Dog Hair

I have labs and I bought this brush at Petsmart that was about $40 and they range from $30-75 but they work if you use it on them every couple of days. I know I'm getting lazy so I might see about shaving them down some. I just did that to my cat and I love it!

Besides the vacuum try laying blankets over furniture and get some cheap rugs to put in the dogs favorite places to lay down. Maybe even use some beach towels. You can toss them into the washer, if company comes with out notice, and the couch will be clean (I wished I had thought of that before). You can also use a roller brush. Get them from the $1 store. My dog was not suppose to get on the furniture and she new this, but as soon as she thought we were gone or in bed she would sneak up onto it. I also put up a gate to keep her out of areas that we didn't want her to go because of the hair. She had plenty of room on one side of the house and we had the other. Our son was a baby and we didn't want to hair to get in his mouth after crawling and playing. Also, try to brush the dog everyday. This heat will trigger more loss. Brushing his/her hair will keep her cool and groomed. We had to let her go because she was getting aggressive with my son. But we think she was part Sharpe.

Good luck,
TLee

Our dog was a lab mix and it was so frustraiting to clean up after her too.

I have a Golden Retriever, an Australian Shepherd and a cat, so I feel your pain. I have an Oreck hand-vac that has a brush attachment that seems to do the trick on my micro-fiber sofa (that is a dog hair magnet). I do not have a Dyson, but have the Oreck XL, which works great, but I do have to vacuum everyday.

A. - I have a friend who has the Dyson and she truly loves it. I think they also have one that is specially for pet owners.

On the furniture I use one of those sticky round lent brushes (that you pull the sticky stuff - like tape - off when it's full). I also dust flat lampshades with that too :)

Good luck,
T.

I have a bassett hound that sheds like the dickens. I've learned to live with it and do the following: weekly baths (to help wash out the loose hair - sometimes I just wet her down real good with the garden hose), daily brushing outside, slipcovers on the couches, lint rollers in several rooms, vaccuum every other day.

The Dyson is awesome - and a little trivia on it for you - they sell different ones at each store. The difference is in the attachments, usually not the price. So the attachments on the one at Target aren't going to be exactly the same attachments on the one at Costco, etc. So do some shopping around. Target sometimes has the Dysons on sale - if you buy one, you'll get a $50 target gift card.

Good luck! S.

The Dyson "animal" attachment really does pick up pet hair better than anything I've seen.
Regular grooming/brushing can help with shedding.
Start now training the dog to stay off the furniture. It might be cute now, but he's going to get big, and you don't want a 90-pound hairball on your couch later on! We had a lab-mix and he eventually had to be an outside-only dog(with bits of indoor time in extreme heat or winter conditions) because of his size and his shedding.

Welcome to my special hell! Love the dogs, HATE the hair, good grief it never ends! My husband found a brush that works well for getting most of the shed off, think it is at Linen-n-Things, called Shed Ender, they are cheep since they are the smaller ones, but on the Internet there are larger ones for a little more moolah....good luck, drives me nuts too!

New mother to a wonderful angel [8 months] and an awesome husband...

we have 2 labs and with a baby that is getting ready to crawl i was paranoid about having dog hair all over the place. so we decided to only let the dogs have one room... the family room. oh and the kitchen too since it's tile floor. but they are only allowed in those two rooms and it makes it so much easier to clean!

the dyson is wonderful!!! i'll have to admit though, having a dog you're gonna have some hair no matter what you do. my husband and i are both dog lovers and it's just part of it. i'll be interested to read the responces you get.

best wishes,
C.

Hi A., Sorry to hear about your dog shedding so much. We have an Austrailian Shepherd, and during the summer, we get him groomed and have his fur cut really close. Not bald, but maybe a 1/2 inch. We also brush him when the shedding gets out of control. As for the Dyson, I did buy it and swear by it. I did buy the purple animal one, but unless you are going to vacuum under furniture, rather than pull the furniture out, I would save the $100 and buy the yellow one. My girlfriend used my dyson once, and bought her own the next day.
I hope this helps! Good luck : )

J.

Hi,

I feel your pain, for sure. I married a wonderful man last year that came bundled with two beagles. Adding them to my little cat and we have animal hair *everywhere*!

My mom bought us the Dyson version called, appropriately, The Animal, which is designed for pet owners and has attachments to help you get the hair off furniture. It is great!

In addition to vacuuming every day (yes, I haven't found a way around that... but the, I have a 9mo and I don't want a pile of hair everywhere for her), I also use the sticky sheets I saw that someone else had mentioned already. They make a long version (about 12") that makes using it as a lint roller for furniture very quick.

I also bought the shed ender comb that another lady mentioned. I find that it works fairly well, but it is small and takes a looooong time to comb one dog.

Hope you find someone that works for you.

Good Luck.

We have 2 100 pound fur balls at our house! The dog hair never ends. We just bought the Dyson Animal a couple of weeks ago and we love it. I had a 20% off coupon from Bed, Bath and Beyond, so I saved $100 buying it there. Also, there is a dog brush --- I think it is called the Furminator. We got our's at Petsmart and it really gets alot of loose hair off. So, I either brush the dogs once a day or vacuum once a day to keep the dog hair under control----it is a pain no matter what.

I have a yellow lab and vacuum every other day. I have a Dyson Animal vac (purple). Works great and picks up the hair. It is 5 months old, works great but I bought a combination shampoo/vac. Let me know if you are interested in buying the Dyson from me. They are $550 new, I am selling for $400.

I have heard the Dyson is worth the money. But you still have to have time to vacuum up all the dog hair...it (unfortunatly), does not stop the shedding. I use a shedding brush on my golden ret. daily. It pulls of a lot of the underhair that is ready to come out, and is great for the coat. You have to use it outside because it gets all that loose hair off outside instead of in your house.

We have 2 dogs & 3 cats and yes, the Dyson is really worth the money to clean up after them!

A. - I 2nd your fustration. I have 2 labs and I battle hair every day. Here's what I've found helpful....

- Our last house (just sold it) had 80% tile. Makes clean up so easy!
- When we replaced our family room sofa, we got leather instead of fabric. Makes a HUGE difference and looks SO much cleaner.
- The metal loop brush.

Our challenge now is that when our new house is finished, it won't have as much tile. I already know I will not let them upstairs at all and will likely only allow them in certain rooms downstairs.

I love my labs dearly, but I've already warned my hubby that once something happens and we are down to 1, we are not going back up to 2. And when it comes time for another dog in general, I'm certainly going to pick something that sheds much less!

I have two dogs and they shed like crazy... The dog hair is a never ending battle in out house. As far as the couchs and chairs are concerned, we got leather, but they still get dog hair on them. The dogs are no longer allowed on the couch. The way to break the habit is to take a rug protector (the plastic kind you get at walmart) and turn it upside down on the couch. It does not hurt your dog only startles them and they no longer get on the couch.

My lab/border collie mix sheds like crazy. We shave her down about every 2-3 months and I vacuum a lot (attachments are wonderful for furniture.) I have heard that a lightly dampened sponge will get pet hair off of furniture too. If company is coming over and I don't have time to vacuum (or I missed a spot) I always keep a tape lint roller under the sink so I can do a quick run through.

We have two big yellow labs and hair everywhere. We've always had labs, and they are so great, but they do shed like crazy. We have twin 17 mo. olds and I have finally had to come to terms with the idea that a little hair won't hurt anyone b/c I was making myself insane (esp. when they were crawling). I'm pretty anal, so that was a hard pill to swallow, but in order to preserve my sanity...When you have kids you just don't have the time to do what it takes to keep the house perpetually hair free. We vacuum as often as possible, change the air filters religously, bathe/groom the dogs as much as we can, blade the dogs whenever we can (a loop shaped blade designed to get down deep and pull the hair out, you can get it at WalMart, Target, PetSmart, etc.), sweep non-stop, and that's about it. I also got a Scoth Guard brand lint roller on a long handle (similar to a Swiffer) to use on cushions and rugs, and it's pretty decent. What a pain - It's a good thing they're so cute!