This post may contain affiliate links. If you click and buy something that I recommend, I might receive a small commission.
“Hey, we just got a new corgi puppy and I love him/her so much. But, the one thing I was curious about is…how do you control all the dog hair?”
I get this message in my Instagram inbox several times a month, and rightly so.
The dog hair struggle is REAL people.
As the proud owner of two Pembroke Welsh Corgis, I have learned a few facts about dog hair:
- It will get everywhere.
- You cannot stop it.
There is no getting around it or away from it. Aside from shaving my corgis (which I DO NOT recommend), their hair is going to shed whether I want it to or not.
With that being said, I have spent the last 3 years of my life battling this war on dog hair, and I am happy to report that I have dog hair control down to a science.
There are 4 products I use on a weekly basis to control the dog hair in my house:
The Best Vacuums For Dog Hair
1. Shark Rotator Professional Lift-Away
I don’t vacuum my house every day, but once a week I pull out this MONSTER of a vacuum.
The Shark Rotator is one of the best selling vacuums on the market, and for good reason. It’s lightweight and easy to lift/maneuver, but it’s also SUPER tough on dirt and dog hair.
The suction force that this vacuum puts out is nothing to mess around with. I’ve definitely lost a charging cord or two to it. (Nom Nom)
Not only is this thing tough on dog hair, but it’s also really versatile and can adapt to any situation. It comes with a lift-away function (great for homes w/ stairs) along with a ton of hose attachments.
The best part about this vacuum is that It works well on all flooring types. We use it on everything from laminate to shag rugs.
2. bObsweep Robot Vacuum
This robot vacuum, bOb, is a real trooper. He ended up outliving our initial robot vacuum (Roomba) and he’s showing no signs of giving up anytime soon.
I run him once a day until his battery dies. I usually have him go around the most trafficked area of our house (living room/kitchen area). He does pretty well with navigating. I don’t notice him favoring one side of the house or the other.
On occasion, I’ll find him stuck on something, but that’s the give-and-take with these automated guys.
One thing I really love about him is that bOb has a much larger collector bin than our Roomba did, so he’s able to handle larger sections of our house without needing to be emptied. I usually needed to dump our Roomba 2 or 3 times while he was running, so the larger collector bin is a big plus in my book.
I’m not sure how the other bObsweep vacuums do in comparison. The bObsweep line has several models of these little guys. We bought the higher-end model, the Pet hair Plus. Even the higher-end model is much cheaper than the lower end Roombas on the market, so I can’t complain too much about the cost.
The Best Grooming Products
3. Slicker Brush
Weekly grooming is something that can easily fall by the wayside when life gets hectic. But, when done properly, grooming can make a huge difference in your dog’s weekly hair output. Even something as simple as a bristle brush can help reduce regular shedding.
However, not all brushes or coat types are created equal. If you have a dog with a double coat, then I have a brush for you!
A slicker brush can help keep your dog’s coat stay healthy, mangle free, and keep the dog hair in your house under control.
Dogs that are double-coated have a woolly undercoat and a coarse topcoat. With double-coated dogs, most of the shedding you see actually comes from their undercoat and not their topcoat.
Slicker brushes work by raking and removing the loose fur trapped in the undercoat. You can easily collect the loose fur on the brush and throw it away long before it naturally sheds and spreads throughout your home.
4. Hands On Gloves
I was walking through a Pet Expo a few years ago and I saw these grooming gloves for the first time. I bought them right then and there. I was THAT sold on them once their sales rep demonstrated them to me.
These Hands On Grooming Gloves are a bath time game-changer. They were originally designed for grooming and bathing horses, but they seem to work just as good on dogs! (especially double-coated dogs)
The gloves are designed to be used dry or wet, but I have found they work best when used during bath time.
During baths, I can massage shampoo and conditioner deep into my dogs’ undercoats and rake out the loose fur thanks to the rubber bristles on the tips of the fingers and along with the palms.
I didn’t think the gloves were making much of a difference the first time I bathed Moose and Koda with them. But, when I drained the water, there was an unbelievable amount of fur that had been pulled from the dogs and caught in the drain strainer. I will never bathe the dogs without these gloves again.
I believe the Hands On Bath Gloves have undergone a bit of a redesign since we purchased our pair a few years ago. You might see them in different colors, but the new gloves will work just as well (if not better).
Final Thoughts
I certainly know that my corgis shed… a lot! If you own a high shedding breed, know that you are not alone in this battle.
You cannot stop it, nor can you ignore it. However, you can take a few simple and easy steps to help control it.
Vacuuming is an obvious start. Once the hair has been shed, you really don’t have any other option.
If frequent vacuuming isn’t enough or has simply become tiresome, you can go straight to the source. Grooming with a high quality slicker brush, or bathing your dog with something like the Hands On Gloves, will allow you to capture the fluff before it finds its way onto your floors.
It has been a lot of trial and error to figure out what products actually made a difference. But I know that, with the right tools and tactics, you too will be able to take control of these shedding creatures.
Check out this shirt that I specifically designed for my fellow dog hair warriors “Pardon the Dog Hair”
