Best way to deal with hairiest dog ever

[lainiekazan]

My golden retriever is shedding masses of hair at the moment. It is everywhere. I am vacuuming constantly and it is blocking the Hoover every time (and it is a pet Hoover).

I have a zoom groom but would anyone recommend a Furminator? Should I take him to a professional groomer to have a go? As I type there are drifts of hair all over the keyboard and I look like a Yeti.

Furthermore, the house is a bit smelly. Wet dog and all that. I don't want to use Glade plug-ins and I don't want the house to smell like our doggy neighbours' house (bleeurrgh). Any suggestions?

We have a furminator for our long-haired cocker spaniel, and I think it's great. I do trim her with an electric trimmer every so often as we let her swim, run around in bushes/mud/long grass/snow, and it's just easier for her with a shorter fur.

We open the windows a lot, and we don't have that dog smell in the house. Same goes for my parents' home, even when they had 3 dogs.
We do however wash the dog if she smells a bit too much of dog. Same goes for her bed.

I didn't think our house smelled of dog, but I came in yesterday after some hours out and thought, "Phwewphh, bad smell of dog." I guess one becomes immune to one's own dog smell.

I don't think you do become immune to the smell of dog ,our house doesn't smell doggy but I have a friend who's house regularly smells really doggy ( she has 3 dogs though) . I keep our dog clipped really short and also have a freshening spray that I use if I think he smells doggy. If I had a Goldie that was purely a pet I think I'd be off to the groomers to see what they can do ,it depends how attached you are to his coat .

I trim my spaniel's ears, flags, belly and tail to minimise the hair/mud interface. I love the furminator, it really does make a difference to the hair drifts. For stinky smells, I wash the dogs' bedding regularly, bath the dogs fairly regularly, brush them, use a dog cologne in an emergency (don't judge me) and air the house regularly. I also hoover daily and mop the floors every other day, which seems to make a difference. However, I also use reed diffusers, candles and febreze for the rugs/sofas. I hate the artificial air fresheners, but I hate the stench of bog dog more. Love my dogs, don't appreciate dog arse/feet stink.

I feel your pain. My golden and GSD are making huge tumbleweeds of hair everywhere I look. The only thing I can advise is brush, brush, brush. I have a furminator and the amount of fur you will get off is amazing.

They sleep on my bed so frequent baths are a must and stops any doggy smells. I also have a scented detangling spray that gets used twice a week on the fluffy butt/leg areas when brushing.

To some extend, I think you're right about becoming immune to the smell in the home, but even when I've been out for a while and come back, there's not a smell of dog here. I can smell other things in the house - freshly baked bread/the food that's being cooked/perfume if someone has recently used some/cleaning products and so on.
My DH is away during the week and comes home for the weekends and he also doesn't think it smells of dog - and he's quite sensitive about dog smells.

I find that fresh air is much better than air freshener (my FIL used to have a dog and used air fresheners to disguise the smell of dog at home). It's like air freshener just mixes with the smell of dog and it's just awful and migraine inducing.
I am generally sensitive about smells, and I can't use or be in places with air fresheners as they make me quite ill.
Airing the house out a couple of times a day (opening all windows/balcony doors, creating a draft) for 10-15 minutes each time really helps - it also helps with mould/mildew and so on.