The solution is an attachment marketed under the name “Hairyhog” that universally fits on a vacuum cleaner, easly fitted, and it really works in removing the hairs without loss of suction and blocked intake pipe.

The attachment can be obtained from http://www.stirtsystems.com.
Best of all they they include a lint brush in the price.Good luck!

For your short wire coated dog, you might try a stripping knife which just strips out old dead coat. You can learn more in a couple of ways: (1) take your dog to a a REPUTABLE groomer, ask lots of questions, buy the equipment you need from them, and tip them well since you won’t be back (2) visit someone who breeds wire coated dogs and ask them to show you, or (3) go to a local dog show and ask the folks there grooming their dogs.

The Furminator is really a sort of stripping knife for longer coated dogs. Terrier fanciers I know use the more old fashioned stripping knife instead, it works better on short stiff coats and doesn’t stress out the dog. Good luck!

Still, they can out-shed both those tools, so the other means of “fluff control” is an iRobot DirtDog. It’s essentially a Roomba that sweeps hard floors instead of vacuuming. Not that I wouldn’t mind a Roomba, but the DirtDog was much more affordable for me, as I picked it up on sale for $99. It does a great job getting hair and litter up off the hardwood floors!

The other thing I do is cover the couch and recliner… that way I have less hair to clean off the furniture and I can just throw the covers in the laundry.

One of my friends who has two long-haired dogs recommends the Dyson Animal though. That, I’ve not tried. No need really with the DirtDog doing such a great job!

I just use polar fleece jackets to stay warm in the house as the dog hair comes off easily in the wash and when you shake them whilst damp.

Biggest battle is keeping the dog out of the bedroom and off my bed….Perhaps I should just by some polar fleece and cover my bed with it LOL!

One of my husband’s coworkers just got a Dyson animal version, and he’s going to bring it over so we can give it a try. He said on the first use it was pulling up animal hair in colors that they don’t even have…previous owners’ pet hair, yuck!

We’ve also gotten things more under control by purchasing a home grooming kit to give them regular trims. There are websites that sell professional-grade clippers for about the cost of two groomer visits, so it pays for itself in no time.

I also appreciate Melissa’s suggestion about using the dryer to remove excess hair before washing…that’s also on my list of things to do tomorrow.

Thanks again!

I’ve declared cat-free zones in the house. I have French doors leading into my studio/living room, where the couch, rug, and other upholstered furniture is, and those doors stay shut all the time–the cats are never allowed in there. They are only allowed in my bedroom on rare occasions, and it’s always just before I change my sheets and wash the duvet cover. I also keep the doors to the guest bedroom, my sewing room, and the basement shut for this reason.

The chairs in cat-accessible rooms (my office, up- and downstairs halls, kitchen, dining room) are either dining chairs, or wicker armchairs that have removable cushions with covers that can be cleaned. I cover the seats with “cat towels” to save the cushions, and those cat towels always get washed as a separate load.

I also make sure to provide plenty of big cat towers that are more attractive alternatives for sleeping on than the chairs. No, they aren’t pretty, and I periodically have to replace shredded-out carpet, but since most of my cats would rather sleep on those than the chairs, I’ll gladly let aesthetics slide. If I want nice decor, that’s what my bedroom and the living room are for.

The one thing that I swear by is my Dyson Animal vacuum; the pet hair attachment is amazing for getting heavy hair build-up off upholstery, scratching posts, and cat towels.

When it comes to washing towels, sheets, or other things that are still covered with pet hair, I’ve found that throwing them in the dryer for 10 minutes, then cleaning the lint filter, then repeating that cycle until the filter no longer comes out choked with fur, is extremely effective.

Once the lint trap gets clogged with lint and fur–and it does, very quickly–no more fur can get pulled into it. Instead, it just stays in your clothes, and if you’re drying a load of towels the fur will get matted into the terrycloth loops as they dry. But if you clear the lint trap, the next wave of hair has a chance to collect in the filter. Clear that out, and the filter can collect even more, and in the end you won’t have clean, dry clothes still choked with hair. (Another benefit is that your clothes will actually dry faster if you keep the lint filter cleared out.)

On a really hairy load I might have to do this 3 or 4 times, which sounds like a hassle, but compared to other methods of dealing with hair, it’s not that difficult. I wear a clip-on kitchen timer that reminds me it’s time to clear the filter.

But the most important thing is: they make me happy, every day and then a bit of hair is a small price to pay for that joy.