I have three large dogs. One is a Shepard/Hound with the Shepard type hair. I had a previous Shepard/Lab. All ShepardÂs (my personal favorite dog) are shredders. They just do it constantly. One dog has a very fine black hair, it wafts everywhere.

I entertain a good bit. I make it a point to vacuum the whole house on a weekly basis. I also make it a point to not sit down with the dogs and pet them or hug them when I'm cooking for guests. The fur/hair clings to my sleeves and can wind up in the food.

Aside from that, it sounds like you have a good attitude towards animal fur/hair. I am really picky about the cleanliness of my dogs and house, but by no means is my house what I would term "immaculate". It just ainÂt gonna happen with three large dogs. When I moved into my present house five years ago, I had new carpet installed. I just had it cleaned this year. It didn't look or smell bad, no stains. I just thought it needed it. I have a "no shoes" policy which also helps save the flooring and my cleaning it.

SG

To control dust. Dont live. Seriously. Most dust comes from you sluffing off old skin cells. Like a million a day. Having carpets, especially old ones increased dust production. Opening windows allows dust particals from outside - usually dirt - into your home. Dust coes from clothing, bed sheets, comforters, dirt off of your shoes etc. Pets add alot to the dust and hair population. Everywhere a cat lays there will be some hair...esecially clothes that come out of a dryer or places where a cat can snuggle down and get warm. My dog just finish one of two blooms he has every year, once in the fall and once inthe spring where every piece of hair is shed from his body. The hair floats around if the windows are open. This is natural, just like people, we "shed" our hair as well. If I wwas super worried about it, I would get nothing else done. My home is by no means dirty. Twice a year I just need to brush him more and do a bit more on with the hoover. Other than that, I have a life to live. All of my friends have dogs and go thru the same thing. It is all part of living with an animal

When I had cats they usually had a special place where they liked to lay. Such as the back of a chair, etc. What I would do is cover it with an old towel. This way I could remove the towel, take outside and shake, and if needed, replace with a clean old towel.

Also, keep one of those clothes rollers (the sticky tape) in the main area. Makes it easy to remove hair off the front of your clothes, before working with food in the kitchen. And brush your pets. When you normally pet and hold them just run a brush over them lightly.

But I find the best defense for pet hair is you just have to have a good vacuum. Actually when I had kids at home and a dog, I used to vacuum about every day in the main living areas. Probably not what you want to hear. But it was a quickie clean. Straighten the kitchen, wipe down the bath, and zip around with the vac.

Ditto to both posts. Vacuum a lot, don't touch the babies when you have good clothes on and live with a a few dust bunnies.
I really want a furminator for Christmas (gee, so self indulgent!)
as they seem to control pet hair the best.
We have mostly wood floors and few rugs and that helps the most. At least I can see the hair.

Well I live in a bachelor so there is only one area with carpet so it wouldn't be much to clean with a vacuum daily. I just want to develop a routine that works now that can move to larger living areas when I eventually move to a new place. Thanks for the advice!!

We have 1 cat,1 dog and a big ol' dusty house. What's worked for us was a increasing the frequency of brushing from weekly to a quick daily brush at night with a soft brush. Nothing major just a quick once over and a longer weekend brush with the Furminator. The combo has *really* cut down on the level of hair+dust-bunnies around the house.

Also, we have hardwood floors throughout and buy costco sized boxes of Swiffer pads (the dry ones). They grab the hair better than the vacuum, which tends to blow at least 25% of it around.

But the best investment was slip covers for the couches in a print that doesn't show hair and a big bag of $1 bin lint rollers. :D

A swiffer on each floor is the best tool. And if a pet brush is left outside your door you can give any canine pets a 30 second brush when you come in from the last walk of the day. I've been doing that for a few years now and it helps a lot. For cats, I agree with a towel or attractive linens on their favorite spots. You can just pick up the 'protectors' and shake and wash them on the week-ends. When you have visitors it's easy to pick them up quickly and set aside.

I have a pretty regular routine.

We have 4 furry friends, so we have a TON of hair floating around all the time. It's unavoidable with that many pets.

I vaccum the main living rooms atleast twice a week. I take my little dust buster vaccum and vaccum in corners and around baseboards quickly every day, and then swiffer quickly once a day, too.

We don't allow the animals on the furniture. Hair still gets on them from us, and the animals being naughty when we're gone - but I keep lint brushes by the couch and when watching tv or movie will do a bit here and there.

I run the sweeper and dust every day. Once a week, I break out the attachments and hit the edges/baseboards. I damp mop hard surfaces every day with a microfiber mop and wipe down the leather furniture quickly.

Dogs get a quick brush with a curry comb or dandy brush and foot wipe EVERY time they enter the house and a weekly session with a shedding blade outside.

Quick daily maintenance takes about an hour each day (including all the brushing) and goes a long way towards winning the battle against fur.