Six or seven years ago, when my wife and I were discussing getting our first dog, we did extensive research into which breed would be right for us. While size and temperament were important, we were more interested in practical issues.

I grew up with collies. Throughout my childhood, we always had two or three of the long-haired herding dogs in our house. It was commonplace for me to brush long white hairs off of my clothes and furniture, and I thought nothing of yanking a wiry piece of fur out of a forkful of lasagna. Dog hair was an everyday part of life. When my mom brushed the collies, the result was six or seven balls of hair the size of softballs.

Jen wasn’t interested in having enough dog hair around the house to knit a sweater, so we settled on several short-haired breeds. When we considered our lifestyle and their friendly reputation, Labrador retrievers became an easy choice for us, just like the thousands of other families who have made them the most popular breed in the U.S. We had considered golden retrievers, but didn’t want the long hair collecting in corners around our house.

I’m not sure what we were thinking, deluding ourselves with the idea that shedding would not be a problem with these short-haired dogs. The last six years have been a constant battle with loose dog hair.

I was prepared for heavy shedding in the summer as the dogs thin their winter coats. What I was not prepared for was the fact that every time I pet Remy or Barrett, I would be leaving a handful of hair behind to collect in some corner of the house.  We can vacuum the whole house, only to find the floor of the room where we started sprinkled with little black hairs. We had to end our tradition of making candy for Christmas gifts because no one wanted to find a dog hair in the middle of their chocolate truffle.

And it’s not like I don’t brush them. I’m pretty sure that when I brush out a loose hair, another one springs up immediately to take its place. I have never run a brush through the coat of either dog and had no hair fall out. Sometimes I wonder if I kept brushing all day, would they go completely bald?

Brushing has never been an easy process with Labs. With the collies, a short wire brush would grab their long hair in bunches. No matter what brush I try with the Labs, at least half the hair falls of the brush and remains in a pile on their coat. The best solution I’ve come up with is a combination of brushes. I use a Zoom Groom, (made by the same people that make Kongs) a rubber brush with conical “fingers” that does a decent job of yanking out the longer wiry hairs. Most of this hair collects at the end of a stroke on their hips, and I have to gather it up by hand. I then have to make a second pass with a metal comb to pull out the downy undercoat. A good portion of this collects in the teeth of the brush, but the rest either clings to the dog or floats through into the air, making indoor brushing an impossibility.

This two-brushed process goes on for as long as I can keep the dogs standing still, or until my patience runs out. I could try doing it every day, but I’m not convinced that would lead to significantly less hair under my couch and in the corners of my kitchen.

Are there any dog owners out there with suggestions to make this brushing process more efficient? Some miracle product I haven’t tried?