It’s that time of year again when we seem to have more fur coming off our pets than staying on them, so I thought I’d run this post again on one of our absolute favorite grooming tools.
The Furminator is great! (Though the name is kind of goofy.) I used to use a shedding rake, but the Furminator gets out so much more fur, it’s amazing. This video gives you an idea of how well it works.
It doesn’t cut hair or damage the top coat in any way. It just really gets the shedding undercoat and hairs. You can see in this slow-motion video that it isn’t cutting the coat.
The “comb” is made of closely spaced, pointed teeth and because they are so closely spaced they don’t hurt the animal’s skin, but are able to get deep into the coat. It’s the v’s formed by the teeth that catch the loose fur. You can see them by clicking on the thumbnail.
Saffron loves it. I don’t use it on her undercarriage where there is much less fur and her skin is visible. And I hold her skin taut where it’s looser, like around her neck. As with any grooming tool, I’m careful around her hips and spine. Sage loves the Furminator too, which means fewer hairballs. It’s hard to believe how much fur it gets out of their coats, which means a lot less fur around the house and filling up vacuum cleaner bags. Raven’s coat lays very close to her skin and she doesn’t like to be groomed with anything. According to The Furminator FAQ, there are some breeds they don’t recommend using it on:
American Water Spaniel
Bedlington Terrier
Bichon Frise
Chinese Crested
English Setter–depends on the coat
Flat-Coated Retriever
Glen of Imaal Terrier
Havanese
Irish Water Spaniel
Japanese Chin
Komondor
Lhasa Apso–depends on coat
Lowchen
Maltese
Pekingese–depends on coat
Poodle
Portuguese Water Dog
Puli
Saluki
Shih Tzu–depends on coat
Silky Terrier
Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier
Tibetan Spaniel–depends on coat
The Furminator comes in different sizes—I got the Medium. Starting with the Medium and on up, you can get replacement combs—screws hold them in place. It’s hard to imagine needing one though. They come with a guard to protect the comb when not in use. The company also sells shampoos and conditioners, but I haven’t used those. (Note: I am not connected to the Furminator company.)
Summer is almost here and that means humans and their dogs will be on or around the water. We often ask our dogs to do things that their instincts haven’t prepared them for, like boating. I don’t think dogs come equipped with sea legs or the ability to judge whether it’s safe to jump in a river to go after water fowl. Most dogs can swim, but even the best swimmer can be crippled by strong currents, hypothermia, or panic and end up drowning. A good life jacket could make all the difference. Keep those pups safe!
We like the K-9 Float Coat because:
it’s one of the few with foam under the body & under the head, providing much better buoyancy than jackets with foam just on the back
it fits very snuggly & securely with wide sections across the chest and under the belly, 3 adjustable straps/clips, and velcro at the chest. This jacket won’t twist or cut into your dog the way jackets with unpadded nylon straps can.
it has a handle on the back making it possible to grab a dog to lift it from the water
the different foam thickness and the ergonomic tailoring makes for a comfortable fit and allows for good rang of motion, in particular, the front legs (Saffron actually seems to like wearing hers even out of the water.)
highly reflective piping and bright yellow material makes your dogs more visible (I recommend the yellow instead of the red, since yellow provides a stronger contrast)
there’s a D-ring for a leash and a loop to attach a light beacon
fabric on underside has tight weave so dog’s fur won’t get knitted into fabric
As one of the humans in our house, I’d much rather find a pretend dead thing thoughtfully tucked in my shoe than a real dead thing. Our feline crew is hoping Santa brings them some wonderful Little Dead Things if they’re really good.
I found these wonderful prints on Etsy. Rachelle’s watercolor pet portraits aren’t like a lot of the portraits I’ve seen. For one, they’re not acrylics or oil, so she captures some different nuances than I’ve usually seen. Like those puddles of lips on the Pointer above.
She captures the softness of a Lab’s gaze, the focused stare of an orange tomcat—you just know there’s a bird he’s caught sight of, and that otherworldliness of Weimeraners.
