Friday, April 21, 2006

My new fur coat

People often ask me if pugs shed.  When asked this I always laugh and then offer up a definitive “Yes, yes they do and they shed a ton!”  But sometimes I feel that people that don’t already own pugs don’t really understand how much pugs shed.

To help manage my gang’s shedding I brush them fairly regularly with the Zoom Groom.  The other night I took the boys and Luna out in the yard for their regular brushing and this is how my shirt looked afterward.

So how do you stop the shedding?

Well, I have found that you don’t.  Nothing I have tried has ever stopped my pugs from shedding.  Instead I find the only thing you can do is minimize the shedding and do your best to keep up with it around the house.  I find that brushing the boys and Luna with the Zoom Groom helps to get rid of a lot of the hair at once.  This still doesn’t stop them from leaving fur all over the rest of the house, but it does help a bit.

The other main thing that I do in the battle against fur is vacuum.  Now this may seem silly, but I vacuum every day.  When I had a regular, bag type vacuum I used to vacuum every two or three days.  Then I got a Dyson that has a clear canister.  After I ran the vacuum, I was disgusted by the amount of hair that it picked up.  I wanted to test it, so I ran the Dyson again the very next day.  Needless, to say I was shocked by the amount of fur it picked up after that I now vacuum every day.  It was kinda like Scared Straight for neat freaks.

The only other tactics that I have in the battle against shedding is to have pug friendly decor.  For instance, the carpet through most of my house is a light color.  My sofa is an odd, fawn-like color.  An added bonus is this items are all within my personal taste.  So not only do I like them, but if I miss a day of lint rolling the fur doesn’t show quite as bad.  Now, if you own both a fawn and black colored pug you have my sympathy.  The decor tips will be of not luck for you.

Good luck in your battle against shedding!