how long did it take you to get all the hitchhikers out of his coat??

That was so funny, that was when we were camping about a month ago with the jeep club. We had a nice big area he could run in and he was just running balls to the wall around when he bunch of weeds and BOOM he went from black to brown just like that.
I was laughing so hard I couldn't call him to stop, he hit those weeds a few more times before he was done.
Fortunately his fur is really smooth and the clingon's don't stick too well, but we still had a bunch in the LBC before the weekend was over.

But so as to not get any more

If you look at the link I posted above http://www.pgaa.com/canine/general/size.html you will be able to check on the characteristics of all dogs by weight group.
In the 51-80 lb group. They show the lab shedding as "average" . So going on what you know, "shedding like crazy" is considered average, I guess.

Just about every dog in that size group and the 81 lb and above group was average, constant or seasonal.
The light or little shedders were:

(51-80 lb):
Giant Schnauzer (light)
Irish Water Spaniel (light)
Poodle - Standard (little)
Redbone Coonhound (light)

81+ lb.
Black Russian Terrier (little)
Bouvier Des Flanders (little)
Bullmastiff (little)
Komondor (little)

They all sound very expensive.

You wouldn't consider adopting from the pound? I would be very rewarding to give an unwanted dog a good home.