Even though we’re in the depths of summer, I am having two dog nights. The expressions comes from Australian Aboriginal people who used to snuggle up with their dogs to keep warm in the desert nights. The colder the night, the more dogs you had. So a Three Dog Night was really cold.
Halas and Connor are having a great time, and we had a field trial of the most amazing thing ever invented – the Furminator! I am reviewing if for the Baltimore Sun, and I am giving it eight paws up: four from each dog!
When I moved back to the States and considered getting another dog (my last dog was Frank, and this was a few days before he died!),
I SWORE I would not get a) another big dog, and b) another yellow dog). So, what do I end up with? A 65 lb. yellow lab who sheds like you would not believe! I could knit another whole dog from the fur I comb off of him! This is just one swipe of the comb!
With Frank and now Connor, I had a whole basket of curry combs, shedding blades, rubber fingers, and combs to help keep their fur under control. Now that I have the Furminator, I am loving it, and so is Connor. A lot of the other utensils hurt the dog, but Furminator doesn’t. In fact, he just sits patiently while I comb him. 
When you see the Furminator video (this isn’t the official one), you think that it’s total crap, but it’s not. It gets all of the undercoat, which is especially important in a Lab like Connor who’s got that double coat of fur. When we Furminate, it’s like a little blizzard of yellow/white fur tumbleweeds.
Even Halas, who looks like a chocolate Lab, but is really a Greyhound/Airedale/German Shorthair Pointer mix, benefits from a couple of swipes from the Furminator. 
I figure that all of the fur that’s rolling down the road is fur that isn’t in my house. And that’s a good thing!
When we lived on the farm we had a Scots Collie. People thought we kept sheep because he would rub himself against the wire fence in shedding season (which seemed to be all the time) and the fence was coated in thick strands of fur.
ReplyDeleteWe live in the city, and Connor will walk alongside a brick or stone building and scratch his back!
ReplyDeleteAh, but what would we do without them....try a husky in the tropics... it's like tumble weed rolling across the polished concrete floors!( even though our girl was born and raised in Phuket!)
ReplyDeleteWe are huge fans of the furminator.
ReplyDeleteIt's gentle on the dog, seems to get that undercoat of fur while other brushes/combs only get the surface.
If not for its magic, I would have to quit my job and just stay home and sweep. Then sweep again.
Your pups are beautiful.
I love that picture of sweet Frank. I know that was a heartbreaker for sure! Halas and Connor are spectacular. As a person who has devoted much of the last 8 or 9 years to animal rescue efforts, I commend you for taking in a big dog. They are the most difficult to get adopted after any black dog. We see lots and lots of lab mixes. If you can get through the first 3 years of a labs life you will have one of the best animal companions on the planet. There is just A LOT of destruction in those early years! LOL! Yes, that Furminator is wonderful. And they picked the perfect gal for it's review!
ReplyDeleteI know exactly what you mean, prior to Jones (huge poodle, no shedding--just $100 grooming charges), I had a 130 lb. lab/rot mix who shed in high piles every day; but I loved every minute of it, except the clogged vacuum cleaner. Enjoy.
ReplyDeleteI have been faithfully FURminating my cats for two years now. I cannot say more fabulous things about the FURminator; one of my cats is a Himalayan and the amount of fur that it removes from her is mind-boggling. The very first time I used it, the mound of fur I removed was about the size of a basketball - now it's just the size of a softball. Meg, you are lucky though to be able to FURminate outdoors!
ReplyDeleteWith three big fluffy dogs, I have a stable of brushes and combs. Three furminators are part of the grooming arsenal. I just wish that we could use all that fluff for insulation or something useful.
ReplyDeleteWhat's better than one fluffy shedding dog...THAT'S RIGHT...TWO! Enjoy them! -Wendy & Abbs
ReplyDelete