A couple of years ago I tried the FURminator® deShedding tool. I asked “Can you sweep less often with the FURminator deShedding tool?“. Although I was really pleased with the results, the answer to that question for me was “no” because I didn’t keep using the brush (I’ve mentioned before how lazy I am!).
After I created my dog-friendly entryway, I renewed my commitment to keep the house cleaner. I could sweep more but I would rather sweep LESS so my attention turned back to the FURminator grooming tool. It claims to reduce shedding up to 90% so hopefully the cat-sized ball of hair I sweep off my wood floors every 5th Tuesday of the month, whether it needs it or not, would turn into a hamster-sized clump.
FURminator sent me a new tool, appropriate for short-haired dogs up to 20 lbs, to try (I lost the last one and it was for a cat anyway). I had kind of forgotten how good my last experience was but found the second one to be very similar when I went back and reviewed my old post. In short, I was really pleased with the results.
This time around I decided to really test how much the deShedding tool would reduce the hair on my floor by…actually using it more than once! Chester has more hair than Gretel so I used the tool on him to remove as much hair as I could in a couple of minutes and then used it again two days later.
I was shocked at the results. Although Chester has more hair than Gretel, I expected there to be much less hair the second time I used it. As you can see, the deShedding tool removed almost as much pet hair. No wonder their is so much hair on my floor!
There are three reasons that I LOVE the FURminator deShedding tool:
- It pulled out a lot of hair and some dander but edge didn’t scratch or irritate Chester and Gretel’s thin skin
- Chester and Gretel’s coat looked nicer and smoother after I used the tool
- I will have less pet hair on my floor….and in my bed….and on my clothes….and possibly less in my food.
I suspect that I will get the benefit of less dog hair around my house even if I only brush them around once a week but I admit I am worried about sticking with using the FURminator grooming tool even a few times a month.
I have a hard enough time remembering to clip Chester and Gretel’s nails as often as I should. I need to be better about their nails though so I am recommitting to that too. Since using the tool takes me two to three minutes per dog, there is no good reason that I can’t find the time to add some deShedding to our grooming routine.
As you can see, Chester thoroughly enjoys it anyway.
Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by FURminator on behalf of the BlogPaws Blogger Network . I am being compensated for helping spread the word about FURminator, but YouDidWhatWithYourWeiner.com only shares information we feel is relevant to our readers and everything we say is really how we feel. FURminator is not responsible for the content of this article.
Jenna,Mark “HuskyCrazed” Drady says
April 10, 2014 at 6:05 AMWe love the furminator! With three huskies, the shedding in my house is crazy!!!! The furminator is a huge help!!!!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
Jessica Rhae says
April 10, 2014 at 6:19 AMYou know how they say you need to see or have a good experience with something more than once to buy it or use it? I think that just happened with me. A couple of years ago when I first tried it, I liked it. I forgot though and now I’ve been reminded how well it works on a tiny dog. I will probably still not use it as often as I probably should but I will definitely use it every time I clip their nails.
As you can see, Chester actually really liked having his hair combed. Gretel stood there frozen and looked a little scared….like she does with EVERYTHING`. Ha, ha.
Abby says
April 10, 2014 at 6:12 AMSuch a cute expression as you’re grooming!
We have two German shepherds, so the amount of fur in our house is UNREAL. We do have a Furminator, but I don’t use it, because I don’t like that it rips out the guard hairs of the dogs’ coats. Instead, we use a standard shedding rake, and that has seemed to be very helpful as the girls are blowing coat in the spring.
Jessica Rhae says
April 10, 2014 at 6:16 AMThat makes sense. Chester and Gretel don’t have guard hairs….just hairs 🙂 Really though, all of their hairs are the same texture, length, etc. I am glad to be able to throw it in the trash than to have to sweep it up or wear it 🙂
Roxy the traveling dog says
April 10, 2014 at 6:24 AMI have often wondered how those would so on Torrey’s thick double coat.
jan says
April 10, 2014 at 7:25 AMWe use the Furminator for bonding time so it makes it easier to remember to use it. Even though Poodles don’t shed, they need to have dead hair removed from their coats from time to time.
Jessica Rhae says
April 11, 2014 at 7:38 PMWell, as you can see, Chester really liked it. He likes being held like a baby and pampered. Don’t tell anyone though. He might lose his man card 🙂
Jessica says
April 10, 2014 at 8:38 AMHuh. I’d never thought about grooming tools for short-haired dogs. But we’re in a similar boat. Silas has almost *no* hair, yet it still gets on everything I own.
I went the other route and just started sweeping a lot more. LOL.
Jessica Rhae says
April 11, 2014 at 7:40 PMI cant’ believe how much a tiny, short hair dog sheds! Seriously. How are they not bald?
Jerimi says
April 10, 2014 at 10:41 AMGoodness, LOOK at that handsome dog. What a difference!
Jessica Rhae says
April 10, 2014 at 12:56 PMHe’s lucky…his coat has always been thick and shiny. Pulling out the lose hairs made it looks much smoother though.
Emma says
April 10, 2014 at 12:49 PMMom would love to try one of those on my sheddy sister Katie some time. Bailie and I don’t really shed, and we have a good stripping brush that works for our fur. Anything to keep Katie’s tumbleweeds at bay would be nice.
Jessica Rhae says
April 10, 2014 at 12:51 PMHa, ha……”tumbleweeds”. I suppose it is like that if your dog has long hair. We have more like tumbletwigs at my house 🙂
Genevieve says
April 10, 2014 at 2:25 PMMom Furminates me once or twice a week. She still has to Swiffer the floor every single day. If she misses a day, there’s too much hair for the Swiffer pad to hold. Mom is threatening to save the hair and build a new dog and throw me in the garbage! *gulp*
Love and licks,
Cupcake
Jessica Rhae says
April 10, 2014 at 3:03 PMHave you seen those tutorials on how to knit a sweater out of your dog’s hair? ick 🙂
Jana Rade says
April 10, 2014 at 9:59 PMI love FURminator. And yes, it needs to be used more than once. Our dogs don’t shed evenly at the full body at once. Jasmine always shedded front-to-back, and, curiously, Cookie seems to be shedding back to front. This take place over quite a period of time. So even if the FURminator removes all the loose fur at the time of brushing, more fur gets loose after that.
I too found out that with some dogs the amount of undercoat they have can be very deceiving. Our guys don’t look like they have much hair at all. They don’t shrink to half-size when wet. You’d think there is hardly any fur on them at all. WRONG. There is a whole sheep-worth hiding under the top coat. When Jasmine was shaved for her surgeries, it was clearly visible how thick that really is.
Jessica Rhae says
April 11, 2014 at 7:43 PMThat’s interesting about the shedding pattern. I’ve never thought of that. I think most of Chester’s shedding comes from his scruff. His hair is longer and thicker on the back of his neck.
I think there is a sheep hiding under Chester and Gretel’s coat too 🙂
Jackie Bouchard says
April 11, 2014 at 6:46 AMI should really start brushing Rita more often! (We don’t use a furminator, but have a brush used for horses that gets out the undercoat… I can never remember what it’s called. A rake??) Anyway, I’m lazy too. I’m thinking… if I put the brush in the garage, and then came in through the garage from our walks, maybe I could brush her right when we get home a couple of times a week.
Jessica Rhae says
April 11, 2014 at 7:47 PMI thought you were going to say “if I put the brush in the garage and walk past it, it will work”. Kind of like osmosis. Ha, ha. I think the key is putting it where you remember to do it. I’ve put it by the nail clipping and ear cleaning stuff so I remember to do it when I do that. Now, only if I can remember to clip their nails and clean their ears 🙂
Kimberly Gauthier says
April 15, 2014 at 6:36 PMWe have a FURminator for every pet in the house now. When I pull it out of my nightstand, the cats come running because they love to be groomed. When the dogs seem me pull it out, I see mixed reactions. Sydney loves it. The puppies don’t understand yet, but they think they like it. Rodrigo isn’t a fan so we no longer use his – we’ve returned to his regular brush.
5 out of 6 isn’t bad.
Isn’t it amazing how you’d think that the 2nd day, there’d be less hair? Now I know where our tumble-hairballs are coming from.