Tails never lie.
This extension of a pup’s body is the epitemy of a clear conscience. If your pup is happy, its tail wags. If it’s sad and scared, the tail curves between its legs. If your pup is angry, the hair raises on the tail. When have you ever seen a happy pup with a tail between it’s legs? Why can’t humans have this? Can you imagine how honest our world would be if humans had tails? This means if we did have tails and someone asked you how you were doing you couldn’t plaster on a fake smile and pretend you just didn’t have the worst day ever. You would have to put your tail between your legs and everyone would know how you actually felt!
Not only are tails honest, they love unconditionally. Several years ago I watched on TV an animal resuce team that found this dog who was chained to a stairway and starved almost to its death. This dog was so thin you practicaly could see its heart beating through it’s mangly fur. What did the dog do when the rescue team approached it? The dog wagged its tail. After everythig the dog has been through and still laying on its side chained tightly to the stairwell, it still managed to lift its tail and wag it. The pup was able to forgive human kind and wag that tail. Defintely man’s best friend.
Loving, honest, forgiving….we all could use a tail.
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I remember when I first brought my wedding dress home from the tailor when I was engaged and found dog hair in its inner most lining. Strangely enough, Rig, the chocolate lab, still lived with his father before we were married. HOW DID DOG HAIR GET IN MY WEDDING DRESS? Three years later, I still find Rig’s hair in the strangest places and yes, I live with him now as his “step mother”.
The trials of my dog hair experiences lead me in search for the biggest and baddest dog hair removal device on the market. Before you accompany me on this journey, we first have to discuss the concept of shaving your dog. Rig was shaved immediately after I found his hair in my wedding dress. He is continually shaved in the warmer months each year. Since that can be quite costly, we bought our own dog clippers called the Plus+ AG Speed 2-Speed Clipper for $114.99 on www.petedge.com. The clippers are quiet so they don’t scare a nervous dog and they’re simple to use. Unfortunately clipper guards are not included. I actually don’t even use a guard on Rig for I want the hair cut pretty short. Rig patiently waits for me to give him a horrible haircut each time for I’m not a person of details. Once a friend asked me if Rig had a disease and I just explained that no, I just shaved him at night in the backyard.
Many dog owners are opposed to shaving their dog. They might be afraid that the hair won’t grow back properly (it grows back exactly the same), or they’re concerned that the dog will look like an idiot (very possible), or they’re afraid that the dog might be confused with its hair loss. In a nutshell, your dog is so much happier in this heat without his heavy coat, they will actually smile for you.
Although shaving helps my cause, it doesn’t solve it. I just find shorter dog hair on the couch, in the iron, and even in my child’s diapers. That’s where the devices come in. First I started with using the everday lint roller which gets about a quarter of hair removed from the couch before running out of sticky sheets. I also tried using the vacuum cleaner brush over the furniture to eliminate the hair. However, as much as I need to remove the hair, the vacuum is really harsh on the upholstery.
Next I tried the Scotch Fur Fighter, www.3m.com/brands/scotch/furfighter/ and I’m pretty pleased with it. It’s actually a pretty simple concept! The Fur Fighter is this plastic handle that you stick on these “velcro” or grib sheets. Then you just slide the handle back and forth on your upholstery and the hair comes right off. No chord, no noise, little waste, and it doesn’t hurt your upholstery. The handle is $10 which comes with five refill sheets. Then you can buy additional 8 refill sheets for $5.
Last, the Furminator, www.furminator.com is a tool that prevents shedding rather than act as a cleaning tool for your house. You brush your dog with the Furminator a couple times a week for 10-20 minutes at a time, it will reduce shedding by 90%. So if you don’t want to break out the clippers just yet, the Furminator for $50 is a great alternative.
Hopefully these suggestions will help you out of the depths of dog hair in your house. If you’ve experienced other devices please share with us!
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We had our first baby about five years ago. It was an easy delivery. He came in a crate. He was a Chocolate Lab named Rig who totally ruled our world and made us incredibly happy.
Rig, like any other dog, has his quirks which we came to expect and love. Although Rig was our first born child, our first born human baby came to us about six months ago (SK). And although SK is now the totally joy of our life and has completely ruled our routine, Rig has had to adjust to being a second child and frankly he’s just not that into it.
We find that Rig doesn’t actually realize that SK is a living being. As a tiny baby he seems to think that he is equally as important and will constantly demand our attention, even more so, then he did when he was the only child. He was used to full attention, walks everyday, dog park outings, riding in the small Acura with the windows rolled down and treats from the vendors that we visited along the way. He got dinner on time, play until he dropped and slept anywhere and everywhere he pleased. He was your typical spoiled first child where his world dominated our world… that was until SK came along.
Now, Rig isn’t so sure about his placement in the family. He doesn’t bully SK, but he certainly has picked up some new quirks (added along to his previous ones) and demands our focus more and more as she gets older and demands more of OUR attention.
He tends to disrupt SK’s routine in order to accommodate his own; like, barking for no reason (wind blowing, mailman who he loves) just as SK goes down for her nap times. He doesn’t realize that he can’t sit on SK. Whenever there is floor time play with SK, Rig feels the need to get right in between what’s going on and begins to plop down in her space. He has accomplished such feats as: completely ingesting a wet SK diaper, hogging the front seat of the new, larger car that we had to purchase in order to accommodate both children, rolling around after getting muddy on SK’s nursery rug, eating an entire canister (CANISTER… as in metal container) of SK’s formula powder, and will come to us with his head down seemingly annoyed every time SK cries or whines or makes too much noise for Rig.
He still demands early wake up calls, dinner on time, play time in the backyard and even more park time, but prefers if SK didn’t interrupt his tight schedule. He feels the need to be in the nursery (a very small space) and is constantly in the way whenever we go in to check on SK or change a diaper or just hang out. Rig must be there.
It seems that Rig has not figured out that he’s the big brother of the family now, and although he is still loved and adored just as much as he was previously, he has to make a little room for his new sister and accommodate her schedule as well.
In time, Rig will find SK to be a fun playmate (and probably a relatively torturous one for a bit), but until then it’s important to find a balance between dealing with both babies schedules which has been a challenge and we have to say that SK has been a bit more gracious in helping us do so than our bud Rig.
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