Dyson answers dog hair problem with the Groom tool

The Dyson Groom tool has been designed to help prevent the mess associated with dog hair loss by sucking any loose hair into the vacuum before it gets the chance to hit the floorImage Gallery (5 images)

Just when you've got the sofa or carpet clean, the dog appears and sheds a few pounds of loose hair all over the place. It's a problem faced by dog lovers the world over and one which the folks at Dyson UK have been considering for the past year. The result is a vacuum attachment for medium to long haired dogs which sucks up loose hair and dead skin before it gets anywhere near your new clean floor or prized upholstery.

While some dogs shed their coats a couple of times a year, others leave a constant stream of discarded hair in their wake. If you're lucky enough to share your home with a white-haired dog then you'll be familiar with the overnight snowfall that can greet you as you enter the front room in the morning. For those living with medium to long haired pooches, brushes with stainless steel bristles will long have been an essential part of the dog grooming arsenal.

Engineers at Dyson have taken this basic brush design and mixed it with a bit of vacuum cleaner know-how to come up with a tool that's said to solve the issue of brushed hair still ending up on the floor during grooming. It's designed to remove loose hair directly from the dog before it gets the chance to fall and will then suck the captured mess from the brush head into the vacuum cleaner. The bristles are angled at 35 degrees and any dead skin cells that get disturbed during the process are captured by a nozzle near the spring-loaded brush adjustment mechanism.

As the dog is groomed using the attachment, the "tool's stainless steel bristles remove loose hair and dead skin. Bristles and air flow are controlled via thumb pressure on a tab. As the thumb is lifted, pressure is reduced and the bristles retract. Simultaneously, air flow is re-directed to suck hair and allergens into the clear bin – hygienically."

The Dyson Groom tool will fit most of the company's vacuum cleaners and is on sale now direct from Dyson UK for GBP40 (US$64). It will be available through UK retailers from next spring.