It's tumbleweed season at our house. Not the dry, prickly bush-type tumbleweeds that roll through western ghost towns, but a kind that's just as difficult to deal with.
Dog-Hair Tumbleweeds.
Any of you who own (or have owned) animals of the domesticated canine species know that this time of year means shedding. Especially for owners of northern breeds, which have thick undercoats they like to get rid of when it gets warmer. It means finding dog hair in places you don't normally find dog hair. It means finding them floating through the air hours after your dog has been anywhere in the house. It means vacuuming and/or sweeping and/or dusting every day or every other day and still seeing dog-hair tumbleweeds rolling across your kitchen linoleum.
When Lakota gets brushed, we get enough fur off of him to fill a plastic shopping bag. And that's just one brushing! This happens at least once a week for about a month every spring. Everywhere that he lays down he leaves tufts of fur behind when he gets up. When he's finally done shedding and you pet him, it feels like there's no hair left on him at all! Yet he still instantly goes to his favorite spot when he comes into the house - the kitchen floor in front of the air conditioning vent.
Tonight, I'll go home and run the vacuum cleaner and get out the broom - AGAIN. I'm thankful it's only for a month or so, and when I stop and think about all the joy and fun and companionship that our dogs give us - and others - every day, I decide that I will gladly put up with the dog-hair tumbleweeds and the every-day vacuuming - it's worth it.
Dog-Hair Tumbleweeds.
Any of you who own (or have owned) animals of the domesticated canine species know that this time of year means shedding. Especially for owners of northern breeds, which have thick undercoats they like to get rid of when it gets warmer. It means finding dog hair in places you don't normally find dog hair. It means finding them floating through the air hours after your dog has been anywhere in the house. It means vacuuming and/or sweeping and/or dusting every day or every other day and still seeing dog-hair tumbleweeds rolling across your kitchen linoleum.
When Lakota gets brushed, we get enough fur off of him to fill a plastic shopping bag. And that's just one brushing! This happens at least once a week for about a month every spring. Everywhere that he lays down he leaves tufts of fur behind when he gets up. When he's finally done shedding and you pet him, it feels like there's no hair left on him at all! Yet he still instantly goes to his favorite spot when he comes into the house - the kitchen floor in front of the air conditioning vent.
Tonight, I'll go home and run the vacuum cleaner and get out the broom - AGAIN. I'm thankful it's only for a month or so, and when I stop and think about all the joy and fun and companionship that our dogs give us - and others - every day, I decide that I will gladly put up with the dog-hair tumbleweeds and the every-day vacuuming - it's worth it.
That handful of fur was after just a couple minutes of "plucking" loose tufts off of Lakota! Imagine what comes off when we actually use a brush!
The mudroom floor looks like this after Lakota has laid down for just a few minutes. All those little white things on the floor? Yeah, that's why we have to vacuum almost every day!