Dyson Pet Grooming Kit Review: Effective and convenient

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 spillage twice, and you’ll understand why I vacuum my house several times a week and run our robot vacuum every day.

To help reduce the amount of pet hair 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 better. So when I discovered the Dyson Pet Grooming Kit (available on Dyson), I knew I had to try it.

What is the Dyson Pet Grooming Kit?

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

Dyson recommends this grooming kit for adult animals with medium to long hair who aren’t afraid of a vacuum. This is not recommended for dog breeds with “woolly” coats, such as Poodles and Bichon Frises, and the brand suggests having someone assist you during grooming, if possible.

What vacuums does it work with?

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

• Dyson Gen5 Outsize

• Dyson Gen5Detect

• Dyson V15 Detect

• Dyson V12 Detect Slim

• The Dyson is oversized

• 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 the pet grooming attachment.

What we want

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 pick up loose fur, and the bristles return to plastic, making it easier to clean the pet hair you’ve collected. The brush surface is a bit larger than any other slicker brush I’ve used before, allowing me to cover more area with each stroke. This is especially 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 that tangles easily. He seemed to enjoy the feeling and would sit patiently until I was ready to brush him—no treats needed! Despite being thin, the metal bristles comb through her long hair very well, and I often walk away with a bristle-filled brush after just a few strokes. Ace especially loved it when I combed his chest hair with the styling tool, and he was left looking soft and fluffy.

The system makes cleaning hair easier

Brushing my dogs is a bit of a mess, especially in the spring when they shed. (Let’s be honest: They shed all year round, but it’s especially bad in the spring.) By the time I’m done brushing them, there are huge tufts of fur all over the carpet, as well as my clothes, and generally I have to break out the vacuum to suck up all the hair I pull out of their coat.

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

It is generally better to leave the vacuum running while brushing. I wasn’t sure if Ace would like the sensation of being sucked in, but he didn’t care. When I vacuumed while brushing, most of the loose hair (and all the dirt and allergens that came with it) was sucked directly into the vacuum hose. When I finished brushing Ace, there was almost no fur on the carpet and very little 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 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 tire my hand after about 10 minutes, and I think the design would be easier to use the other way around—if you press the button to retract the bristles.

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

Your dog is probably nervous

Ace is very laid back and has no problem with the vacuum—in fact, he always follows me around while I’m cleaning, trying to play with the floorhead. His cool demeanor, his extra long coat, and his love of being brushed, made him the perfect candidate for this grooming system.

However, even Ace was initially wary of brushing the grooming kit. He didn’t have a problem with the brush itself, but he didn’t like that I kept turning off the vacuum and sticking it to him. This often surprises him, and I have to give lots of praise, treats, and reassurance before I can continue brushing his coat. He became more comfortable with it with subsequent uses, but was a little nervous during the first grooming sessions.

My other dog, Addy, does not like the vacuum and will not go anywhere near the grooming tool. If you use it, your dog needs to have a very relaxed demeanor—otherwise, you run the risk of scaring them into the vacuum.

Should you buy it?

Yes, if your dog is friendly and you have the right vacuum.

I like the idea of ​​the Dyson Pet Grooming Kit, and in the right situation, it works well. However, this is not for every dog. If your pet is even remotely nervous around the vacuum, they won’t like someone running near them. My dog, Ace, was 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 smoother task.

While the grooming kit works with most of Dyson’s cordless stick vacuums, I also think it’s best used on models with a dedicated on/off power button. On trigger-style models like my V8, you struggle to hold the trigger and the brush button at the same time, which makes for an awkward experience.

If you meet both criteria, a grooming kit is a handy tool that’s probably worth $60. However, for anyone else, I recommend you skip it.