The Dyson Pet Grooming Kit makes short work of pet hair clean-up (2024)

There's a joke in the dog community that golden retrievers only shed twice a year—for six months at a time. Multiply all that shedding times two, and you'll understand why I vacuum my house several times a week and run our robot vacuum daily.

To help minimize the amount of pet hair that's blowing around my house, I try to brush my two dogs regularly, and I'm always looking for tools that will make the job faster, easier, or more efficient. So when I discovered the Dyson Pet Grooming Kit (available at Dyson), I knew I had to try it out.

What is the Dyson Pet Grooming Kit?

The Dyson Pet Grooming Kit is a three-piece accessory package for pet owners. It includes an adapter that connects to your Dyson vacuum, a 3-foot extension hose, and a slicker-style grooming brush. When set up, the kit allows you to suck up hair and dander while brushing your pet, minimizing the allergens that end up floating around your home.

Dyson recommends this grooming kit for adult animals with medium to long hair who aren't afraid of the vacuum. It's not recommended for dog breeds with "wool" coats, such as Poodles and Bichon Frises, and the brand suggests having someone to help you while grooming, if possible.

What vacuums does it work with?

The Pet Grooming Kit is designed for Dyson vacuums, but it doesn't work with all models. The following models are compatible with the attachment:

• Dyson Gen5Outsize

• Dyson Gen5Detect

• Dyson V15 Detect

• Dyson V12 Detect Slim

• Dyson Outsize

• Dyson Digital Slim

• Dyson V11

• Dyson Cyclone V10

• Dyson V8

• Dyson V7

I own the Dyson V8 cordless stick vacuum and used it to test out the pet grooming attachment.

What we like

The brush is effective on long hair

The brush that comes with the Dyson Pet Grooming Kit is similar to a regular self-cleaning slicker brush. It has several rows of fine metal bristles that are slightly bent to grab loose fur, and the bristles retract into the plastic, making it easier to clean off the pet hair you've collected. The surface of the brush is quite a bit bigger than any other slicker brush I've used before, which allowed me to cover more area with each stroke. This is particularly handy if you have a large dog like mine.

I tested the brush on my 60-pound male Golden Retriever, Ace, who has a very long coat prone to tangling. He seemed to enjoy how it felt and would sit patiently for as long as I was willing to brush him—no treats needed! Despite being thin, the metal bristles did a good job combing through his long hair, and I often came away with a brush full of fur after just a few strokes. Ace particularly loved it when I brushed his chest hair with the grooming tool, and it left him looking fluffy and soft.

The system makes hair cleanup much easier

Brushing my dogs is quite the messy affair, especially in the spring when they're shedding. (Let's be honest: They shed all year-round, but it's particularly bad in the spring.) By the time I finish brushing them, there are big tufts of fur all over the carpet, as well as my clothing, and I generally have to break out the vacuum to suck up all the hair I've pulled out of their coats.

The Dyson Pet Grooming Kit combines the two steps into one, making the process faster and easier. I tried using the attachment in a few ways. First, I tried brushing Ace with the vacuum off, only turning it on when the brush got full. This worked ok, but it was a lot of starting and stopping, and I would often have to manually push the hair into the vacuum hole, as the suction wasn't strong enough to pull in the large clumps.

It was generally more efficient to leave the vacuum running while brushing. I wasn't sure if Ace would like the sensation of the suction, but he didn't mind it at all. With the vacuum on as I brushed, the majority of the loose hair (and all the dirt and allergens that came with it) was sucked directly into the vacuum hose. When I was done brushing Ace, there was barely any fur on the carpet and only a small amount on my pants.

What we don't like

The setup is awkward to use

While I like the idea of the grooming kit, the design of the brush leaves something to be desired. You have to hold down the back of the brush to expose the bristles as you groom your dog, which is the opposite of most slicker brushes. It started to make my hand tired after around 10 minutes, and I think the design would have been easier to use the other way around—if you pushed the button to retract the bristles.

The vacuuming aspect also proved to be a bit awkward. My Dyson V8 has a trigger-style power button, and it was tricky to hold down that trigger and the brush's button at the same time, all while navigating around Ace to brush different areas of his body. However, this might not be an issue if you have a Dyson with an on/off power button, such as the V12 Detect Slim.

It will probably make your dog nervous

Ace is very laid back and doesn't have a problem with the vacuum—in fact, he usually follows me around as I clean, trying to play with the floorhead. His chill attitude, his extra-long coat, and his love of being brushed, made him the ideal candidate for this grooming system.

However, even Ace was initially wary of being brushed with the grooming kit. He had no problem with the brush itself, but he didn't like that I kept turning the vacuum off and on so close to him. It often startled him, and I had to provide lots of praise, treats, and reassurance before I could continue brushing his coat. He got more comfortable with it on subsequent uses, but the initial grooming sessions made him a little nervous.

My other dog, Addy, does not like the vacuum and wouldn't come anywhere near the grooming tool. If you're going to use this, your dog needs to have a very relaxed demeanor—otherwise, you risk making them even more afraid of the vacuum.

Should you buy it?

Yes, if your dog is easy-going and you have the right vacuum.

I love the idea of the Dyson Pet Grooming Kit, and in the right situation, it works quite well. However, it's not for every dog. If your pet is even remotely nervous around the vacuum, they won't like having one running so close to them. My dog, Ace, is unphased by the vacuum, and even he was a little nervous around the contraption for the first few grooming sessions. Once he got used to the noise and sensation, it made brushing him a quicker and neater chore.

While the grooming kit works with most of Dyson's cordless stick vacuums, I also think it's best used with models that have a designated on/off power button. With trigger-style models like my V8, you end up struggling to hold down both the trigger and the brush's button at the same time, which makes for an awkward experience.

If you meet both those criteria, the grooming kit is a handy tool that's probably worth the $60. For anyone else, though, I'd recommend you skip it.

Prices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time.