How do you cope with the hair?

[BlackHillsofDakota]

We have a collie x lab who I didn't think would shed too much but boy he does!! Im so sick of hair everywhere.
I have a furminator which does make it a little better but literally he sits for 5 minutes and there is a cloud of hair. We have hard floors downstairs and every time I move a ball of hair appears from under the sofa. Upstairs is carpet and is even worse.
It's really getting me down, I'm trying to train him not to get on the bed as that is the final straw when you go to get in to bed and it's covered in hair, I hate it! Do I need to lower my standards and put up with it or do you have any tricks?

Our papillon sheds like crazy - if we don't sweep everyday we have a guinea pigs worth of fur on the floor!

We've found the best thing on the tiled floor is a damp J cloth over a flat mop, or a swisher type mop. The damp cloth helps to grab the hair and means you're not clogging up the mop with dog fur. I saw yesterday that pledge do electrostatic cloths for hair but I haven't tried those yet.

For carpet we use a rubber broom, or get the kids on the carpet scraping up the fur with the side of a croc.

That's why we got our poodle . No hair shed - but plenty of moss, caterpillars, slugs etc falling out of his puppy fuzz.

What made you think a collie x lab wouldn't shed much?!
A california mop is fab for dog hair and hard floors, they are sort of waxed stringy things that you can just shake out outside.

One of these

Haha well his hair is short so I naively thought it wouldn't be as bad as a shaggy dog! I have one of those mops but like the idea of a rubber broom, I might get one of them. I guess I've just got to keep sweeping!!

We got a mongrel puppy from a rescue who had very short staffy/greyhoundy fur until she was about 6 months old, when it seem to change to coarse, labrador-y, shedding fur on her back and britches. So we have a hairy house now, I'm just quite lax about it I also have carpet so don't get the fluff balls.

You need a Roomba

I vacuumed the carpets this morning and they already look like there is a new layer of black Labrador hair on them, I learn to live with it and try to anticipate visitors so I can do a quick run around to clear the worst of it before they come.

Our carpeted stairs are the worst, ddog likes sitting on them to see out the window/or sleeps on the landing above and the hair falls down. It sticks in all the corners/folds in the carpet at each step. We have the Dyson motorised head for the stairs which helps a little, but its hard work getting them totally hair free so we don't bother

Ddog has never been allowed in any of the bedrooms.

You could always keep your dog well clipped ,unless he needs his hair for some reason , I have a patterdale x ,if left he has a shortish but rough coat but I have him clipped every 7 weeks ( he also goes for a bath in between) and I hardly ever find any hair and he sits all over the furniture . It's easier for mine to stay clipped as he is keen on swimming be it rivers or large muddy puddles and because he lives indoors and has coats / jumpers for the winter he doesn't need his proper coat .

don't think its recommended to clip double coated dogs such as labs and collies.

They will still shed as that's what they do, its just the hairs will be shorter (and sharper). The coat may grow back poorly and clipping the coat may damage its natural insulation properties for heat and cold.

What do you groom him with? We use a rubber mitt on our pit bull cross and it works really well. It grabs the dead hair and helps to stop some of it from dropping to the floor.

I love my collie/cross and just have a very hairy house.................

I have what I believe to be a long coated GSD x Collie (the lassie type, not border). Definitely not a full breed. my god the HAIR. How Chuffpup is not bald I will never know. It gets absolutely everywhere too. I could brush her till the cows come home and she'd still shed everywhere!

I bought a microfiber mop from Lakeland with an extra cloth thingy on the recommendation of a friend. I wish to god I'd known about that mop before. It is AMAZING. It even has a swively head so I can get it right under the furniture. All the hair sticks to the mop so it's super easy to sweep up with a dust pan and brush. Best £20 I ever spent!

I've just reached my limit and had my two long haired shepherd mixes clipped right down. They are double coated and my floors were a bastard mess even with brushing them. More importantly they were getting uncomfortable mats and I'm sick of sweeping so now they are bald.
They seem much happier.

As am I - now only my grubby kids making a mess.

I never got on with those Ferminator things. I would suggest a daily brush with a rubber grooming tool such as the Zoom Groom www.dfordog.co.uk/kong-zoom-groom-dog-brush.html I love those. Another tip is I brush the fur against the way it lays... that always seems to get more hair up/off. So I work up their legs, up their body (not forgetting the sides) and so on. Much more hair comes out that way and I then finish with brushing in the right direction i.e. down the body and legs.

I have hard floors (tiles) and have tried 4 different vacuums in 2 years. All get clogged with dog hair. My latest purchase is hopefully my last cos I am impressed so far. It is the Shark Rocket with Dustaway Head. With the Dustaway attachment on it picks up like normal but then any fine hair or dust is got with the duster head that is behind the main sucking hole. The design is a stick vac so you can really get under all your furniture too. It has a 30m cord (yay) which is pretty great too. Cordless ones simply can't cope. I have given up with that idea.

Check out the Pet Head De-shed shampoo and conditioner (rinse) too www.dfordog.co.uk/pet-head-dog-shampoo.html

I have made a huge discovery today! Saw on the Internet that a rubber squeegee (like you'd use on windows) is meant to be brilliant for pet hair on fabrics. Bought one from Wilko for £2.. oh my god! Used it on the carpets, the rug, the sofa.. could have made a jumper from the hair. Evidently I need a Dyson as my hoover is shit on pet hair. .

But seriously if pet hair on your furniture is driving you crazy, try a squeegee. So effective!

I saw this rubber brush the other day and thought it might be good for the stairs but was waiting until I needed something else from Lakeland to save on postage. Never thought to try our rubber squeegee instead.

Cor, what a great idea.

Ok, tried our rubber squeeze on the stairs and OMG I could have knitted another Labrador with the hair it pulled up. It lifted the pile on the stairs too! Brilliant.