# I am so SICK of dog hair!



## momofmine (Jan 8, 2007)

We've had a dog, who is really a super sweet loving dog, for three years now. But I am just so OVER cleaning up dog hair constantly. I spend SO much more time cleaning my house now than I ever did before. Do I need to just let it go and live in dog hair and not worry about it? It's just gross. This type of dog is not even supposed to shed all that much, but he's HUGE, and he does. His head is kitchen-counter height.

I feel like I've tried everything, I use the FurBuster thingy on him daily, which is supposed to get all the undercoat stuff off, and it does get a LOT off. I can't imagine what it would be like if I didn't use that every day. And I changed his diet to grain-free, I started him on salmon oil. I guess it's not that bad, but it just sticks to everything! And we have carpet in the two main downstairs which I DESPISE and I feel like I am constantly vacuuming. The carpet is just gross. I just want to roll it up and put it in the washing machine. It is gross to me that I can't actually CLEAN my floors in there the way I can scrub my kitchen floor on my hands and knees with hot water and soap and vinegar. Am I just overreacting about this and need to let go a little? It just makes me crazy! And at work the other day a client said, "You must have a dog". I guess I had dog hair on my pants or on my tote bag, and I think that just seems gross and unclean. I work with babies and moms and I do not want that. That's never happened before, but still, I don't like it.

Suggestions? Or should I just relax about it and realize it is not going away?


----------



## Abarat (Jan 22, 2007)

My suggestion is to just get used to it unless you want to get rid of the dog. I know it sounds bad, but I know where you're coming from.

I have 4 dogs, all indoors. 2 very large which shed like mad and 2 smaller ones. We have hard floors so there's always tufts of fur here and there....even just after I sweep.

We won't get rid of them, but I am tired enough of it that any future pets will be thoroughly thought through.

We've just resigned ourselves to the fact that dog hair is a part of our household. I do hate it for you that you have carpet. I'm glad we don't have carpet anymore. The dog hair is more visible now, but it doesn't seem as bad without carpet.

I sure hope you can come to a solution you can live with.


----------



## CarrieMF (Mar 7, 2004)

What kind of dog is it?

We have 2 dogs, an Old English Sheepdog that we get shaved twice a year. Cuts down on her hair loss ALOT. Her fur at least bunches up into piles.

Our other dog is a Coyote/Blue Heeler & sheds so bad. His fur doesn't pile up, it is so fine it's like stepping on a puff ball.

They're both indoor/outdoor dogs. We replaced our floors(got rid of the carpet) in March & for 2 weeks before that we stopped letting them in past the porch. Those 2 things have cut down 90% of the fur.


----------



## just_lily (Feb 29, 2008)

I don't think there is much you can do. It is all part and parcel of having a dog that sheds, unfortunately. I have two large breed dogs (one 65lbs, one 100lbs, both mixes) and one is double coated. So I get it.

My dad has a couple of miniature schnauzers that don't shed. The trade off is that he has to pay for grooming, but I am seriously considering getting a non-shedding breed next time we are in the market for another dog.


----------



## momofmine (Jan 8, 2007)

Thanks for commiserating with me!








So do you think that hard wood floors are much better? That's what I've been thinking and I'm just feeling impatient about it now. We are in the process of making plans for doing some work on our house, and part of it includes taking up the carpet in those two main rooms and getting hardwood floors. I'm so anxious for it to just get done, but there are several steps that have to happen first, like fixing the basement and insulating the floor underneath. I do hope that it will at least be a little easier because then I can at least get the dog hair up with the fabric sweeper thingy instead of dragging out the vacuum. Do you have rugs on your hardwood floors? Large rugs or just small area rugs?


----------



## Turquesa (May 30, 2007)

DH and I seriously considered installing hardwood, but it occurred to us that we'd have to be after our dog's nails constantly or he would scratch it. We replaced the linoleum in the bathrooms in kitchen with tile, and that holds up really well to his wear and tear.

For the carpets, I just vacuum and then go over them again with one of those over-sized, over-priced lint rollers attached to long handles. It's not a terribly frugal or green solution, but least they get what I missed!


----------



## momofmine (Jan 8, 2007)

eeek, I hadn't even thought of the dog scratching up the hardwood floors!!! Rats. Well there is no doubt about it, we have to take up this carpet, it's icky. I wonder if there are things you can do to ameliorate that. Does keeping the nails clipped very very short help? Or are certain kinds of hardwood "harder" than others?


----------



## CarrieMF (Mar 7, 2004)

certaini woods will be harder. We put in a vinyl flooring, the dogs haven't scratched it in the areas they're allowed.

I vacuum way more than I did when we had carpet, especially the living room as we can see every spec of dust whereas in the kitchen everything blends in with the cork.lol Makes me realize how disgusting carpet is though.


----------



## momofmine (Jan 8, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *CarrieMF* 
Makes me realize how disgusting carpet is though.

I know! Aack. I am just impatient and want it outta here.

I was actually thinking about cork. I wonder how that would do. The carpet is on our living room and family room downstairs. The other main room down here is a large kitchen with eating area, and the floor in there is some kind of vinyl that needs to be replaced too. The living room and kitchen are separated by a doorway (without a door), so I was thinking it might look nice and flow better to have the same flooring all throughout the bottom floor. But I wasn't sure what would work for a kitchen that would also look appropriate in a living room? (And be okay for the dog! There's pretty much no way to keep him out of there, he's so big that he needs access to the whole first floor.

I was also thinking about bamboo.


----------



## Mama Mko (Jul 26, 2007)

The dog fur is much less noticable on hardwood flooring.







We have a Saint Bernard. It collects on the edges of the room instead of just in the middle. We vacuum the area rugs and run a broom around the room quickly and it's taken care of.

Our furminator works great though, for cutting back on how much Kira sheds. Is a Furbuster the same thing?


----------



## Abarat (Jan 22, 2007)

About the dogs scratching wood floors, we have that wood laminate flooring and there are times one of our large dogs has nails that look like bear claws they're so long. He's tough to trim so we don't get around to it as often as we should.

But, they walk a little more carefully on smooth floors and we haven't found that our 4 dogs have scratched it at all in the year and a half that we've had it.


----------



## sunnysandiegan (Mar 5, 2008)

We have new cork flooring throughout our entire main level and it looks FABULOUS!!!! I highly recommend checking it out.


----------



## just_lily (Feb 29, 2008)

I would love cork floors, but am really worried about scratches and dings from nails. We have old beat-up hardwood throughout our main floor, and carpet in the basement.

My hardwood floors are always a mess, mainly because the back door is off my dining room so the dogs drag mud and dirt in through there and then into the living room. We have tried area rugs several times but they just got so disgusting so fast we got rid of them. I am not sure if there are any scratches in the floor from the dog's nails because it is already so beat up you would never notice.

The carpet in the basement "looks" cleaner. You don't notice the hair as much, and by the time the dogs get down there they have already deposited the mud off their paws in my dining room so there isn't much dirt ever.


----------



## PuppyFluffer (Mar 18, 2002)

What kind of dog is this? I'm a professional dog groomer. I can give you some hints to help reduce the shedding I am sure...but shedding is just a fact of life with a dog. And I can totally understand your frustration with it as well!


----------



## Sailor (Jun 13, 2006)

I have a GSD. I know your pain. A GSD has no "shedding season." They just shed ALL year long. I'm a knitter, and I often joke that I could knit a sweater from my dog's hair.

Nothing will ever stop your dog from shedding. You might as well get used to that. Some things will alleviate it. But, your dog will ALWAYS shed. Just accept it - acceptance saves frustration!

I brush my dog outside twice a day - in the morning and evening. I feed him raw (meat). I NEVER allow my dog on the furniture. I have an the Dyson animal - which my partner uses to clean with while I supervise.







No, just kidding. I do use it too sometimes!

Your best friend will be a really good vacuum. Get the best vacuum that you can find, specifically made for animal hair. This vacuum will become your best friend.

I love the Dyson Animal, and it works fantastic for me.

Also, if you can, the number one thing that has helped us - getting rid of the carpet. When we were moving, we specifically rejected all condos (we're renters) that had carpet. Wood floor is SO much easier, I find.


----------



## SquishyKitty (Jun 10, 2005)

We got a furminator, and I just started sweeping nightly.

We have wood floors, so it helps clean up easier. However, the tradeoff is lots of little pawprints all over the place.

A canister vac that's easy to move around is our best friend. We didn't spend a lot, just got something reliable. We use it almost every day, and it works great.

The furminator is far superior to any other deshedding/undercoat removal tool out there. I have loaned ours to so many people and they're always shocked at how much fur they take off their pets.


----------



## momofmine (Jan 8, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *rebeccajo* 
Our furminator works great though, for cutting back on how much Kira sheds. Is a Furbuster the same thing?

When I went to the pet store to purchase a Furminator, they were out of stock. The salesperson said this was the same thing and that actually customers liked this better. She said a lot of Furminators got returned, and none of these ever did.







So I have no idea! It does get quite a lot of fur off of him. But maybe I should give the Furminator a try anyway.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sunnysandiegan* 
We have new cork flooring throughout our entire main level and it looks FABULOUS!!!! I highly recommend checking it out.









I really am thinking about cork. So you have it in your kitchen too? DO you have a dog?

Quote:


Originally Posted by *PuppyFluffer* 
What kind of dog is this? I'm a professional dog groomer. I can give you some hints to help reduce the shedding I am sure...but shedding is just a fact of life with a dog. And I can totally understand your frustration with it as well!

Thanks! He is a Labradoodle, half Labrador and half Standard poodle. But he is really big. He was being trained to be a service dog and he just got too big, so he had to be adopted. We really are so lucky because he had been through many tests to be a good candidate for the service dog program, and had already been trained for some time. I feel bad complaining about him because we've been lucky to have such a good dog!









His fur is very light, almost like a dirty white. And about 80% of people say they think he is an Irish wolfhound when they see him. What tips can you give me?









Quote:


Originally Posted by *Sailor* 
Some things will alleviate it. But, your dog will ALWAYS shed. Just accept it - acceptance saves frustration!

Also, if you can, the number one thing that has helped us - getting rid of the carpet. When we were moving, we specifically rejected all condos (we're renters) that had carpet. Wood floor is SO much easier, I find.

Yeah, I think acceptance is key for me here, I'm still fighting it!









What kind of wood floor do you have?

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SquishyKitty* 
A canister vac that's easy to move around is our best friend. We didn't spend a lot, just got something reliable. We use it almost every day, and it works great.

The furminator is far superior to any other deshedding/undercoat removal tool out there. I have loaned ours to so many people and they're always shocked at how much fur they take off their pets.

I do have a great vacuum, it's a Miele Cat and Dog. It does work great, although I do think that over time it has gotten less powerful. I've had it for about three years, got it shortly after the dog!

I wonder if it would be worth it to invest in the Dysan Animal. I should go look that up. I do LOVE my cansiter vac, and it does work great, it just doesn't work by itself! Now THAT would really help me!


----------



## Ola_ (Sep 5, 2008)

I think hardwood floors are MUCH better for dog hair than carpets. For one I feel like I can get all the hair cleaned up, while on carpet I know for sure that I'm not getting it all. Carpet eeks me out.

We just did a remodel of our kitchen/dining room area and put hardwood in the kitchen, dining room, and entrance way. We have an area rug in the entrance right by the door to catch any muddy/wet shoes and other than that it's just the wood floor. I was originally worried about wood in the kitchen but more and more people are doing it now and not having any issues with it.

We chose hickory hardwood in a natural stain. Hickory is the hardest north american wood I think (you can google "janka hardness scale") and we didn't want the exotic woods because of concerns about them coming from amazon forests, etc. The natural stain helps to conceal dog hair (our dogs shed light coloured fur) and any scratches, both of which you would see really well on dark floors. When DH and I were shopping for flooring we would do the "nail scratch test" on the samples, that is try to scratch/gouge the sample with your nail as hard as you can. Hickory was the only one that stood up to this, sadly bamboo and cork failed badly. I've heard that pecan is another wood of similar hardness so I'd suggest checking that out too.

It has held up REALLY well, even with our dog that frequently skitters around the corners and when running to the window cause she saw a squirrel.







I like the look of it too - it can look rustic or modern depending on it's surroundings. We are planning to replace the carpet in the upstairs living area with it also, and possibly the bedrooms as well.

Here's a pic of our floor:
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...g?t=1247494570
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...g?t=1247494633


----------



## momofmine (Jan 8, 2007)

That is beautiful! Thank you so much for posting pics! The more I talk and think about it the more impatient I am growing to get this carpet out!

Bummed to hear that about the cork and bamboo though. Who did you go through to have your flooring put in? Did just a regular contractor do it?


----------



## Ola_ (Sep 5, 2008)

We used a general contractor for our kitchen re-do and he brought in sub-contractors for the ceiling work, electrical, and flooring. Check out the hardwood that is available to you though - it may differ in durability depending on the source and how it's treated. Those were our findings based on our simple scratch test though.


----------



## momofmine (Jan 8, 2007)

The scratch test is good advice, thanks. I wouldn't have thought about that. Seeing it in person is probably a good idea if you are going to live with it!


----------



## Kyamo (Jun 14, 2006)

We have laminate floors and I have not seen a single scratch on them yet (the stuff we put in is 2yrs old, the stuff that was there when we bought it is older but I don't know how old) despite our dog running around on it with long nails for most of those 2 yrs.

I don't have any advice on the hair though, ours is a short-hair shedder, so it does get all over, and we pretty much just live with it. I don't find it gross, just irritating, mostly when it gets all over my black pants, lol.


----------



## sunnysandiegan (Mar 5, 2008)

We have cork flooring in our foyer, living room, coat closet, hallway, laundry room, powder room, project room, storage closet, and kitchen. We do not have a dog. We do have a long-haired kitten and a child. WE LOVE OUR CORK FLOORING!!!









The great properties of cork:
~ Acoustic insulation (similar to carpet in reducing noise)
~ Climate insulation (warmer in winter, like carpet; cooler in summer than carpet)
~ Cushion (not as soft as carpet, but WAY more comfortable than tile and even more comfy than hardwood or laminate for sitting, standing, falling, etc)
~ Dents and scratches "bounce back" due to the unique properties of the cork oak bark...for example, we purchased a new TV console and brought it inside and left it in the middle of the room...we didn't know it had these four tiny little "feet" for a fairly heavy piece of furniture...when we moved it into place a few hours later, we found the feet had left deep indentations in the floor...ugh...so, we flipped it on its back (onto several layers of cardboard and a towel between the cardboard and the floor) and pulled out the feet and adhered fleece to the entire bottom (for scratch protection when it gets moved)...the next day, the little feet indentations were barely noticeable...now, two weeks later, we can't even find the marks at all.
~ In the midst of our DIY install, my dad put one end of a piece of the cork floor in a few inches of water to test it. We checked it at half an hour, then at an hour, and every hour thereafter...by the time the cork had been sitting in water for nine hours, we gave up on the test and took it out. Aside from being a little slimy (until we dried it off), we couldn't tell which end had been in the water for nine hours and which hadn't. It didn't peel or swell or anything!

I also love that no trees were cut down for our floor. The cork oak tree lives for hundreds of years and the bark is stripped in an healthful manner to preserve the trees. There is a lot more info on this aspect online for those interested in learning more.

Specifically for scratches, let me tell you installing any click & lock flooring is MESSY! There is a LOT of sawdust and general construction mess involved. We installed one room at a time and it generally took two days per room, including all the steps from sweeping/shop-vac'ing/mopping to laying the moisture barrier to laying the floorboards to installing the baseboards. Although we cleaned up each evening, we had to walk through a lot of mess on the floor during the installation process each day. We also have a young kitten and an 8-year child. Friends have come to see, etc. No scratches from anything like that. The only scratches came from the night I dropped my end of the sofa when we were flipping it from its back to its bottom after a very long day and shoving it down the hallway into the project room so we could start the living room the next day. Two DEEP gouges and my heart sank.







However, the gouges have bounced back and only the very top surface is scratched, which a touch-up stick covered up well. No one else even notices.

We chose a medium warm brown color, kinda like a natural cherry wood or light walnut, for our cork floor. We didn't like the light, "natural" colors due to the natural pigment variations of the cork/bark. All the sample pieces we brought home ALWAYS looked dirty! They also resembled a bulletin board too much for our tastes. The super dark colors that are very popular just don't appeal to us. They show every speck of dust and would drive me bonkers. During the install, I was wondering if we made a mistake in our color choice because alllll the sawdust showed up SO MUCH!!! We were cleaning every single night and it got old real fast. However, we've only run our Roomba once in each room since we finished cleaning up from the final install last week and everything looks beautiful still! We're definitely in love with our new floor!!!


----------

