Knowing how to properly clean dog hair from common surfaces in your apartment will make living and entertaining in your apartment a more attractive prospect. Getting all of the hair—even the hair that blends in with the surface—is more difficult than simply sweeping or vacuuming away. 

It’s easiest to clean dog hair on hard surfaces because the hair is less likely to statically cling to the surface, although it may get caught between floor boards if you have any cracks. Don’t just sweep the dog hair, as you’ll be spreading the hair around and it’s difficult to scoop all of the hair into a dust pan. Instead, purchase an electronic sweeper or a sweeper with disposable cloths. The former uses brushes that are safe to use on hard surfaces to scoop all of the hair and the latter uses static cling on a disposable cloth to grip the hair. You can dispose of the hair with the electronic sweeper by emptying the tray. 

You can make your own fairly effective manual sweeper by tying a dryer sheet on the end of a broom or mop for floors and just wiping other hard surfaces directly with the dryer sheet. The dryer sheet attracts the hair as you run it over the hard surface and you can simply throw it away when finished. 

Being able to clean dog hair off of carpets and rugs poses more of a challenge than the hard surfaces because the hair is more likely to grip onto the fibers and the hair may also be more difficult to see. The easiest way to remove the hair is to find a vacuum with deep bristle brushes (some vacuums even have pet hair attachments) and adjust the setting on the vacuum to as low as possible. You can make it easier for yourself, though, by first encouraging some of the dog hair to come apart from the carpet or rug fibers. 

To loosen the hair before you vacuum, wear a rubber glove and run your hand back and forth along the carpet. You can also try patting the carpet or rug with a lightly dampened cloth or paper towel first or using a spray bottle with a mixture of 3/4 cup water and 1/4 cup fabric softener to lightly spray the surfaces. Allow the surfaces to dry and vacuum. The hair should be less likely to cling.

You can use techniques similar to those that you use to keep dog hair off of carpets and rugs to clean dog hair off of furniture, particularly if you have a pet hair attachment for your vacuum. Don’t forget, though, that some furniture, like some variations of leather, stains when wet, so if you’re going to try to wet or mist the area before vacuuming, try the damp cloth or water/softener solution on a small, unnoticeable section of the furniture first. 

You can also try rolling a lint roller or other pet-hair adhesive roller over the furniture. Sticky rolls designed to grab hair and lint work quite effectively at keeping furniture free of hair every day between more through vacuuming. 

Being able to clean dog hair the right away not only makes your apartment look cleaner, but it can also help those who suffer from allergies breathe better. Using the proper tools can make cleaning up the hair much easier and more effective.

Don’t allow your pet’s coat to cling to the various areas of your home and hinder an otherwise tidy look. While having to clean dog hair is not a favorable task, you will be glad once you have deep-cleaned your home of all traces of pet hair. You will only need to thoroughly clean dog hair in your home every once in a while once you have removed it from being trapped in crevices. If you can stick to a schedule of wiping down your furniture once per day, then you will have to spend less time overall having to clean dog hair.

Don’t think you have enough time to clean dog hair at a frequency that is required for your pet? Contact The Maids! We would be more than happy to help you achieve a sparkly clean home free of pet hair.