Getting Dog Hair Out Of The Interior?

It gets everywhere, and it's no fun to get back out, but of course the real question is:

How do you get dog fur out of the carpet?

Specialized vacuum attachment? Bristle brush so stiff it takes years off the carpet's life but at least it's less doggy? Epoxy clearcoat the carpet's nap into a shell before a dog gets near the car?

I've gotten my couple-times-a-year DD detail to something that has no business anywhere near a Concours d'Elegance, but makes the car feel much nicer in a pretty short amount of time. But the carpet remains something where about all I'm managing is Hoovering up the top layer of the fur. It's better, but a long way from good. The mats aren't so bad, as I can pull them out and run the house vacuum over them properly, and they come out okay.

It's like I need a cross between a vacuum cleaner and an Eastwood SCT. Or maybe a Flobee...

Pumice stone drag in one direction like a comb.

Works on fabric seats too.

Get a cat?

Basically you can't get it 100% out. One thing I really don't like about pets is little hairs everywhere. 

In reply to Tom1200 :

I have two cats, and it hasn't helped a bit!

Tweezers, magnifying glasses and the rest of your life.

Or, shotgun.

Hey, something I have information regarding. FInally!

I use a high powered shop vac with a narrow tip, and a standard stiff-bristle scrub brush (dry of course). The brush "unweaves" the animal hair from the fibers, and as an added bonus, also loosens dirt. Yes, it'll take awhile, but it works. 

Source: I buy the worst used cars / my wife has a husky+border collie mix

I was told one of these works really well. Available on  Amazon for about $20.00. They also have a write up about the product. Of course the other option is the rollers with tape on them but not all that effective.

The0retical (Forum Supporter) said:

Pumice stone drag in one direction like a comb.

Works on fabric seats too.

This. It's like magic. 

I've had good luck with a rubber squeegee.  Like the pumice stone, only go one direction. 

When I first got together with my now ex-SWMBO, she had a pure white Alaskan malamute. I had never experienced dog hair on that scale before. It got in and on everything. 5 years after we divorced, my F150 that I traded in still had some of his hair embedded in the carpet.

So I second the shotgun. Or an orbital nuclear strike.

My current daily has 26,xxx mile on it with about 23,000 of it with my (very sheddy) dog in the passenger seat.  I find that it's slot easier to just apologize to the the occasional human passenger than to try to get the hair out.

On the carpet I just use the dog brush that we use on the dogs.   I use a damp cloth on the leather seats....

Cheers 

Gordon

I got a dog sling for the back seat of the Merc it has cut down on 95 percent of the dog hair. Since I only have my dog in this car only when absolutely necessary it has worked very well. 
 

Another thing is to vacuum as soon as possible after the dog is out of the car. The fur cones out 10x easier than when it has had time to work its way in to the carpet. 

I have two cars I use as dog cars. They don't ride in the good car.

I can see that I've created a few intrinsic problems for myself...

The good car is intrinsically also the dog car. She rides in it pretty much every day, so there's really no chance of me getting to it right after every "episode."

We keep a dog sling thing in the back seats whenever we're not moving a third human, but the flip side is that the area under the thing has drifts of white fur by the time I get to it.

I'll try some of the techniques mentioned, but it sounds like we're probably doing well to just keep on like we are, and laugh and shout "snow globe!" when we roll down the windows for the first time in a while...

I've had good luck just rubbing carpet with your standard HF Nitrile glove, though any rubber-ish glove should work. A handheld rubber brush/squeegee/etc will be similarly effective. Brushing with the rubber thing in one hand, while using your other hand to suck up anything that comes up has been the most effective approach for me.

As far as general car carpet cleaning is concerned I haven't found a vacuum brush attachment that beats out an open nozzle in one hand and a moderately stiff hand brush/broom in the other. The agitation is very key to actually getting carpet clean.

Weathertech mats and leather seats.  Cover up as much carpet as possible.  Hair vacuums much easier.

Jesse Ransom said:

I'll try some of the techniques mentioned, but it sounds like we're probably doing well to just keep on like we are, and laugh and shout "snow globe!" when we roll down the windows for the first time in a while...

The correct exclamation is "FURNADO!"   Seriously, the above tips are good but rolling all the windows down on the interstate can be an effective stop gap measure.  Just be sure you take a deep breath first and wear eye protection.

Given your time and use restrictions, working toward covering all the carpet and other soft surfaces (floor mats, vinyl rear seat covers?) is probably money well spent. I keep a microfiber cloth in the door pocket to wipe loose hair off the dash and door panels too. You can do a quick swipe even at a traffic light and it grabs the fur I can see while driving that pisses me off.

Carpet mask, works surprisingly well. Stick on, rub in, peel off.

Come to think of it, my Alaskan Malamute won't even fit in the Miata. No worries about fur in that one. 

We had a ton of dog hair in the back of our SUV that was next to impossible to take out; it had woven itself so deeply in the carpet that no vacuum or rubber squeegeeing would take out.

The solution? Duct tape.

I just took a bunch of duct tape and made it into loops (sticky side out) and used them like some kind of redneck lint roller... I’m sure any tape with sticky adhesive like gaffers tape will do the same.  Worked like magic and pulled every one of those buggers out!

For the crevices where the vaccum won't reach I use a combo of air compressor to blow the hair out and the shop vac in the airstream's path to capture the escaping debris. Works pretty well. Wear safety glasses. 

I've wrapped my hand in packing tape with the sticky side out before, basically just pat at the affected areas till it stops being tacky, unwrap, discard and repeat as necessary. 

Edit, sharp beat me to it, should have read all the replies.  So +1 for using sticky tape

Clearly, we've been canoe 'd here, but I just thought I'd throw out a technique that I recently discovered by accident.

Grab a handful of this shelf liner stuff and rub it along the carpet in one direction. Most of the dog fur will roll right up and come out.