I love it. My 13.5 year old yellow lab is a shedding monster and the furminator seems to really help.
but I read in the collie thread that they were bad.
can someone educate me?
From what my collie breeder/show friends have told me, the furminator shreds the coat on a collie…but works fine on a short haired dog like a lab. I use a furminator on my lab and my fox/mouse hound (he’s a blue ribbon mouse killer) and on my horses. Just never on the collie. A grooming comb works better on the collie to get out the undercoat.
BEST. THING. EVER. Reduced my vacuuming immensely. I use it on my lab mix and my long haired fluffball terrier mix. The foxhound mix hardly sheds, so he just gets a good brushing here and there without needing furmination.
[QUOTE=lizathenag;5960986]
but I read in the collie thread that they were bad.
can someone educate me?[/QUOTE]
it is basically a clipper blade with a handle. As such it cuts the coat. A few people I know have overused it and it’s scraped up the skin on their dogs.
My Corgis have a huge undercoat, but I do what was suggested on the collie thread and use a HV dryer and an undercoat rake. It’s much easier for me and it gets ALL that loose undercoat out w/o losing any of the outer coat or good undercoat.
The key to the furminator is purchasing the right one for the type of coat your dog has. I wouldn’t use one on a long haired dog like a rough collie, but they do make a version for undercoated dogs like corgis. We never had problems using one PROPERLY on our corgi (who, FWIW was just a very hairy pet). The key is learning the proper technique and not over-using it.
That being said, there is no comparison between the high velocity dryers and a furminator.
Okay, reviving this thread. And please forgive my ignorance about the subject.
Ive been using the Furminator on my two Llewelyn Setters. They do not seem to enjoy the process, but I am very gentle. They dont show major signs of being uncomfortable, but definitely do not like it.
I get MASSIVE amounts of hair off of them. Generally after 5 minutes of brushing, I have a hair ball the size of a soccer ball. Normal!?
[QUOTE=AliCat518;6220983]
Okay, reviving this thread. And please forgive my ignorance about the subject.
Ive been using the Furminator on my two Llewelyn Setters. They do not seem to enjoy the process, but I am very gentle. They dont show major signs of being uncomfortable, but definitely do not like it.
I get MASSIVE amounts of hair off of them. Generally after 5 minutes of brushing, I have a hair ball the size of a soccer ball. Normal!?[/QUOTE]
Sounds normal. My dogs also dislike it, especially on their bony parts. And it does pull out undercoat, but perhaps not as well as other tools. I feel like it doesn’t get down into their coat but just skims the top.
I do know that if you’re not careful with it you can cut/break the coat on longer haired dogs as mentioned above. I really don’t use mine anymore except to skim the top after they’ve had a good bathing/brushing/grooming to pick up loose hairs.
I think they would probably work really well on my horses, though.
How often are you grooming?
I use a stripping knife for my setters. It’s more comfortable for all of us, including my wallet.
I never end up with mounds of hair, but then I touch up my dogs often. If I were looking at a dog that hadn’t been groomed in a while, I’d probably opt for this kind of stripper that gets the undercoat out.
[QUOTE=Barnfairy;6221635]
If I were looking at a dog that hadn’t been groomed in a while, I’d probably opt for this kind of stripper that gets the undercoat out.[/QUOTE]
Hey, Barnfairy, does that type of rake have a blade in it? I wanted to get a good undercoat rake for my mini horse with a yak coat, but I thought these looked like they might be like a de-matter that cuts out mats? (Which I don’t want).
My older dog that I don’t show has long feathering and medium long coat and I wonder if this would work on him - I really don’t want to chop it up, though.
