Our four dog household is full of love… and hair. My husband, son, and I love to cuddle with the dogs on our navy blue couch. While one could question the intelligence of purchasing a navy blue couch when you have dogs with golden hair, at this point, I am stuck with the conundrum of either banishing my four-legged friends to the floor, vacuuming the couch on a daily basis, or purchasing a new couch (which doesn’t really solve the problem because then muddy paw prints would likely appear). So, this year for Christmas I asked for a Sure Fit Pet Cover for my couch. After a couple months of use, here’s my review:

How It Works: The Sure Fit Pet Cover is made of a quilted, durable material that covers the couch seat, arms and back. You simply tuck three fabric tabs in the back and sides of the cushions and flip the fabric onto the arms and back.

Review – Neutral: The Sure Fit Pet Cover is very easy to place and remove from the couch which I see as a major advantage over full couch covers. The fabric is very durable and washable. My only complaint is the fabric shrunk slightly after the first wash making the cover prone coming off the sides and back. Although it doesn’t stay in the correct position 100% of the time, I am still using it every day because it tends to attract more dog hair that the couch fabric, it keeps dirt off the seats, and easy to wash every week. I do think this product would be more effective for a couch with a lower back and arms.

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In comparing the Pledge Fabric Sweeper for Pet Hair with the Scotch FurFighter Hair Remover, I find that both are comfortable to use, and work quite well on flat surfaces of furniture upholstery and cotton blend furniture covers for both long-haired and short-haired dogs. The Fur Fighter works best on curves, creases, and corners.

The Pledge Fabric Sweeper has rollers at the bottom and a non-removable compartment at the top to hold the fur. You brush one way with small passes, which pulls the fur up, then brush the other way to pull fur into the storage compartment. When the compartment is full and the rollers don’t work satisfactorily anymore, it is time to throw it away and purchase a new one. It cannot be used on vinyl, leather, or wet surfaces. A single Pledge Fabric Sweeper costs about $5.

The Scotch FurFighter Hair Remover (indoor upholstery) is a curved plastic base and handle with a pad that adheres to it. The pad curves up around the base so that it can pull hair from corners. It has little rubber teeth that grab on to the fur and hold it to the pad. When the pad is full, it is pulled off and discarded, then replaced with a new one. There is also one for automotive upholstery–the main difference being the shape of the base and handle which have bristles and a storage compartment for the pads. The initial Scotch Fur Fighter Hair Remover with 5 refill pads costs about $8 and refill pads (8 to a package) are around $6.

My personal preference is the Scotch FurFighter. I find that it gets into corners and small places better, and that the pad fills on one usage and I can throw it away and put away a fur-free device. Keep in mind that I have really big dogs that have an abundance of fur that they leave behind. If I had a small dog that didn’t fill the Scotch pad in one use, I would possibly prefer the Pledge Fabric Sweeper since the fur is tucked safely away in the storage compartment.

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Life can get hairy when you are the owner of two Golden Retrievers and a Carolina Dog.  Needless to say, I am always looking for a new wonder product that will make it easy to remove dog hair from clothes and furniture. Last night, my husband and I were wandering through CostPlus World Market when we stumbled upon the “Pet Hair Lifter” which promised to remove hair with ease. It wasn’t very expensive, so I thought it would be worth trying out.

How It Works: The Pet Hair Lifter looks like a kitchen sponge and is rubbery to the touch. To pick-up pet hair you wipe the surface repeatly in one direction which makes the hair collect up in one spot and partially on the Pet Hair Lifter.

Review – Neutral: Although I cannot say that this product does not perform as advertised, I did not find it to be a wonder product for hair removal. I tested the Pet Hair Lifter on our couch and my clothes.

• Couch: The Pet Hair Lifter did help me collect the hair in one area of the couch but ultimately I found it difficult to dispose of the hair from the centralized location. I ended up getting the vacuum out to clean-up the pile and clean off the Pet Hair Lifter.
• Clothing: Generally, it worked well for brushing hair off of my clothing as I was headed out the door – it was easier to use that the sticky rollers that require you to peel a layer of masking tape. However, you end up with a hairy Pet Hair Lifter that has to rinsed or vacuumed.

Given that the Pet Hair Lifter is relatively inexpensive, this product would be suitable if you just need a quick clothing touch-up before you leave the house, but don’t expect this product to magically remove dog hair throughout the house.

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Having multiple dogs that constantly shed necessitates vacuuming our living room 3 to 4 times a week, so it is critical to have a quality vacuum cleaner. In the last 10 years we have had four vacuum cleaners. Three of them lasted a year or less before we finally spent the money on the Dyson Animal which, has been sucking away for the last 5 years. Other than replacing one drive belt, which was our fault because we sucked up the drawstring on a pair of pajamas, we have had no significant problems. Did I mention that Dyson sent the replacement belt at no charge!

The primary reason this vacuum does a superior job of cleaning is that it really sucks. The cyclonic action through the canister creates significantly more suction than a traditional vacuum. For example, I could clean the living room 4 or 5 times with our old vacuum before the canister would fill up, but with the Dyson I need to empty it each time. Since the canisters are not that much different in size, I must conclude that the Dyson is simply picking up that much more hair. While I’m on the topic of canisters, I would highly discourage anyone with multiple dogs from purchasing a traditional bag type vacuum cleaner. The added cost of replacement bags would more than make up for the cost of the Dyson.

One of the features of the Dyson that I really appreciate is the high quality latching system on the canister. After years of use, the simple little thumb lever used to open up the bottom of the canister is in perfect condition. I mention this because the switch on my last vacuum cleaner broke after less than 6 months. As a result the dirt that was just cleaned up would fall out each time the canister was released from the vacuum. Other key vacuum cleaner features such as attachments, hose wand, and on/off roller brush switches are of relatively high quality on the Dyson Animal.

While relatively minor, there are a couple of negatives with this vacuum cleaner. Due to the number of attachment heads that come with the Dyson, there is insufficient on-board storage. This simply requires a little planning, or walking back and forth to the closet, to obtain the necessary attachment. My wife also thinks that Dyson could make some ergonomic improvements to the attachments. In addition, the little tabs used to wind up the power cord are, in my opinion, undersized. This sometimes results in the cord being piled up next the vacuum cleaner in the closet.

With all of this being said, I would highly recommend the Dyson DC17 Animal for anyone with a pet hair problem.

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“Awe the trash can… so many wonderful things that could be further enjoyed but for some reason my human throws them away. I try to retrieve them, but my human scolds me and tells me NO.” Sound familiar, I remember my mother and father constantly scolding the dogs for getting into the trash. They never really tried to train our dogs that the trash can was off-limits, it was always an angry reaction when the used tissues were shredded throughout the house or last night’s leftovers were smeared on the kitchen floor.

Granted, you can train your dog to not get into the trash can, but I believe that removing the temptation saves everyone frustration and stress. Can you imagine your dog sitting by the trash can all day long thinking to himself “I know she trained me to stay out of the trash, but the aromas are calling to me!”

At our house all trash cans and diaper pails have lids. We have 4 dogs and we never have issues with dumpster diving. Plus, the house stays fresh because the trash is covered! You can get covered trash cans in a variety of sizes and styles. Personally, I like the SimpleHuman brand. Keep it simple, stop Dumpster Diving by putting a lid on it!

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