Worth getting 3+ different brushes, a great vacuum cleaner with HEPA filters, and a bunch of “dog” towels for either home bathing or at a do-it-yourself dog grooming place (where I take my huge GSD although I wash my two cattle dogs at home because they’re so easy). The GSD has an incredible coat that takes forever to get wet, work shampoo/conditioner into, and rinse a few times and these places have the best washing set-up and special dog blow-dryers so you can really get’em dry. So much fur comes out before, during and after the bath you’ll be doing a lot of brushing but the shedding does slow down quite a bit if you brush regularly (I do it in the yard) and you figure out the brushes that work best on your dog’s coat.
It helps that I have tile flooring throughout my current home. Had the wall-to-wall carpeting replaced with hardwood laminate at my last house and that was the easiest to clean and the 65 lb & 100 lb dogs didn’t damage it at all.
I wish herding dogs were smart enough to vacuum!
“I wish herding dogs were smart enough to vacuum!”
They are, but life is kind of tough without opposable thumbs. If my two Aussies had hands instead of paws, they would be dangerous, getting into everything!
Now there’s a breed that sheds, year ‘round. Try keeping two in your house! And their hair growth is prolific — I read that they grow in a new coat every 6 to 8 weeks, which I personally believe to be a true fact. The amount of fur that we vacuum up seems to defy rational explanation. I could knit a new dog every month.
Those bag-less vacuum cleaners advertised for pet hair don’t cut it for Aussies. We use a Sanitaire commercial vacuum cleaner, it has a bag like the old fashioned Hoovers, and a powerful suction.