Hair, Hair, and More Hair

Photo from www.themalaysiantimes.com.my

The biggest complaint I hear from most people who are looking for a pet is that they want one that doesn’t shed.  They don’t want to deal with all the hair.  With 10 current residents in our Sanctuary, I can attest to the fact that the hair is a nightmare.  And to top it off I have long hair, which just adds to the mix.  I can’t tell you how many vacuum cleaners I have killed because of all the hair.  We finally ripped out all the carpet and use a shop vac.  J

This article give some simple tips to help clean up all that hair.  Of course the first step is regular vacuuming, but did you know you should start high and go low?  They also recommend you use a humidifier to help keep you and your house hydrated.  My favorite recommendation is that you us a damp mop or sponge to help pick up any excess hair that vacuuming didn’t get from carpet and furniture.  I can attest to the fact that this works wonders.

 

Photo from www.bellyrubspetcare.com  

 

This article basically says…clean, clean, and clean.  If you’re like me, you don’t always have time to clean and with all these dogs I would have to do it every day.  So of course, this lead me to do some research.  I found several articles about dealing with pet hair.  This one gave some great ideas.  I like the one that says dust with a dryer sheet because they are hair magnates.  Living on a gravel road though…it just can’t handle all that dust.  J

Personally I’ve found that daily grooming of your pet helps.  Especially the two times of year our pets shed heavily.  Around July is the worst because they blow out their winter coats.  American Eskimo Dogs are double coated.  They have an undercoat that keeps them warm in winter and this is the coat they shed every summer.  It literally comes out in clumps.  I have a grooming table that I pull out to do the heavy duty grooming.  In a perfect world all of them would get groomed daily.

 

Photo from www.flickr.com

But regular grooming does help keep the hair in the rest of the house down.  I will throw a blanket on the floor and call individual dogs over to me and groom while I’m watching television.  I have a garbage can next to me to throw the hair in and then I take the blanket outside to shake off all the excess hair.  This works great for multi-pet homes.  We also have blankets that we cover the furniture with.  This way we can take those out and shake the hair off and wash them regularly.

Photo from www.wienerwonderland.com

 

Of course you could always save all that pet hair and have something made out of it.  So I guess all my research agrees.  Regular grooming and regular cleaning is the best way to deal with pet hair.  Guess I better get out the shop vac when I get home.  J

Be Well & Be Happy,

Pet~Pourri