FURminator?

E

emmadactryl

Forums Regular
I've heard mixed reviews about these: some swear by it, others say it breaks off hair and damages the coat. What are your experiences with it? And if you do recommend it, what size would be best?

The price made me wince a bit, but then gold ol' eBay proved very promising with none of them over $20. Much kinder on the bank account :winkgrin:

My mum says she isn't house proud, but makes such a big deal about dog hair. My kelpie cross is a bit of a shedder and she just about broke down in tears when I reminded her, for the umpteenth time, that the sheltie is going to drop more hair than Charlie does. So if it will in anyway help with that I think my mum would be over the moon and less likely to be whinging.
 
I'm not sure it makes a big difference to how much hair you get around the house. I love the furminator in Summer. My dogs do sports and are very active so the furminator helps keep undercoat to a minimum when its warm. In winter I only use it to thin out their pants and to keep knots from behind the ears.

I do think it prob takes out more undercoat than they would ordinarily lose, which is why I only tend to use it in summer. I dont notice any breaking of the coat or worsening of the quality or shine.

I have 2 - one from a shop ($100) and one from ebay ($17 incl postage), they are exactly the same.
 
They are not really appropriate for Sheltie coats, I find it gets tangled up in the longer Sheltie hair. You would do better with a wide tooth comb (Google: Poodle Comb). They are awesome on short coats. I have one for my Smooth Collie.
 
I love my furminator, I don't know what I'd do with out it. Its great for deshedding when they're losing a lot of coat.

You do have to be careful not to pull too much, especially if you encounter a matt but I highly recommend it. I've never found that it breaks the fur and think its a myth. Its essentially a comb with teeth that are very close together. It combs through the top coat while pulling out the loose undercoat.

There's really no need anymore to go and buy a name brand one because there are so many great knock-offs for sale now. Go have a look at a real Furminator, then go look for a knock-off with the same teeth somewhere else. Down here you can get an imitation for approx. $20 at Canadian Tire.
 
Some of those amazon photos showed people using the furminator for an hour? How do you get your dog to sit for an hour and second, is an hour of brushing really necessary? I run the furminator like twice a month through Fiona and that kind of fur never comes out. Although I brush her lightly every day with a regular brush and only maybe use the furminator for about 5 min.
 
Sheri said:
Some of those amazon photos showed people using the furminator for an hour? How do you get your dog to sit for an hour and second, is an hour of brushing really necessary? I run the furminator like twice a month through Fiona and that kind of fur never comes out. Although I brush her lightly every day with a regular brush and only maybe use the furminator for about 5 min.
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That seems like a bit much, but it depends on the dog. The last time I groomed my parent's sheltie he'd gone way too long between brushings and was blowing coat like crazy. It took me approx. 2 hrs. to brush him out, but I gave him lots of breaks.

I've spent an hour brushing out Sadie, but not just using the furminator and usually when she's blowing coat. The rest of the year they get brushed approx. once a month, but not for an hour and again, using more than one brush.
 
That's good to know, if I brush Fiona longer than about 15 minutes she starts to look like she's about to have a panic attack!
 
I'm not sure it makes a big difference to how much hair you get around the house. I love the furminator in Summer. My dogs do sports and are very active so the furminator helps keep undercoat to a minimum when its warm. In winter I only use it to thin out their pants and to keep knots from behind the ears.
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That's good to hear and definitely a plus. I am a bit paranoid about my dogs overheating- Charlie isn't the best when it comes to temperature regulation and sheltie fur is plentiful- and I'll probably end up looking into a cool coat for my pup when she's grown, just as an added precaution.

For $16, I think I'll end up getting one off eBay and at the very least giving it a shot. I've got a comb and couple of other brushes that I use on Charlie, so my grooming supplies are slowly but surely but getting gathered. There are just so many different brushes and combs and gadgets out there, it's hard to make sense of which ones are really needed and which ones aren't :confused2:
 
I swore by the Furminator at first, but now I find I'm just as happy with an old fashioned rake.

I don't need it on Bacca, but sometimes I still pull it out on ol' Sheltie pants (Indy).

Worthwhile investment? I would say yes, but only if your pup is a big shedder.
 
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