Any Advise of a good at home brush to use for my Husky. I take him to get groomed every 6 weeks or so, but it is getting very pricey

I think we have that some where....

i use a rake, shed N blade, and a furbuster (knock off of furminator)

We've got a Furminator (got through Amazon - it's $7 instead of $55), a slicker brush, and a Bamboo 3-1 mitt thing, that works really well on places like his face, ears, and legs. I've also heard great things about just the standard shedding blades...

Husky coats vary from individual to individual so different people will get different results with different brushes. Better yet, multiple brushes work better than one single brush in my opinion.

For shedding you could try a slicker, undercoat rake, or shedding blade. They all have pros and cons.

A lot of people like Furminators (or similar products) for de-shedding. They do work on some coats or on some parts of the coat but they can be harder on the coat so you will probably will have mixed reviews on those.

Personally, I use three tools. First is a high velocity dryer for blowing out dirt, water and loose undercoat. Knocks the socks off brushes any day if you ask me. Second I use a double row undercoat rake, it works gently without pulling the fur out and works pretty well on the longer parts of my sibe's coat. Third, as a last resort, I use the Furminator which only works on the shortest parts of my sibe's coat and while it doesn't cut the guard hairs on my boy (which is a common complaint from others), it does pull the undercoat out which I don't particularly prefer.

Some people find that a shedding blade works better on some coats than an undercoat rake. Others love the slicker but my boy doesn't tolerate the slicker at all so it sits collecting dust.

I would ask what your groomer had success with on your husky's coat and go from there so you don't end up buying every brush out there trying to find what works on your dog and what doesn't. And even if you do get multiple brushes, I really do think they compliment each other. For example on my sibe, the undercoat rake excels in the longer fur while the Furminator excels in the shorter fur.

There are also double row rakes with rotating pins which are more gentle to your Sibe....I got me one of these for Ginger's neck area which tends to be very thick than the rest of her coat.

I also have a Furminator, and regular brush and shedding blade....I like the shedding blade because I just shake the fur off, but the Furminator grabs more in one stroke but since it's not the one with a button you can push to remove the fur, I have to clean it off after every stroke.

So which tool I use depends on if I'm lazy or not

Huskyluv wrote:

First is a high velocity dryer for blowing out dirt, water and loose undercoat. Knocks the socks off brushes any day if you ask me.

Dude, I wish you were here in CO, so I could bribe you for a play date with that thing. ;-) I'm totally a gadget nerd and would LOVE to try something like this out on Nikolai... I wonder if any of the "do it yourself" dog washes have HV dryers?

im not sure what city bark has in the self service wash but it is some kind of dryer and it worked wonders on Jacks tale this past weekend when we did baths. they are a pain and do not tolerate it very long but it was still fun to use, hair was blowing everywhere! they were still somewhat wet at the end of the night though, they take FOREVER to dry!

we use a furminator, and a rake and a pin brush.

CoffeeK8 wrote:

Dude, I wish you were here in CO, so I could bribe you for a play date with that thing. ;-) I'm totally a gadget nerd and would LOVE to try something like this out on Nikolai... I wonder if any of the "do it yourself" dog washes have HV dryers?

Most DIY dog wash facilities do have HV dryers available for you to use. Be careful, you might get spoiled with it though! I had no idea what I was missing before I got an HV dryer but I can honestly say that after having one I will NEVER be without one. When my sibe is blowing coat, I no longer spend 30 minutes to an hour or more brushing daily, I just spend a quick 15 minutes with the force dryer. But a word of warning to those who've never used one before, you WILL get blasted with water (if your dog is wet) and fur so be prepared. It is not pleasant getting blasted in the face with tons of husky fur but neither is an hour or more of brushing so I'll take a face full of fur over endless brushing any day. I just blow off myself with the dryer when I am done using it on the dog.

And yes, most dogs who have never been exposed to a force dryer will freak out. That is perfectly normal. Ours started out that way too. Gradually with more and more exposure he got comfortable with it over time, now he's content to lay down and fall asleep while I blow him out with the dryer. That's a far cry from the first time we used the dryer on him, he completely freaked and was jumping and carrying on like it was killing him.

And I second Claudia's comment on the rotating pin double row undercoat rake, that's what we use too. I love it, second to my dryer it's my favorite de-shedding tool.

The 2 places I have been to bathe Ginger has HV dryers...so I figured all the self-wash doggie bath places have HV dryers??

...and yep, you will get blasted with water if your pup is wet, and with fur...I have a hard time with my allergies at those places because all the fur blowing around makes my allergies go off! if there was a place for huskies only, my allergies would fine! (Yes! Huskies are the one breed I know of I am NOT allergic to! I'm serious!)