The Furminator

I’m always looking for a new way to reduce the amount of dog hair I live with so when I saw the ad for the Furminator it really peaked my interest. I debated between ordering the medium and the larger sized Furminator and finally decided on the medium one. Even though the Laborator Retriever is a large dog, I elected not to get the large Furminator. It was a good choice as the medium Furminator seems to be the perfect size for our 90 pound dogs. I carefully read the instructions, which warn against being too aggressive with your brushing. Since the blade is quite sharp, too much pressure could cause skin irritation. I will not refer to the Furminator as a brush since it is much more like a razor blade than a brush. I do advise a careful reading of the instructions which come with the tool.

My daughter and I took our three Labradors outside and tried the Furminator on all of them. You absolutely need to be in an area that can either be cleaned easily or where the fur can just fly away because it is really going to come off in piles.

The Furminator removes both the loose longer outer hair and the under down furry coat. Other dog brushes do not remove any of the Labrador furry under down coat. Each of our dogs had not been brushed in about a week and we got a ball of hair off each dog measuring at least six inches in diameter. This was achieved with almost no physical effort and in almost no time.

Since I vacuum my home using a bag less vacuum, I can easily see the amount of dog hair which comes out of my carpets. Using the Furminator twice weekly on the dogs has drastically reduce the amount of dog hair I have to deal with and since the Furminator also grooms out the furry undercoat which hold dust and dirt I also seem to be dusting less often.

Another very pleasant side effect is that my dog’s coats look so shiny and much healthier. I’ve had several people comment on the shine of their coats.

I do, however, have a concern about using the Furminator on a Labrador Retriever that is going to be hunting in cold weather and water. Since the water resistant undercoat protects the dog against cold and moisture I feel there might be a concern about disrupting their undercoat right before hunting.

I do feel that the Furminator is the best grooming device I’ve used on my Labradors but the Furminator like any other grooming device will only be effective if you use it consistently.