Surprising uses for all of that dog fur

Got fur? Just kidding, of course you do! If you have a canine kid, you undoubtedly have had to deal with dog fur at some point (or maybe literally every single day of your lives together). When you have dogs, you know that dog fur can get absolutely everywhere. Trust me when I say that there is no place in your home that is safe from the annoyance of a dog hair accessory. That’s okay though, it really is just a part of life when it comes to life with dogs. If only you could think of some uses for all that dog fur.  

I know you have probably spent what seems like a lifetime sweeping up that hair and tossing it out, but have you ever considered keeping it? Have you ever thought about being able to put all of that dog hair to use somehow? Guess what? You can!

Surprising uses for all of that dog fur

Even if you don’t think that you have a dog hair issue at your home, you may want to go and look around, making sure to look closely on or under the sofa, behind the bookshelves, hiding in your closets and any other spot in your home that doesn’t get regularly vacuumed or swept. I assure you, you’ll find some dog hair there. 

Here you will see the various surprising uses that you will find for all of that dog fur. Whether you sweep it up, pull it out of your vacuum canister or if you gather a pile of it by brushing your dog’s fur, be sure to save it up and put it to a new, wonderful use!

Save it for the birds

You knew that birds love to create nests out of all sorts of things, right? Well, they really love using animal fur for their nest building. Your neighborhood birds will be thrilled with your willingness to help them in their home building ventures!

To do this, you can take tufts of fur and wrap them around fence posts or tops of tall plants and bushes, or you can place it in a suet cage placed in an outdoor space for the birds to take when they can. Please note, that this should only be done with short-haired dogs who do not receive flea/tick treatments. The chemicals in topical flea/tick treatments, especially, can be very harmful to birds. Also, recently we have learned that fur from long-hair dogs can get tangled and be a potential hazard to baby birds. 

Protect your garden and plants

We all know how much our pups love to chase pests and other animals out of the yard, but did you know that just the smell of dog fur can deter pests from entering your garden? It’s true! 

You can accomplish this several ways:

1. You can stuff pantyhose or even burlap bags with dog fur and use it to create a border around your garden or simply place it around the yard near the garden. The smell of the fur will keep rabbits and other small garden eating pests out of it.
2. You can also place fur in mounds at the bottom of each plant. Not only does it keep small animals away, but it will also prevent insects and slugs from getting through to the plants.

Compost it

Dog fur is a fantastic fertilizer! Adding dog hair to your compost pile and eventually to your soil will help your garden tremendously. The benefits of adding dog hair into your compost include temperature regulation and moisture retention for your plants. Additionally, when the fur begins to break down, your soil will be rewarded with nitrogen. All of these benefits will help lead to a very successful gardening season. 

Clean up

You may think of dog hair as a mess in itself, but want to know a secret? Dog hair is fantastic for helping you clean up! That’s right. Dog hair is a fantastic tool to use when it comes to cleaning up spilled oil. So, if you happen to have spilled cooking oil in your kitchen or spilled automotive oil in your garage, you know just what to do. 

Chances are, you will have more dog hair than oil spills though and that’s okay. As it turns out, you can use dog hair for the greater good! Dog hair can be sent to Matter of Trust, which is an organization that makes mats and booms that are used to soak up oil spills in large bodies of water and help catch oil before it flows into local waterways.

Spin it

Do you knit? Did you know that you can spin dog hair into wool (or technically, chiengora) for your knitting project? While you can spin it yourself, there are companies out there that you can send the fur to and they can spin it for you. It’s important to note that you cannot send fur that has been vacuumed or swept up for this as the only fur that works for this is hair with the entire shaft, therefore only hair that comes out when you brush your dog’s coat can be used.