deshedding tools - Page 3

I told ya I didnt like the coat king.  But some groomers swear by it.  I used it once and hated it.  Never again.

I use a double-row undercoat rake (omg I love that thing!) and a shedding blade.

I have a furminator, but I'm lukewarm on it at best. When the dogs are blowing their down, the furminator isn't very effective at all. I prefer the rake/blade combo, though I find a weekly brushing with a standard dog-brush helps keep tumbleweeds of dog-hair from getting too large. I'll also use a collie slicker from time to time, though these work best on dogs with longer coats.

I'm going to have to check up on this Coat King. I've never heard of it.

... and ditto on the "fur-for-nests" bit. I put it out for the birds too *heh*

Halley, I think I am with you and GSDTravels, I  am with you on skipping the Coat king.. Also Halley, even though I LOVE the smell of the furm. shampoo and cond., for some reason it tends to dry some dogs coats out. My male's in particular. I use the correct amount and rinse very well, but for some reason it always makes him itchy.
I even tried it once without furminating him, thinking maybe I was irritating him with the furminator but he still had the itchies when we got home :-/ 
Come to think of it, I used another brand of Low Shed shampoo on him, Hydorsurge brand, and that also made him itchy.
I think Im going to check the ingredients and see if maybe it's one similar ingredient.

YAY!

My two double undercoat rakes have arrived.  They are quite different.

One is a Vista brand by Millers Forge.  It is like the one I lost except that it has little dog bone cutouts on the handle.  There are tw rows of the same height teeth.  The teeth are spindle shaped and slightly rounded at the tips.

The other is Master Grooming Tools and has a blue ergonomic handle.  It has the same number of teeth, but one row is short and one row is the usual height.  Both rows are spindled.

The Master Grooming Tool works much better than the other.  Both are OK but the different height teeth must have some effect.

Well, at least I have a spare.

Michele

I use a rake too but have found that if I use the Zoom Groom weekly, I only have to rake maybe once a month.  Those are the only two grooming tools I use.  When his coat gets real thick, the rake is the only thing that gets all the way through.  But, for the most part, the Zoom Groom is my tool of choice.  The rake I have is a single tooth row and I know how much undercoat it can pull.  I might have to try a double row rake, probably get done in half the time!

VomRuiz,  If your GSD is itching alot I would try an all natural oatmeal or a "puppy" shampoo, See if that helps.  Winter is really hard on skin both canine and human.  Tropiclean Oatmeal is a brand that we use in our shop and it is wonderful it gets them really clean.  I use furminator on my GSD in the spring and throghout the summer into the fall and then I switch her to oatmeal throughout the winter.  It doesn't help with shedding, but I would rather deal with hair (EVERYWHERE...lol )rather than itchy skin.

Halley SAME HERE!
As disgusting as it may sounds to those who keep their dogs exclusively outdoors (mine are both indoor/outdoor)... I have almost gotten used to dog hair in my house and prefer it to an itching dog. LOL
We have an apple-oatmeal shampoo in our salon and even though it smells great, he's still itchy (just my male strangely enough, the winter months kick his butt in that department!) I will try the brand you noted, thank you for the advice!!!
Stacy
P.S. I think I may go back to giving him a dose of Alaskan Salmon Oil every day. That stuff is wonderful :-)

I am totally with ya on the hair in the house.  It's all a part of being a GSD owner :-)  My Halley is an in/outdoor dog as well.  It took me 2 years to convince my boyfriend to get a dog.  We have hard wood floors throughout the house,it doesn't make it any better, her hair just floats across the floor.  I  thought I could keep up with it at first (silly me) after a while it was like SCREW IT!! I am too tired to do this crap 2-3 times a day (i know, OCD much?).  Anyway, We have apple-oatmeal as well & you are right, it does smell good, but thats about it.  I hope you do check out the Tropiclean line, I know Omaha Vaccine carries it.  omahavaccine.com.   You should also check out their puppy shampoo, that might help the itchy skin.  It has aloe, oatmeal, coconut cleanser & vitamin E. Awesome stuff.  It makes Halley's coat look FANTASTIC & she smells great too.

I will definitely check it out. Eventually I am going to get around to opening my own salon so I want to compare products.

Matt, my husband didn't want a GSD because of the hair. He likes very short coated breeds. Now we are going on 4 GSDs. Once he even pulled a clean frying pan out of the cabinet and there was a single dog hair on it... I though he was going to have a fit LOL
We have half hardwood and half carpet and it is very hard to keep up with it. I was like you at first and obsessively sweeping and vacuuming up the hair... I gave up and now it's weekly ;-)

I kind of skimmed through my old posts and didn't see if I had mentioned it, but the Miracle Coat leave on conditioner also makes my packs coat shiny and soft. It took me awhile to get used to the smell of it, but it works great!
Thanks again for the link!

Good Luck on opening your own salon, it's alot of work (of course i dont need to tell you that) I have had a few friends open their own salons & they are doing great.