Hair today, it's always hair today

It's spring and you know what that means.

Extreme shedding.

Right now the tumbleweeds are tumbling in my apartment. I can vacuum on minute, turn around and there they are — tufts of dog hair, seemingly from no where.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, nothing beats a certain hair brush.



With the help of my colleague Jenny Lee-Adrian, who took the video, we captured the grooming process.



See, Kate is happy, I'm happy, and at least temporarily, my vacuum gets a rest.

Fall out from season change

With the change of seasons in full swing, Kate has begun shedding like nobody's business.

There is considerably more hair on the floors, and yesterday, Kate was standing in the hallway with her back to a window through which sunlight was streaming.

She shook. It was a sight to behold: hair cascading to the floor from, seemingly, every possible direction.

So, armed with my trusty FURminator, I set to work.

This picture was taken about a week ago, after a 3 minute brushing.


And this picture was taken yesterday, after a 2 minute brushing. (Embiggen for a better look.)


For fun, once again, here's a video I did on the FURminator.

Thanks for all the give-away entries

We gave away two Furminators on the Morning Mix, 97.7 FM. And we gave away eight of the grooming tools through this blog over the last four weeks.

Too bad the give-away is now over.

Boy, you all really love give-aways. And it's good to know I'm not alone in fighting the fur.

Thanks to the Furminator people for supplying the grooming tools.

Here's a cute cat to take us to commercial.

Now I can't get that tune out of my head.

Final Furminator give-away recipients

Congratulations to Valerie Esposito of Pawling, N.Y., and Joyce Bell of Milwaukee, Wisc.

They are the recipients of the final Furminator give away.

Bell has two cats — Kia, a ragdoll, and Tessa, a calico — who will be using the purple cat tool. Bell is hoping to retire the lint roller and be able to wear black again.

Esposito has two dogs and a cat, but the cat is not an issue, she said in her e-mail entry. She wanted a large yellow grooming tool for her 4-year-old golden retriever named Vegas and a year-old Bernese Mountain dog named Autumn.

She writes:

I love long haired dogs, and boy, did I hit the jackpot with them. By this point in the season I am starting to swim in dog hair. A ride in the car provides gobs of hair floating around getting sucked up noses and down windpipes. A dinner at my house consists of a variety of gold, black, brown and white "condiments" on all food. And of course, no outfit is complete without tufts of hair in strategic places.

I got your Furminator rules right here

Rules.

And in the column on the left.

Week 3 Furminator recipients announced

Donnie Corbin and Lisa Selage, both Wappingers Falls residents, will be receiving grooming tools courtesy of the Furminator people.

Selage will be getting the medium yellow Furminator for her three dogs. She entered and wasn't chosen in weeks one and two, but tried again.

She is hoping the Furminator will let her spend less time grooming her pooches. "Please feel the desperation emitting from this e-mail and pick it," Selage wrote, "so maybe on the 4th of July I'll be able to spend my day off flipping burgers on the BBQ."

After not being chosen last week, Corbin bought a Furminator for his mother's birthday/anniversary gift. "It's a good thing Uncle Sam came through with my tax return," he wrote.

This time he entered for his mother's two cats.

I would say his mother is now set, grooming tool wise.

And now we start receiving entries for the fourth — and final — Furminator give-away.

The rules are below and over in the left column. Please follow them; no full name, no street address, no phone number, no entry.

The Rules

No purchase is necessary. All you have to do is send an e-mail to me saying why you need the Furminator.

Please include your full name, a street address to which the Furminator will be shipped via Fedex by the Furminator people and a day-time phone number. Entries will not be accepted without this information.

Make sure you tell me whether you have a dog, cat, ferret or rabbit and give me the size Furminator you will be using.

Small Blue Tool — recommended for small- to medium-size dogs, cats, rabbits and ferrets
Purple Cat Tool — recommended for small- to medium-size cats
Medium Yellow Tool — recommended for medium- to large-size dogs
Large Yellow Tool — recommended for large dogs

Each person's name will be put into a hat for a drawing. Including a picture of your pet will get you an extra entry.

By sending an e-mail or picture, you have given me permission to use your comments and/or picture on my blog.

I will be choosing the next two recipients at random Monday at the crack of noon, so you have until then to send in your e-mails.

The Furminator company is generously supplying the grooming tools to recipients of the give-away. Neither the Poughkeepsie Journal nor I are receiving any compensation from the Furminator company. I bought my Furminator myself before I started blogging about it.

Week 3 — Furminator give-away

You guys love give-aways. Thanks for all the e-mails and pictures.

Kate and I will be giving away two more of the grooming tools this week — one for a dog and one for a cat, ferret or rabbit.

No purchase is necessary. All you have to do is send an e-mail to me saying why you need the Furminator.

Please include your full name, a street address to which the Furminator will be shipped via Fedex by the Furminator people and a day-time phone number. Entries will not be accepted without this information.

Make sure you tell me whether you have a dog, cat, ferret or rabbit and give me the size Furminator you will be using.

Small Blue Tool — recommended for small- to medium-size dogs, cats, rabbits and ferrets
Purple Cat Tool — recommended for small- to medium-size cats
Medium Yellow Tool — recommended for medium- to large-size dogs
Large Yellow Tool — recommended for large dogs

Each person's name will be put into a hat for a drawing. Including a picture of your pet will get you an extra entry.

By sending an e-mail or picture, you have given me permission to use your comments and/or picture on my blog.

I will be choosing the next two recipients at random Tuesday (because of Memorial Day) at the crack of noon, so you have until then to send in your e-mails.

The Furminator company is generously supplying the grooming tools to recipients of the give-away. Neither the Poughkeepsie Journal nor I are receiving any compensation from the Furminator company. I bought my Furminator myself before I started blogging about it.

Week 2 recipients of the Furminator

Congratulations to Daniel Upton Sr. of Hyde Park, N.Y., and Jenna Zeidler of Champaign, Ill. They will be receiving Furminators courtesy of the Furminator people.

Upton wanted a purple cat tool for Baby, who was given to him four years ago as a companion during recuperation from surgery. He is hoping that using the Furminator will ease his wife's allergies and eliminate the fur that "gets into and sticks to everything," he wrote in his e-mail.

Zeidler entered during week one. She didn't receive the Furminator then, so she tried again.

She will be using the small blue tool on Sully, her 5-year-old Pembroke Welsh Corgi.

She writes:

He's a black-headed tri, and looks rather unkempt when he's shedding since all that tan undercoat shows through his lovely jet black fur. Our most success in getting the hair is the tried and true method of bathing and then blowing out with a comb but this is MESSY and time consuming and Sully doesn't like it at all. He is a rescue and is scared of loud noises (dryer) and small spaces (bathroom/tub). The furminator would allow us to groom in the comfort of the sofa or maybe even the backyard with breaks for some ball-throwing!

Big dogs, big hair problem

Maria from Lagrangeville has two Great Pyrenees dogs named Dante and Daisy.

She writes:

Ever since we got them last July (they were rescues) our house looks like a street out of the old West with blowing tumbleweeds. We have used combs, rakes and brushes but nothing seems to get all the hair. Our male dog Dante looks like he was put in a clothes dryer without a dryer sheet. The Furminator is our last hope in cleaning up this two-dog town.

There's still time to enter. Here are the rules, and you can also find them in the left column of this page.

Cat with dreadlocks?

Allison L. from Wappingers Falls sent the picture above as an entry to the Furminator give-away. For that she gets two entries. Sweet.

Allison writes:

I need the Furminator because I have a ragdoll cat named Grendel. Any neglect in grooming causes him to become one big dreadlock. This makes no one happy. I also have a tabby who just enjoys being brushed. A friend, who ironically has a mostly hairless sphynx, recommended the Furminator as the greatest invention ever.

There's still time to enter. Here are the rules, and you can also find them in the left column of this page.

Keep sending your Furminator entries

Thanks for the great response to the second week of the Furminator give-away.

We even got our first rabbit entries!

Betsy from Lagrangeville sent this picture of Rosebud and Koala.


She writes:

Boy, could I use a Furminator! My three dogs, eight cats and 25 bunnies in my little sanctuary shed more fur than my brushes and combs can keep up with.

Good luck, Betsy.

The rules — please follow them — can be found here or in the left column of the page.

Another happy Furminator user

My colleague Irwin Goldberg, the digital editor, took my Furminator home and used it on Ace. He said the first time he used it there was a shopping bag full of hair. He just sent me a picture from a subsequent grooming session.

Irwin writes:

Here's a picture of Ace, our Australian Shepherd after being furminated. I'm not sure he enjoyed the experience as much as the dog on the Web site, but he certainly looks better and will deal better with the summer heat.

Embiggen the picture for a closer look.

You can still send in an e-mail to enter the second week give-away of two Furminators. Here are the rules. Please follow them. No full name, no address, no phone number, no entry.

Furminator give-away — week 2

Here's another chance to get your own Furminator.

This is the second week Kate and I will be giving away two of the grooming tools — one for a dog and one for a cat, ferret or rabbit.

No purchase is necessary. All you have to do is send an e-mail to me saying why you need the Furminator. Tell me how it will improve your life. Tell me how it will improve your pet's life. Tell me you just love give-aways.

Please include your full name, a street address to which the Furminator will be shipped via Fedex by the Furminator people and a day-time phone number. Entries will not be accepted without this information.

Make sure you tell me whether you have a dog, cat, ferret or rabbit and give me the size Furminator you will be using.

Small Blue Tool — recommended for small- to medium-size dogs, cats, rabbits and ferrets
Purple Cat Tool — recommended for small- to medium-size cats
Medium Yellow Tool — recommended for medium- to large-size dogs
Large Yellow Tool — recommended for large dogs

Each person's name will be put into a hat for a drawing. Including a picture of your pet will get you an extra entry.

By sending an e-mail or picture, you have given me permission to use your comments and/or picture on my blog.

I will be choosing the next two recipients at random Monday at the crack of noon, so you have until then to send in your e-mails.

The Furminator company is generously supplying the grooming tools to recipients of the give-away. Neither the Poughkeepsie Journal nor I are receiving any compensation from the Furminator company. I bought my Furminator myself before I started blogging about it.

Furminator winners for week 1

Congratulations to Beth DiGiovanni of Hyde Park and Melanee Ellis of Eugene, Ore. They are the first recipients of Furminators, the grooming tool we are giving away this month.

DiGiovanni said in her e-mail that her dog Max, a cocker spaniel mix, "would feel SO GOOD after a combing with the Furminator!"

Ellis was the entry that came from the furthest away. She runs the Lane Area Ferret Shelter and Rescue. At any given time, they have eight to 38 ferrets.

"We have lots of little bodies to remove fur from," she wrote in her entry. "With the Furminator, we would be able to make the ferrest more comfortable during their shedding seasons, as well as keep them healthier."

She sent in a picture (below) of 1-year-old Taz, which got her an extra entry.


We are now accepting entries for the second week of the Furminator giveaway. The rules can be found in the left column on this blog page or here.

Please remember that I need a complete name, street address and phone number for the entry to be valid.

Good luck.

Week 1 for give away coming to an end

Only a couple more hours until the first week of the Furminator give away comes to an end.

We stop taking Week 1 entries at noon today. Here are the rules. They are also in the left column of this blog.

Winners will be announced as soon after noon as possible.

Trena in Meriden, Conn., sent in this picture with her entry.

Hi! I'm e-mailing you about your free Furminator giveaway. I currently have 5 ferrets and shedding season is just terrible at my house. Fur seems to be everywhere. ... My poor babies seem to sneeze and cough all the time. I change bedding every other day, but it seems like once they crawl back into bed the fur is there again.

Kate is overwhelmed

Kate had to take to her bed when I told her how people were responding to the Furminator giveaway.

You have until Monday at noon to send in your entry. The rules are in the left column of this page or you can click here to read them.

Below are a couple of cute kitties whose owner Alicia in Poughkeepsie entered the giveaway.

Alicia writes:

I NEED the Furminator! As you can see from the attached photos, I have 2 (very) furry kitties, Gizmo (top) and Girly. I could brush them all day long and would still be picking up furballs rolling across the hardwood floor like dustballs in the desert. The Furminator would really help reduce the amount of hairballs I pick up! Gross!

More entries

The entries for the Furminator giveaway keep coming in. Thanks to everyone. And good luck. The drawing for the first week is Monday.

And then we start all over.

The rules are in the left side of this page. Or here.

I received a nice picture of Hollie (above) from Heidi in Wappingers Falls.

Hi Kate:

Pick me! Pick me! My name is Hollie and I'm driving my parents wild with my short black hairs. My poor mom spends many hours washing the floors because they are everywhere. I'd rather she spent the time playing with me. I love to chase my squeaky balls. As you can see, I'm not a tiny girl. I'm at least 72 lbs. I'm a mixture of a Black Lab and Great Dane. I love getting belly rubs and back rubs and this FURminator is the perfect thing. I'm going to go now and wait for the Fedex man to come deliver the package. I promise not to bark too loudly at him. I'm a friendly girl.

Keep the entries coming

The response to our Furminator giveaway has been really good. And a lot of you are sending in pictures, which gives you an extra entry.

Here's one from Colleen in Poughkeepsie:

Dear Michael and Kate:

Boy do we need the furminator! My name is Keeto and I am a 6-year-old German Shepherd/Akita mix. I am a really good boy (except for my habit of still taking treats from the trash can). I have a combination of my parents coats — my bottom coat is Akita and my top coat Shepard. So when I shed (all year-round) I shed both types of coat — I am a shedding machine!! What was my mother thinking?? An Akita?? Oh well, I guess Dad was just as handsome as me!

My owner/Mom tries her hardest to keep me groomed — lots of brushing and quarterly trips to the groomer but there is no stopping the mess I make. I am really friendly and want people to pet me but when they do I cover them with my hair and they back away. The shedding hair is also very uncomfortable for me — it itches a lot!! Kate, has this happened to you?

The furminator would improve both our lives. Mom wouldn't have to sweep and vacuum everyday. People would pet me more which I would love!! I love to get mail so having the furminator delivered to my house would be really cool — the cats would be so jealous...heh, heh, heh!! The medium yellow tool would probably be best for me.

This give-a-way is purr-fect for me! I have attached a picture of myself so you can see just how handsome I am.

Kate, what do you think? Ever seen a guy as good looking as me??

I would never think to speak for Kate, but I would imagine she would be impressed.

There's a link to the rules here and to the left under Kate's picture.

Furminator give-away — week 1

You've seen the video, now here's your chance to get your own Furminator.

Beginning this week Kate and I will be giving away two of the grooming tools — one for a dog and one for a cat — each week for four weeks.

No purchase is necessary. All you have to do is send an e-mail to me saying why you need the Furminator. Tell me how it will improve your life. Tell me how it will improve your pet's life. Tell me you just love give-aways.

Make sure you tell me whether you have a dog or a cat and give me the size Furminator you will be using.

Small Blue Tool — recommended for small- to medium-size dogs, cats, rabbits and ferrets
Purple Cat Tool — recommended for small- to medium-size cats
Medium Yellow Tool — recommended for medium- to large-size dogs
Large Yellow Tool — recommended for large dogs

I use the medium yellow tool on Kate, as an example.

Please include your name, a street address to which the Furminator will be shipped via Fedex by the Furminator people and a day-time phone number.

If all the information isn't there, I can't include you in the give-away.

Each person's name will be put into a hat for a drawing. Including a picture of your pet will get you an extra entry.

By sending an e-mail or picture, you have given me permission to use your comments and/or picture on my blog.

I will be choosing the first two recipients at random Monday at the crack of noon, so you have until then to send in your e-mails.

The Furminator company is generously supplying the grooming tools to recipients of the give-away. Neither the Poughkeepsie Journal nor I are receiving any compensation from the Furminator company. I bought my Furminator myself before I started blogging about it.

Test driving the FURminator