Filed under: Dog Grooming, Dog accessories, Dog fur everywhere, Dog health product | No Comments »
When you brush your dog, what kind of brush do you use? The FURminator is a popular dog health product that pulls out the dog’s undercoat and reduces shedding.
This can help keep your dog cooler in the summer, which will make your dog happier.
We tried a Furminator for about two weeks with our dog Vance and he hated it, despite our best efforts to get him to like it. I’m not sure if I wasn’t using it right (I watched the video, but maybe I held my wrist wrong).
The dog health product hairbrush we wound up using is the Zoom Groom from Kong. It’s easy to hold and does a good job of removing loose undercoat fur. With Vance’s short coat (he’s a yellow Lab), the Zoom Groom keeps him looking clean and tidy and has definitely cut down on his shedding. As an added bonus, the Zoom Groom is a lot cheaper than the FURminator, though it’s probably not quite as effective.
Which dog health product hair brush do you use? Have you tried the FURminator or the Zoom Groom?
P.S. Don’t forget to enter the Dog Treat Giveaway!
Filed under: Dog Grooming, Dog fur everywhere | Tags: iRobot Dirt Dog Review | No Comments »
I’ve had a iRobot Dirt Dog for about six months now and I gush crazily about it to everyone who visits, so clearly it was time to post a Dirt Dog review here.
Old friends know the floors in my house are the bane of my existence. They’re beautiful hardwoods (original to the house) that the previous owner refinished in a rich, dark color. It’s a great color… For someone who doesn’t have a yellow Lab.
Vance’s fur makes those yellow/white tumbleweeds that Labs’ dog fur so often does and no matter how often I sweep, it creeps under the furniture and spreads and multiplies. Ick!
But the Dirt Dog by Roomba… Ah. It’s amazing. It gets under all our furniture and works its way tightly around the legs of our dining room chairs (much more tightly than I can ever get the broom). It sucks up all the dog fur that gets all over the house, and takes itself in and out of rooms.
Because we only have hardwoods, I got the cheepo model (the Dirt Dog is actually for workshops, not for homes, but I’ve found it works perfectly on our floors), but with how wonderfully it works, I would have paid a lot more than the $150 sticker price I paid. If you have carpets, you’ll probably want to try one of the vacuum models because the Dirt Dog is actually just like a little robotic carpet sweeper–it doesn’t vacuum at all.
It empties straight into the trash, no bags needed. And it’s really easy to take care of–they include this cute little tool that gets all the hair that wraps around the rollers off in a jiff (and you know how that is–hair always wraps around the rollers!).
I cannot tell you how much time this little guy saves me, and Vance thinks it’s just a really fancy toy and follows it from room to room. Next, I’m eying their Scooba–what a luxury it would be to neither have to sweep *nor* mop ever again! But for now, I’m perfectly happy with my adorable Dirt Dog.
Filed under: Dog allergies, Dog fur everywhere | No Comments »
I have severe allergies. Like, really, really bad. So, we have several allergy air filters throughout the house. I’ve found they’ve made a dramatic difference in reducing my allergy symptoms and I’d love to share my three favorites here with you.
Basically, there are two main considerations you’ll need to know about when choosing your allergy air filter: the size of the room and the noise level you can tolerate. Everything else is pretty much just bells and whistles. If you have a small room (8×10 or smaller), there’s no reason not to just get something quiet, but if you have a larger room, the noisier allergy air filters are a little less expensive, so you can save some money if you can tolerate more noise.
So, here are my three favorites:
For larger rooms, this allergy air filter is fantastic. It’s highly reviewed, a great price, and is easy to take care of. Alas, it’s also really noisy, so it’s probably not the right choice for bedrooms.
For larger rooms where silence is golden, this model is a really wonderful choice. It’s low maintenance and is practically inaudible so it’s great for bedrooms of any size (up to 225 square feet).
For a room up to 80 square feet, this one is quiet and tiny so that you aren’t giving up a lot of space for your allergy air filter.
What do you do about rooms that are bigger than the recommended size for an allergy air filter? It depends how serious your allergies are and how much time your pet spends in that room. In our house, we have a giant den/sunroom space (almost 600 square feet), and that’s where we hang out most of the time with the dog. So, we have two allergy air filters (one on each end of the room) in there for maximum filtering abilities. If it were a room we didn’t use much, I’d probably put one in the middle of the space (where there’s a sofa table and outlet).
So, what do you think? Would an allergy air filter be helpful at your place to pull all that animal dander out of the air?
