Saturday, October 11, 2008

A Hairy Problem

aAfter a few months of living with Charlie I was starting to think that we had gotten the first ever non-shedding golden retriever.  Then, just as I was about to gloat about the wonderdog and his ability to keep my house and clothing fur-free, the shedding began.   

It started innocently enough with the occasional appearance of a hair-bunny on the floor or in a hard to reach collection point like under a cabinet, or on the stairs.

Then I began noticing remnants of Charlie's downy coat on our clothes ...

... in my car ...

... on our furniture, and generally airborne all over the house.  It seemed as though every time I'd pet Charlie a small hair explosion occurred and we'd both be engulfed in a fuzzy golden mushroom cloud.

I mentioned this to Wendy the trainer and she suggested trying an undercoat rake to reduce some of the shedding.   Acting on her advice, I travelled to my favorite Pet Food Express store post haste in search of such a device.

The helpful folks at PFE convinced me to spend a whole lot of dough on a little gadget called a Furminator.  

After dropping fifty bucks on this draconian looking gadget I raced home to test it on my four legged furball.   I admit that I was skeptical at first.  However, a few strokes into the task I became a believer.  Check out the results of just  a few comb strokes down Charlie's back:

And that doesn't even include the skeins of fur on my sweater after completing this short grooming session.  It was truly shocking but I  have to believe that Charlie is more comfortable now that much of his undercoat has been removed ... at least for today anyway.  Until the process is complete (which I don't expect for a few months) I'm becoming more acquainted with another little gadget I picked up recently:

Fortunately these little gadgets are only a buck at Target!  I'll be buying them in bulk later this week.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

By the way, I've also heard several people rave about the furminator. We too bought one and I was disappointed. Our undercoat rake works much better. I'll loan you the rake at some point for comparison. If you know anyone who wants a furminator, let me know - ours is collecting dust.

Also, while we have plenty of the masking tape lint brushes, we also like the 'Helmac Magik Brush (2 Sided Lint Pic-Up Brush)' - available at Amazon.

North Star's Mushlit Family said...

Hi Carolyn,
I received the link to your blog from Judy the puppy raiser in NJ. She is helping raise our North Star dog, Radar, a standard poodle.

As the Mom of an ASD son, I always look for ways to educate people on the many faces of autism. I have been toying with the idea of having a blog for Jason. Your blog is AWESOME!!

We own a furminator and I love it. I don't think it will get much use from Radar but it did wonders on my shedding greyhound.

We have three children with allergies so you see why Patty directed us toward the standard poodle and not a golden retriever! :)

How wonderful that Tim has taken a caregiver role and been feeding Charlie!! Oh, I so hope Jason can learn empathy!

Keep up the great work! Your blog is a joy (and it's educational!) to read.

Deane Mushlit
Arlington, WA
jpmushlit@gmail.com

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