Product Review : Furminator De-shedding Tool

When I went looking for a dog to adopt, low-shedding was high on the list.  It's part of the reason I targeted terrier mixes since in addition to great personalities they are know for being relatively low shedding.

The day I first met Molly I picked her up, set her back down, and was COVERED in hair.  Her foster Mom said she hadn't noticed her shedding around the house so it might just be nerves.  When I got her home, fortunately things were much better.  She still shed heavily in stressful situations but when it was just us there were only a few hairs here and there.

Then, fall came.  And suddenly she started shedding like a lab.  I found hair everywhere and couldn't pick her up without being covered in white hair (and I wear black a lot, so that's a problem).  So, we set out to investigate solutions and settled on giving the furminator de-shedding tool a try.

I had vaguely heard of the furminator before but had somehow filed it in the my mind as 1) a gimmick and 2) somehow involving dog vacuums.  I think they do have a product that involves a vacuum but the more well known product it more accurately described as a mini dog rake.  It's kind of like the metal comb part of clippers but without the cutting.  There seemed to be a lot of disagreement and confusion on whether or not it actually cuts the hair or just pulls out loose undercoat, but from what I could tell there isn't a cutting surface.  There's also a lot of controversy about how often to use it and it seems like it is possible to overdo it, so we will have to be careful using it in the future.

So, we made a trip to the store and picked up one to try out.  I went in intending to buy the standard product but they had a newer version with a removable handle that was supposed to work better than the original according to the claim on the packaging (no idea if that's true since I don't have a point of comparison).  The removable handle had other attachments available for purchase (combs, dematters, and a 'fur accumulator') that could be attached when the de-shedding tool wasn't in use).  The package for this new and improved version had a $5 off coupon which made it about the same price as the original, so we decided to give it a try.  It also solved another dilemma for me - while the original comes in long (>2") or short hair versions, this newer model only comes in one length.  I was planning on buying the long hair version for Molly but not having the decision made it a bit easier - hopefully the effectiveness is the same as the more customized version.  The tools come in different sizes (widths), I bought a small for her and it seems like a good size.  I also picked up the 'fur accumulator', which is a big static cling pad you run over fabric to remove fur, in order to give the removable handle feature a try.

 The furminator works by removing the softer undercoat which is what actually sheds on most dogs.  Apparently Molly was throwing off her summer undercoat in order to grow a thicker one for winter and was leaving it all over the house in the process.  You can actually hear a difference as you go over the areas where the undercoat is thick vs. where it's been mostly removed or there isn't much there to begin with.

There really weren't any instructions,  apparently you just rake your dog. :)  Right away, it was apparent that this was going to be removing way more hair than a slicker brush.  We brushed for about 20 minutes and I was STILL getting some hair but finally I decided we had both had enough.  She tolerated it pretty well, definitely didn't love it but didn't hate it any more than any other brush, and it didn't pull or appear to hurt her at all.  The worst part was probably staying still for so long, but she was rewarded at the end with a new toy.

Here's a picture of the hair I got out of her, I was pretty amazed at the amount.  Compared to some of the pictures on the internet it's not that impressive but for a small low-shedding dog it's quite a lot!  You can actually tell there has been a lot removed, she now looks noticeably thinner and less 'bushy'.

I'm still a little spooked by some of the 'DON'T USE THIS' posts out there on  internet forums but it seems like a good tool as long as you use it in moderation.  I plan to use it weekly when she's shedding heavily and maybe monthly the rest of the year depending on whether it seems she needs it or not.  There are so many opinions on dog grooming out there as a new dog owner it's about impossible to figure out what the 'right' thing to do is.

I also gave the fur accumulator a try, that was quite a bit less impressive.  It captured a few hairs on the first surface, but then when I ran it across the second they all fell off and accumulated on the new surface.  Basically, it was a fur spreader. Good idea but unfortunately it will be going back to the store, and none of the other accessories really looked like something that would work for us.  Hopefully those claims of the removable handle version being more effective are true because I'm not sure I'll be getting any other benefit out of it.

VERDICT:  The Furminator De-Shedding tool is a definite keeper but the other accessories available for use with the removable handle do not seem to be as impressive.