Of all the things I am — writer, entertainer, amateur wine connoisseur, Apple TV advocate — “pet owner” is one of the most important, demanding and rewarding roles I have. Pets are serious business. You have to feed them, make sure they’re hydrated, spoil them moderately and most annoyingly for me, groom them. I realize that there may be some of you out there with cute, short haired little creatures that brushing is a breeze and I envy that. See, I live with a three & a half pound dust bunny. His name is Zissou, he is a Pomeranian, he loves cheeseburgers and hates being brushed.

I will concede that this is partly my fault because I only get his hair cut about every three years. I know, this is probably really rude considering I basically force him to wear a fur coat in eighty degree weather, but I just like his hair long and as his mother, these are decisions I get to make. My mom made me wear bows, I make Zissou look like Cousin It.

The point is, Zissou gets a serious coat going on and it’s a terrible time to brush it. But if I don’t brush it, he sheds everywhere and even when I do brush it, the fur flies everywhere! So, when I had the opportunity to try out the Dyson Groom tool, I definitely jumped on it.

The Dyson Groom is god’s gift to those of us with fur babies. The Groom tool attaches to the Dyson vacuum arm. It looks like a regular, thin bristled pet brush but when you release the brush, the gadget sucks up all the excess hair.

It’s quite genius!

Zissou was not super thrilled with the actual grooming process since I’m taking his least favorite activity (being brushed) and combining it with one of his most feared monsters (the vacuum).

But after, we were both very pleased with the results: a fuller, softer and shinier coat.

I found that it works just as well if you brush them, and then just turn the vacuum on to suck up the hair. I did that with my cat — he loved the brush! And I didn’t have to sweep up after! It saved me time and mess, and I sound like my mother.