Following on from thw whole 'do dogs smell...?' debate, I noticed a lot of people [raising the dyson hoover as th ebest way to get rid of dog hair. I am going to be getting a long coat German Shepherd in August and obviously want to try and keep on top of the cleaning (I don't care about dog hair, or mud etc., but obviously want to keep the place as clean as possible). I obviously will be grooming every day, but I heard about a new model Dyson called the 'animal' which has been specifically designed to cope with pet hair, and which also contains an antibacterial/antimicrobe agent which helps to combat allergic reactions etc. Has anyone got this model, or does anyone know of an excellent brand of hoover which will be able to cope with a very shaggy GSD?!

Hi Nanny

I have 6 Sharpei living in my house, and I to bought the Dyson animal, after upgrading from the De-still and a dc04 and I wouldn't look back, its easy to empty, not one of the lightest models to push, but it most certainly does what it says :-) Great for doing the stairs also.  Wouldn't be without it.  It has gone into semi retirement now, due to laminate flooring being installed downstairs, but a couple of times a week I hoover over the laminate, and again it handles the dust/hair super.

Thanks for that. I have been looking into the best deals for getting one (they aren't the cheapest...) and it looks as though amazon is the best. I definitely need a good hoover with a dog like a long haired German Shepherd on its way!

Nannyogg, there are a few brand new Dyson Animals on ebay less than amazon's prices - depends on the model you are looking for from the range though

http://search.ebay.co.uk/dyson-animal_W0QQfkrZ1QQfromZR8

Yep, I have a Dyson 'Animal' and it's the only machine I've found that can cope with all the hair from 4 dalmatians. And anyone who's had a dalmatian will tell you horror stories about their hair!

Also it's quick and easy to empty, and you don't need to buy filters - just wash the one it has every 6 months.
:)

My house contains 7 labs and 3 dysons, my original DC01, a tubby for the stairs and the Animal.  But since I have all wooden floors throughout the house its the tubby that gets most use.

ive got one aswell,its very good gets all the hairs up and is good for the stairs aswell,ido have to clean the filters about every 3 weeks though,but its better than having to buy new ones.

Yep ive got animal dyson too, its brilliant!

It sounds like it will be a godsend to get a Dyson animal. I am also pondering whether to get a hand held steam cleaner too, so I can go over my sofa every few months. To be honest, it needs going over now and that is without a dog (my partner can be very grubby at times - typical man!). Has anyone used one of these and exactly how do they work (I get the whole 'blasting stains with steam' thing, but on upholstery, do you steam the area and then brush it out or wash it out??!)

I bought a combined vaccum and steam cleaner at crufts. The steam cleaner is very good at certain things, not at others. If you want it to kiil germs and flea eggs on carpets nd upholstery, it is great, on hard surfaces such as floors, windows and tiles very good. However if you want to clean carpets and upholstery I would say get a carpet cleaner. Since it uses only steam to clean at best you try to push the dirt infront of the steam jet, great on a hard surface where you can wipe it up but it dosent work very well on soft furnishings, especially on large areas. Have to say that it is the first vaccuum I have found that I can use without sneezing as it filters the dirt through water. 

Hi NannyOgg,

I have 3 BSDs - long double coats but not as long or thick as your GSDs will be ;)  I also have an Animal Dyson and yes, it's good - but to be honest for long hairs it's not great!  You'll have to regularly cut all the long hairs off the roller brushes too! Also if you've never owned any kind of Dyson before you'll find (assuming here it's an upright :rolleyes: ) that it's a cumbersome and chunky main body which doesn't fit around/under furniture or radiators set a few inches off the floor :(
Personally I think any type of bagless vacuum is OK if you get the ultimate hair free grooming tool - a blaster :P   If you groom your dog with this weekly (:NB: outside only) you'll rarely see ANY hair in your home and much less dust too.  With only one dog you wouldn't have to buy an expensive model (may get one on ebay or try "Bring and Buy" on forum).

regards, Teri :)    

I wonder if I should invest in one for my lot (five Elkies) as all my family maon about head to toe hair on their clothes :D

Surely it would be simpler to just hoover the dogs??!! ha ha

;-)

Not so funny Labmad, I actually do hoover my dogs. they love it. ;)  It is amazing how much dead hair can be sucked up. especially before coming into season when they can literally blow there coats.  I could never get the stairs hoovered because Megan would always sit on the stair waiting to get 'sucked' 

Bramble loves to be hoovered by the Dyson Turbo tool :D I wouldn't try it on Tara tho' as she has a longer coat and it might get caught up on the teeth :)

Daisy

Is any hoover good for a long haired dog? I don't have a dyson, but another brand that says its picks up dogs furs, and to be honest it does, and like you, I was forever trying to get the hair out of the attachments. I only have carpet on the stairs so I didn't think buying an expensive hoover the best choice. I definately decided after my boy went to go for a dog with short hair and who doesn't molt too much.

I'll be dfferent here. I HATED my Dyson animal, it was absolutely useless -would not pick up any hairs. It had to be repaired 3 times in the first year and after 2 years when the guarantee ran out I binned it.  It would pick up on floors but not carpets, at times I could go over a hair 20 times without it being picked up.This was even when brand new. I've now bought a Morphy Richard Orb Pets, bagless, from Argos at £90, less than a third of what I paid for the Dyson and it picks up ten times better!

Marianne

My parents have the DC05 its great we borrow it all the time, getting our own soon there are quite a few animal models to choose from

I have the Dyson Animal DC08 and its brilliant, I'v got wooden floors throughout downstairs and its easy to run round every day.  I found the cheapest on the net was from a company called 'http://www.kencoonline.co.uk (not coffee), next day free delivery fantastic service, £209.99.

i have the miele dog and cat, light, efficient, ~WHICH? top make and much much cheaper than a Dyson!

Im chuffed with my Dyson its for hard floors and carpets, picks up cat fur and dog fur. Both being white it shows on everything.

I have an incredible knack of people coming round and wanting to give it a test drive, mostly men. So I have a cup of tea whilst they run around doing my hoovering.

Emma D
x

Yep the animal is defo the best one.

I have a hairy yellow lab and have to hoover every day practically but it doesn't half shift the hairs and it's so easy to empty and my word......you should see the stuff that you do actually empty you would be surprised....my house is not dirty by any means but it doesn't half pull up the stuff from the carpets.

Also I have found that the carpets are a bit springyer than before.

Em

Hi Teri

Me being a bit dim on the dog grooming front, what's a blaster when it's at home?! :)

Lindsay
X

Miele here also. Wonderful machine, wouldn't use anything else.

I've got an ordinary Dyson and (now) 2 long coat GSD's (though one's just a pup, so just has fuzz). It's not THAT great with their very long hair. I find it wraps round the beater bar and I have to cut if off with a pair of scissors. I would love to know of a hoover that's really good for long hair!

Kat

I'm another boring person with a Dyson Animal :) I've only had it since the autumn, but so far, so good :)

Daisy

Just found this Which? report (can only copy/paste, wouldn't let me do anything else !). So many to pick from - might help.

Upright vacuums

The sole below-average brand is also the most popular make - Dyson cleaners were owned by almost half of those surveyed. Dyson has also come out badly in previous surveys, a great shame because its DC07 Animal and DC14 All Floors models are excellent cleaners.

OVERALL RELIABILITY 79%
Total base size: 5,118 machines up to six years old

ABOVE AVERAGE
Electrolux, Hitachi, Oreck, Panasonic, Sebo

AVERAGE
Hoover

BELOW AVERAGE
Dyson


Cylinder vacuums

Here, Bosch, Miele, Morphy Richards and Numatic were all above average. Miele also turns in an excellent show in our tests - so it can offer good, versatile cleaning power with a long life span. Again, Dyson is the only below-average brand.

OVERALL RELIABILITY 91%
Total base size: 2,592 machines up to six years old

ABOVE AVERAGE
Bosch, Miele, Morphy Richards, Numatic

AVERAGE
Electrolux, Goblin, Hoover, Panasonic

BELOW AVERAGE
Dyson


To find out which brands are the most reliable, we sent questionnaires to 30,000 Which? readers in October 2003. We received 13,821 replies.

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Hi have an asda special lol, cylinder. mine broke just as i decided to spring clean living room so i had to rush out and get one quick. i must say its very good, sucked up the carpet so much that i couldnt move it lol
Jane

Oh Ive got a DC14, excellent on hard floor, especially picking up flaming cat litter. Its also good on my lounge carpet and upstairs carpets which are very deep pile.

I would imagine only one without a brush bar that turns, so suck and no paddle, otherwise hair winding is inevitable.  So a good cylinder.

Thankfully the Elkhounds don't so long hair (well no longer than a couple of inches just bags and bags of thick top and undercoat.  I always wonder how on earth I have carrier bas fullof caot and the dogs are still not bald.

Brainless
It has a brush bar and attachments, It really is good and only cost me £30.00 lol gets up blossoms hairs lol
Jane

lazydaze....
Which one is it????
i have a Henry, which is ok, but doesnt do one of the rooms properly :(
Have 2 asdas near me. And would be willing to pay £30 to have one upstairs!!!!!!
So which make it it???
Many thanks
Lea :)

Sorry lea, was out for the evening.
Its all blk and called NORMENDE 1600 watts.
It has a switch for carpets and wood flooring.
Watch if you have it on full suction lol, it will pick up the carpet.
Jane

Thanks Jane.
Will look next time I am in asda :) :)
Lea :) :)

Your welcome Lea.
Let me know what you think of it.
Jane

Hi Lindsay, apologies - only just seen your reply ;)  a blaster is basically a dog specific dryer, (not the cabinet type), and makes a HUGE difference to coat presentation in a breed such as ours from a show perspective, makes grooming a breeze and enormous difference to amount of household hair and dust from their coats.  Some of the larger trade stands at Champ shows sell them or you'll find them on-line at major grooming suppliers like Petcetera and such like.
Try http://www.allbrooks.co.uk/Allbrooks/AllBrooksIndex.htm click on "power pac" or "super power pac" for an idea of ones which are probably quite inexpensve and suitable for ordinary domestic use :)   If going to the Continent or the USA you can get similar products at greatly reduced prices but order them in advance with voltage appropriate for the UK - John brought ours back from US (yeah, conned there I was :rolleyes: saved about 80 quid on the blaster and spent about 1k on his boys trip to Vegas :P
Mine is a "must have" and far easier than towelling down muddy legs, tails and feathers etc in winter too as not only dries them off but blasts all the gritty bits out :)   Regards, Teri

Sorry, I am a bit of a dunce here - do they act like a human hair-dryer, but for dogs, or do they actually 'blow out' moulting hair and dirt (or both?) I am going to be getting a long-coat german shepherd, and I think once it gets its thick adult coat something like this might be quite useful for helping to keep her coat clean as well as my house. Would it be suitable for a long coat GSD?

It's really good for the Aussies - and they have long coats!    It does blast out the dead hair, as well as blasting out the dirt.    When I first purchased it, I thought that I might be able to "blast" the dead hair out of the persian cats - but when I tried it for the first time - and it blew a cup off the cup rack in the kitchen, I thought better of it - unless someone was standing at the bottom of the garden wearing baseball mitts :D

Margot

Hi NannyOgg,

Yes, it "blasts" - quite powerfully :P - all the dirt, loose hair, grit, dried mud, dead skin/dandruff and as Margot says obliterates from the locale any light object, pets and small children :D

Regards, Teri

ps. seriously, it is perfect for your breed - I replied to your earlier post recommending it because you were getting a long coat GSD it was just that Lindsay picked up on it and enquired further - the original suggestion further up the page was to yourself ;)

Couldn't find a price list for it?

Hi Barbara,

Sorry - don't know what's wrong with my emails but I'm only getting about half through on time and others about 12 hours late so have only seen the one asking if it would be any good for your furbies :)  It would be great for your lot - during moults instead of endless brushing, combing and as you know all the mess that seems to go on for weeks I find that if they're thoroughly done when it's obvious the coat is loosening then again 3-4 days later it's all gone :D :D :D  The dogs actually love the sensation, it really cuts down on housework, family can go out looking like their clean for a change and the birds get lots of nesting material too.

As to prices I think (memory :rolleyes:) they start at the £160-180  I only used that link for the photos, didn't even look for a list.  There are several makes, just had a look at mine which is a Metro Airforce Commander.   I think it was priced £190 at a stand at LKA about 3 years ago but we'd already bought in the US for half that and I know a few BSD folk have brought them back from France saving about £60/70.  Definitely worth shopping around if overseas isn't an option.
Regards Teri :)

Well if I am to ever have non doggy visitors again then I think I need to seriously think of investing in one.  Especialy as the older they get they find the laborious tweezing out of the dead coat (especially in the veterans spayed coats) irksome.  I find once they are spayed the dead coat sticks more and is harder to get out cleanly and quickly as it is in the younger ones who are entire.

Only thing is Brainless, the older the dog is when you start with it, the less they like it :(

Thor and Gypsy are rather reluctant - they almost wrap their paws around themselves to try & keep their coats on :D

Loki, Vinnie, Beau & Freya are all quite happy with it though!

Margot

:D Margot

>they almost wrap their paws around themselves to try & keep their coats on<

To be fair, I found the opposite, my eldest girl Porsche was 12 when we got ours and she'd always been intolerant of grooming but for some reason she LOVED being blasted - especially under the chin and behind her ears :D   When we got it I thought Porsche would just go hide - didn't think she'd even tolerate the noise - but nope, mine all queue up and (God rest her little fluffy paws) Porsche used to queue up again in the hope of round two.

regards, Teri :) 

Our former breed club secretaries have got one for their lot and said their dogs love it :D

Hi,

To be honest i have the Dyson animal and I don't particlarly rate it by choice wouldn't buy another.

With 5 children
       4 Golden Retrievers
       1 cat

it performed average don't think its worth or the hype or the expense.Its useless for cleaning the car with the tools,tools were not much better in the house either much prefer some of the American models.
Dyson your paying for the name I dont think it picks the hair any better than most other hoovers believe me we have hair.

Briony :-)

I just found out that the Henry range do a dog and cat hair hoover, and it is so much cheaper than the Dyson. My parents gave me their old Dyson so they could get a Henry and they think it is a much better hoover, although they don't have pets...

Hi NannyOgg   (pratchett fan?  Me TOO!)

i have a dyson, not an animal but a DCO5 that I got brand new for £89 Ebay.  Its absolutely fabulous.  With two schnauzers prancing around the house and rolling on the (beige) carpet I thought it would never look spotless but within an hour of opening it the house looked and smelt better than it has done for ages.  I'd totally recommend it but guess its all down to personal choice!  :D

Do you *have* to talk about blasters? *sigh* *cry* :D :D

They're everywhere aren't they :D  oops, except your place ....   :D