will ask them.
I know Vet bills can get steep, but it is really a small price to pay for the love and companionship our dogs give us.
We have 4 dogs. 2 of them have severe allergies and one of them has terrible Arthritis.
Seems like we need to just give our Vet a book of our checks to save us the trouble of writing all of them, but it is worth it to have these loyal and loving friends and companions with us for as long as possible.
Humans have ruined our enviornment so that our animals have so many more illnesses and diseases than they used to have, so it is our own fault that our poor pets suffder all the same junk illnesses and conditions we do.
I recemmend seeing his Vet right away.
If it is one of the cheaper, super market brands of dog food, that may very well be the cause.
Write if you think I can help more.
You could write and answer the questions I have asked, and that would give me a clearer idea of what to recommend.
If it is diet, that is easy to fix, but if it is an allergy, then a Veterinarian will HAVE to be consulted, as there are no home remedies or over-the-counter meds that will be effective.
Charlotte