Ok so Rodney seems to shed more than Jax did and I find huge clumps of hair just laying around the house. I was wondering what everyone does to help keep the house as hair free as possible. ( I know that's asking for a miracle with a husky). It seems we buy a new vacuum every 6 mnths or so and last night I was noticing ours was kinda smelly like something was burning and it wasn't picking up the hair well so I guess its time for a new one. I do use a shop vac around the house and do the baseboards and stairs and furniture etc but that's time consuming and I try to vacuum once a day!!!

Does anybody have a suggestion which vacuum does the best for your buck?


Thanks,
Christine

i just use the bissell from walmart was like $60 and you can clean the filters out and it is bagless, i just gave up on the hair balls and i look at them till i have time to vac them up. i tryed really hard at the start and realized it was usless and i would never win! good luck!

only reason I vacuum daily is b/c the baby... She is walking now which is a huge plus and she isnt crawling around in it now.. Ha! I also only vacuum the living room daily!

I vacuum every day, everywhere. Two big things I would point out would be:

1. Vacuums subjected to this level of abuse need regular maintenance like your typical vehicle. This includes washing the canisters, clearing all filters, disconnecting hoses and flushing them, replacing belts even when they're not broken, clearing debris wrapped around the bristles and stuff like that. Some of it is weekly, some daily, and some of it is based on visible assessments of appropriate parts.

2. The cheap vacuums have failed me within one year many times. We have since given up on the <$100 category of vacuums. If you check around dutifully you can find $130+ vacuums on sale for around $100. This is the type of deal I will be looking for this year. We bought a Bissell pet hair eraser after our wedding in fall 2008. My best guess is it fails to the death sometime this summer. But I consider two years an acceptable life considering our use. Still can't bring myself to spend Dyson money. That's my breaking point for a product that I KNOW other people don't use the way I do.

I do #1. :-) I actually shop vac my vacuum and I know it looks funny but I end up vacuuming out hair balls from my hose. hahah!

I read up on the pet hair eraser by Bissell and looks interesting... May go pick one up tonight! :-)

We will not spend money on the dyson either just b/c we put so much wear and tear on our vacuums...

Thanks for the help!!!

The man has six sheddy dogs... he knows his stuff.

I was really digging the felt strip that picks up pet hair and feeds it to the brush :-)

LOL how many times have I seen this discussion on husky forums hehe I'm afraid it goes with the territory called husky owning. I have sussed the best form of flooring is NO CARPETS we have wooden floors and ceramic tiles with just one big rug in the lounge. I still have to hoover daily sometimes twice daily but the fur just floats around on the floors and is very easy to pick up with the vaccum. Harrise is very correct though - maintenance of your vaccum is key

My vacuum is the ONE thing I am VERY proud of- I do have a Dyson, it's the DC25 Animal. I use to work for Best Buy, and it does retail for over $500 but when you worked at Best Buy you get everything at cost- so what the store purchases it for, you pay. I got this baby for $270 right after I picked Koda up, a month before quitting BB. Best decision of my life! My mom and dad bought the nicer All Floors vacuum for $185.

But Koda doesn't shed unless he is blowing, and last year he had clumps, this year I could brush things off him but it wouldn't just come out when I pulled on his hair. His fur is really short now though so that may be why. I can not vacuum for 2 months and just be able to empty it twice max.

wow!! I vacuum daily and empty several times. How long have you had the dyson?

I did just buy the Bissell pet hair eraser and love it so far, Hopefully it will last longer then the rest!

I bought it in June of 2008, but I only started using it in August of 2009. I bought it for when my fiancee and I moved out together. His mom was into drugs so there was no way I was gonna leave my near $600 vacuum near her (many people here can tell you it's a good thing I didn't!)! I'm not sure the lack of emptying needed has to do with how good the vacuum is, though, like I said Koda just doesn't seem to have had a bad blowing season this winter, I never found a clump of hair just randomly rolling around- he only has massive amounts of hair come out when I used the furminator and I had it to where I had the vacuum right where it'd catch the fur I brushed! I really do love this vacuum though. I plan on having another 2 huskies (or 8, who knows) so I'm sure I'll need it!

I bought the Eureka 4D two years ago. It works well, but the filter needs to be cleaned each time and I empty the cup probably 10 times each session. With three, which it seems we have always have had three, Huskies, I can not bring myself to spend big $$ on a vacuum. I spent $130 on this one, and I think it was a good buy.
Our friends who have a husky mix did buy the Dyson. They like it.
I cannot believe how badly Nanuk is blowing this year! OMG! I was using the furminator last night outside, and our poor neighbor was getting "snowed on" with hair! Sisi isn't so bad, being a smoother coated sort, and Mika isn't shedding really at all (yet!) but Nanuk looked as if he'd lost 10 lbs. by the time I was done with him last night! It will be 3 years in June that we got him, and for some reason, this year seems to be especially hairy!
Good luck with the vacuum hunting.

Windy afternoons are the best time to brush these dogs. It's so windy today that there's no chance the hair will land within half a mile of here.