Cleaning & Organizing
laurenpaula
member
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Re: cleaning your house with a dog that sheds...
Dog hair maintenance mostly involves floors and furniture. For floors, we swiff and vacuum a few times a week. We should probably do it every day but we're not that motivated. lol.
Furniture isn't as high maintenance, as our dog mostly stays on his blankets so the hair isn't that bad; as long as I wash his blankets fairly regularly (once every ten days or so), I can get away with lint brushing once a week. I use the Pledge fabric sweeper; it works very well. I also use the sticky roller kind.
Quincy and Dexter, new BFFs
I used to be kris216.
Two things that have helped TREMENDOUSLY have been changing to a grain-free, high-quality food and the Furminator. Both of these are more expensive, but like the Dyson, do give better results.
There is a web site on dog food quality that is helpful--www.dogfoodanalysis.com. It rates the quality of food and I was surprised to find that many of the brands at the grocery store are not as good as I thought. I was feeding Iams--not so good. The Pets board has taught me a lot about this issue. While buying the food is more expensive, it is not full of fillers, so less is needed for nutrition. There is less shedding, less poop, and less of the doggy smell. I used to roll my eyes at this, but I am seeing a big difference.
The Furminator is expensive for a dog brush, but is actually worth it, especially since it is a one-time purchase. I really gets out a LOT of hair without discomfort to the pet. In the past, when I used a wire comb, the dogs didn't like it. They don't mind the Furminator and it is really good for dogs with an undercoat. I have a Great Pyrenees at 130 pounds, a 70 pound husky, and four cats, so I have a great set of circumstances to test it. You can usually find it cheaper on Amazon if you keep looking.
I got a Dyson on sale with a gift certificate, so it wasn't as expensive as it usually would be, and I can say it really does a good job also. I know someone (a picky one at that) who bought a refurbished one on Amazon and has been quite happy with it.
Ditto the Furminator; it's awesome. Our dog is short-haired and we still get a ton of loose fur off of him with it. We do feed a good quality food but there is still always going to be some fur.
Quincy and Dexter, new BFFs
I used to be kris216.
Leather furniture, hardwoods floors, sweep every few days, and vacume/mop once a week.
as pp mentioned:
good food (if you can't afford it, kirkland brand from costco is great from the money)
furminator
buy a rake on amazon
I have 2 german shepherds and a german shepherd mix, the furminator doesn't always get it all, so then I switch to the rake. It gets even more.
I also wash the dog bedding 2x a month. I sweep every other day when they are blowing their coats (fall and spring) The tumbleweeds, I deal with and pick up as they accumulate and especially as guests are visiting! Thankfully we don't have carpet.
Ditto everything Fallbride said. The furminator is insanely expensive in stores, but you can get GREAT deals on Amazon or Ebay. I think we paid under twenty for the large size.
Also, invest in a good vacuum. We have a Dyson and it's the only vacuum that's been able to stand up to all the hair without clogging.