Anyone got tips for the 'dog hair situation?'

[femalephish]

And by "dog hair situation" I mean, there is fur EVERYWHERE! I have hard wood floors and mostly I just sweep but I swear I could do it everyday and I STILL pick up clumps from corners like little tumbleweeds.

So- Want to share your favorite tip? Should I be vacuming? Is that ok for hardwood? I also push around a swiffer with a damp prefold attatched and that seems to help a little.

How do you deal?

ps. FYI I have a boxer and small spaniel, to give you an idea of how much fur we're dealing with.

[Baby~Braatens~Mama]

We have an australian husky/shepherd mix who sheds CONSTANTLY. We have tried everything, finally settling on a pet care system Furminator which helps the undercoat be freed from the coat and you brush it out. It is actually quite gently and removes quite a bit of hair, but our dog is a shedder. Even when we give her weekly baths with this system she drops fur, but it allows me to go up to three days in between swiffering (we also have hard wood floors.)

I wish you the very best of luck! And I will to see if anyone out there has an effective remedy other than shaving, which works quite well.

[ReadingMama]

Man, I feel for you. I have an excessive shedder too--and hard floors. You'd think hard floors would be a blessing with a shed monster, but noooooooo. Especially if your AC/heating vents are on the floor! Then the hair just skims the floor all day--hinding under the furniture until it jumps out to scare visitors. Carpet, at least, would trap the hair and get vacuumed up! I have found dog hair in my ice cubes in the freezer before!

My dog's a lab/border collie mix. I bought the Furminator system, but it made her drop SO MUCH HAIR I couldn't stand it. I couldn't let her air dry inside because she jumped up on the furniture and rubbed against the walls. There was more of a mess using the system than without it! I can use the groomer tool without the shampoo and conditioner without having that problem though.

Vacuuming hard floors is fine if you have a vacuum with a suction-only option. If you turn off the brush agitator, it doesn't scratch the floor. I have a Hoover canister vac (canisters are supposed to be best for hard floors), but I rarely use it. It's just so big and cumbersome. I'd use a regular push vacuum a lot more. So my vote is a stand up vacuum with a suction- only feature.

[Mama Mko]

I have also vacuumed the hardwood and it was fine. I agree about the Furminator. It made a huge difference in how much St. Bernard fur ended up all over the house.

[34me]

We have a lab/retriever mix and a husky/something . Furminator + vacuum = less hair but it is a never ending battle...

[Hey Mama!]

I also have hardwood floors and pug who never stops shedding and a mutt who seems to be molting his coat. I have a stick vac which I use everyday. If I see the dog tumbleweeds I pick them up and put them in the trash. Luckily our dogs don't jump on furniture so all of the hair is contained to the floor.

[Carolinamidwife]

Fighting dog hair is my superpower.

I have a stick vacuum; I don't even bother with sweeping. We have a 165 pound shedding MACHINE whose main goal in life is to pollinate the house with her hair. Granted, this is short hair so fluffy hair might be different but I find the stick vac on the hardwood and the Dyson Animal on the upstairs carpet at least makes it so i don't see hair everywhere I look.

I vac like 3 times a day and I still truly believe that a decade after Polly is gone we will find her hairs.

[kittywitty]

I also have a lab/border collie mix. I use my vacuum on the hard wood setting. It still is everywhere. People always complain about cats shedding but my 5 cats have nothing on my 1 dog!

[rhiOrion]

I have a long haired dog, a long haired cat, and hardwood floors.

A dustbuster is our savior. We dustbust very frequently. Then DH brings out the big vac every once in a while. We've never swept.

[ReadingMama]

I'm intrigued by the stick vac! Hmmm. Our new house is going to have carpet everywhere but the kitchen and bathrooms though. We're planning to get a Dyson. Is a stick vac that much better than a dust mop?

[Carolinamidwife]

I don't know if it's better... I'm just lazy. My dog has very short hair and sucking it up seems to work better than pushing it around.

[Hey Mama!]

Originally Posted by ReadingMama

I'm intrigued by the stick vac! Hmmm. Our new house is going to have carpet everywhere but the kitchen and bathrooms though. We're planning to get a Dyson. Is a stick vac that much better than a dust mop?

IMO yes. I have two super cheap ones that do a great job at sucking up the hair. The ones I have are like a swiffer sweeper without the place for a pad.

[Zach'smom]

We have a large black lab/german shepherd and 2 cats. I have a cheap stick vac that sucks up hair like a charm. I rarely sweep the hardwood because the stick vac works great and I can have my 8 yo do it. I have a Dyson animal for the carpeting. We have a Zoom Groom by Kong and I use that on her at least a couple times a week when we are outside playing.