Household Tips

Learn How To Stop Dog Hair Shedding!

Household Tips - While we can do a lot to reduce the amount of pet hair that spreads throughout our home, we can't eliminate it completely. We can accept it as a small trade off for the love and companionship that our pets give us.

Carpet & Furniture
Pet hair is very light and contains natural oils that cause it to adhere to carpet fibers.
Vacuum regularly.
Vacuum your furniture also.
If you do not vacuum regularly, hair can clog the vacuum beaters and wear down the motor. The healthier the vacuum is, the more hair it will pick up.
When vacuuming pet hair, it is important to remember to take it slow. The vibration of the beater bars on your vacuum begin vibrating dust and dirt particles to the surface of your carpet before you actually get to the spot of suction and pick up just underneath your vacuum. Dog hair attachés and embeds into the carpet fibers so the beater brushes on your vacuum not only have to pull the hair out of the carpet fibers it also has to suck the hair from the beater brushes at the very moment it is under your vacuum so take it slow.
After thoroughly vacuuming the carpet, use a barely dampened sponge mop on low pile carpet to remove pet hair. Keep this mop for this purpose only. On furniture use a regular clean kitchen sponge or damp white micro fiber cloth. The hair rolls up into clumps which make it easy to pick up.
Use a rubber bristle broom on floors and carpets. The rubber bristles roll up the hair into a pile so you can pick it up and throw it away.
Spray static guard lightly over carpets to eliminate static and let it dry a few minutes then vacuum.
Sprinkle baking soda lightly over rugs and carpet to loosen pet hair. Let it sit for a little while then vacuum. It deodorizes as well.
To eliminate static, which is the biggest reason your vacuum doesn't pick up all the hair on your carpet. Mix a small amount of fabric softener with water in a spray bottle and mist over carpet. Do not over spray and soak the carpet. Allow it to dry completely then vacuum. This will also eliminate the charge you send through your pet every time you reach down to pet him. Be sure to use a fabric softener sent you like because it will linger in the house for a little while.
Use a horse shedding blade on rugs before vacuuming. It pulls the hairs without ripping the carpet fibers.
To pick up dog hair from your carpet, use a window squeegee.
Keep your animals off the furniture. Give them a dog bed with a removable cover so it can be washed regularly.
Get pet hair off the furniture by misting a fabric softener and water mixture and then just brush off. Remember to color test first.
Use the soles of water shoes to brush hair off furniture.
Put a rubber glove on your hand and dip glove into cool water. Wipe the hairy surface using the glove. The hair should come off. Wipe off glove as needed and re-dampen. This also works well along walls and in cracks.
Use cloth gardening gloves with plastic or rubber nubs on the palms and fingers. Rub your hands across the floor or furniture and these nubs will catch the hair.
Use a soot and dirt removal sponge (ex. Mr. Clean) over the furniture working in a downward motion. The sponge is used dry but can be washed and reused dry as needed.

Laundry
Empty the lint traps on your washer and dryer after every load. Empty lints traps catch more animal hair than full ones.
To remove pet hair from clothing during laundering use both dryer sheets during drying and liquid fabric softener during washing. If you have never used a Downy ball, they are great and actually make using liquid fabric softener possible.
Run your bedding through the air-dry or fluff cycle of your dryer to remove hair before putting it in the washing machine or at any time you just want to remove the loose hair.
If some hair remains at the bottom of the washing machine after you've done your laundry. Remove the hair by running the washer through one rinse cycle.
Pet odor neutralizers may be added to the laundry to remove odors from pet bedding.

Misc.
Brush your pets outside if you can. Daily brushing removes loose hair before it gets on you or throughout your house.
If you have pets in the house, treat your carpet and upholstered furniture with a stain resistant product such as Scotchgard.
Lint rollers are invaluable for clothes, furniture, drapes and bedding.
You can rub a velcro curler over practically any surface and the pet hair will cling to it.
A used fabric softener sheet will remove hair off fabric with a couple swipes then toss. You can also wipe down your dog with it to remove static in the hair.
Use a sticky roller to lift dog hair from fabric or upholstery. Washable sticky rollers enable you to recycle instead of dispose of the product.
Change your furnace and air conditioner filters more often during shedding season to prevent blockage.
Place steel wool in your tub drain to catch the loose hair.
Denim, polyester, rayon and nylon attract less hair than other fabrics do.
Pet hair does not stick to leather furniture. Suede furniture is also easier to remove pet hair from than fabric furniture.
Draperies made of smooth fabrics won't attract as much hair as heavy textured ones.