Photo Courtesy of ShedMonster
Chester and Gretel shed a ridiculous amount. Considering their hair is about 1 hair thick in many places I am surprised that they are not bald.
I don’t like sweeping up a whole extra dog each time I clean so I have searched, in vain, for a good grooming solution to get rid of the hair.
At one point I had looked at the Furminator because I had heard good things about it but those sharp teeth scared me off. I have tried rubber, “curry” type brushes with no success. When I got an offer to try the ShedMonsterDe-Shedding Tool I jumped at the chance because it is supposed to work as well as the Furminator but be gentler on your dog’s skin. It claims to reduce shedding up to 90% so I hoped this would let me sweep my floor less.
I got both the long and short hair versions of the tool to try. Because of Chester’s thick scruff I didn’t know if I would need the one for long hair. I had high hopes for this brush as a solution to the doggy shedding issue.
As soon as I got them, I ripped them out of the package and gave them a try. I was sadly disappointed. The tool for the short hair might have pulled out two hairs after brushing Chester for a minute.
I thought maybe I was doing it wrong but a couple of quick views on YouTube and I was assured that I was doing it right. These people were pulling wads of hair off their dogs and it appeared that no video magic or trickery was being used.
The dogs with “short hair” in the videos appeared to have longer hair than Chester and Gretel. I began to suspect that the fact the tool didn’t work was more of a reflection of how thin and flat the hair is on my dogs rather than a failing in the tool itself.
This last week we were dog-sitting a long-haired Dachshund for some friends.
I decided to try the long hair ShedMonsterDe-Shedding Tool on her. It was immediately obvious that the brush was gripping her hair and after 5 or 10 brush strokes I had a small handful of hair.
Success! It worked. She also loved how the brush felt and laid down while I was brushing her with it.
I haven’t had a chance to try the “short hair” tool on another dog but assume, too, that it would work on a dog that had a little more hair than Chester and Gretel. In other words, if you have a short-haired dachshund this tool will likely not work for you. However, it worked just great for our friend Roxy the Traveling Dog but she is a little fluffier than my dogs.
So I would recommend the ShedMonsterDe-Shedding Tool to a friend if their dog had the right kind of hair (and I think at least 80% of the dogs out there do) but it didn’t help our shedding issue. You will find me sweeping up big piles of pet hair until we can find something that works for us.
ShedMonster Pros
- Teeth are rounded so they are less likely to scratch your dog’s skin
- Ergonomic, non-slip grip handle
- De-Sheds, De-Mats & De-Tangles
ShedMonster Cons
- Doesn’t work if your dog’s coat is thin and lies flat
- Can grab and pull your dog’s hair when you are brushing
Bottom Line
- I would recommend the Shedmonster De-shedding Tool for most dogs, except those with short, slick coats.
The honest truth: ShedMonster did provide us with the tool to try and review. However, according to our review policy, a positive review was not guaranteed. I was not compensated for the actual review.
Chancy, Mumsy and Crew says
September 23, 2011 at 5:21 AMThanks for the nice review. Chancy has hair much like Chester and Gretel so I don’t think this would work for us either. Hugs
AdventureJess says
September 23, 2011 at 5:50 AMYeah, I think it is a great tool just not for dogs with really short hair.
Janis H. says
September 23, 2011 at 6:06 AMJessica, you might want to try a Fine Stripping Knife – we got a Coarse one for Tag, and it stripped out TONS of his fuzzy undercoat. The Fine ones may be just right for smooth/flat coats like Chester and Gretel have. Here’s a link to one for sale on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Groomaster-Stripping-Knives-Fine/dp/B00061MPP6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316786349&sr=8-1
AdventureJess says
September 23, 2011 at 7:05 AMThanks!!! That looks promising. I think I need something that drags along the survace of th hair but snags the loose ones and pulls them out. It’s also inexpensive enough that I don’t mind getting it just to give it a try.
Elizabeth says
September 23, 2011 at 7:07 AMGreat review! I should try it out of Penny 🙂
2browndawgs says
September 23, 2011 at 7:30 AMWe really don’t brush the 2 brown dawgs much. We swim them when they are blowing coat and it seems to do the trick. I see it is supposed to work on cat fur, but I do wonder how well it would work? I have a hard time with Nestle’s coat when she is shedding. Unfortunately, her coat lays kind of flat, so maybe I would have the same problem you had. 🙂
AdventureJess says
September 23, 2011 at 7:42 AMYeah, I would imagine you might have the same trouble with a really short haired cat but I couldn’t say for sure because sometimes a cat’s hair is more downy. Chester and Gretel’s fur is kind of coarse so it doesn’t give the tool much to grab onto.
jme says
September 23, 2011 at 9:20 AMthe furminator does work well on the short hair. just be careful on the curves of their body and spine….but it is a lifesaver to me. also kong zoom groom loosens and collects a lot of hair- my other fav.
AdventureJess says
September 23, 2011 at 9:39 AMI found that this ShedMonster scraped over Chester’s bones in too many places. Also, he is a small dog so the width became an issue in tight spots. I inagine the Furminator would be the same for us but I am glad to know that you have has success with it. I think the rubber “curry” style brush I used with no success was made by Kong. I can’t be sure though. I will check it out. Thanks!
Earl - The Canadian Weiner says
September 26, 2011 at 1:42 PMMy human is so tricky it’s ridiculous. She too, hates to sweep and vacuum up all of our hair so she tries to keep it under control by vacuuming us. Yup, we love the vacuum. Hose with brush attachment, of course. And I especially love the dustbuster. I follow her around like a fool when she gets it out.
furfilled says
September 26, 2011 at 11:50 PMHave you heard of anyone trying those vacuum brushes? I’ve been slowly desensitizing Toki to our vacuum cleaner in the hopes of one day trying those out! : )
furfilled says
September 26, 2011 at 11:52 PMhaha – I must have missed that last posted comment, because I see that Earl actually uses a vacuum. So I guess I’m not crazy after all! I’ve seen it used on horses, and they seem to like it.
AdventureJess says
September 27, 2011 at 5:03 AMIt would never work for Chester or Gretel. They are scared to death of the vaccum.
Tiffany says
July 15, 2014 at 1:27 PMI have a beagle/ Cavalier King Charles spaniel mix I use the cat version of the shed monster on him (I got it for free from a friend) and it works great on his neck and fluffy butt but it totally gets NOTHING for the soft super slick flat laying fur on his back (until you get to his butt), legs and face. You could maybe try a lint mitt? The velvety kind that you rub the wrong way on things (He growl-purrs and rolls over for belly grooming willingly). It works pretty good for those silky ‘I must find your pillow or hang out on the couch impossible to remove’ hairs we get shed around here. Overall I would say 7/10 – I went in with 0 expectations though. It works way better than a rake brush or a flea comb for this dog.
Jessica Rhae says
July 16, 2014 at 8:15 AMThanks for the suggestion. I might have to try that out. The tiny hairs get EVERYWHERE.