Double-coated dogs do not shed evenly through the year. They blow the undercoat in great grey drifts twice a season, and the hair you find on the sofa is simply the hair that did not come out in the garden. A rake gets underneath the topcoat and lifts that dead layer out before it works loose on its own, which is the difference between twenty minutes outdoors and a fortnight of hoovering indoors.

The pins on a rake are longer and more widely spaced than those on a slicker brush, and the spacing is the whole point: they pass between the guard hairs without dragging on them and reach the soft undercoat sitting beneath. On a Golden Retriever, Husky or German Shepherd that is exactly where the volume is. The handle is sized for a proper grip, which matters once you are working across a big dog's flanks and hindquarters for any length of time.

• Rake-style head sized for large, thick-coated breeds
• Sturdy pins reach through the topcoat to the undercoat
• Lifts dead undercoat to cut shedding around the house
• Helps prevent mats forming in dense fur
• Shaped handle for control on a big dog
• Suits Golden Retrievers, Huskies, German Shepherds and similar coats

On technique. Work in the direction the hair grows, in short even strokes, one area at a time, and let the tool do the work, because pressing harder does not remove more coat, it just drags on the skin. A rake is the wrong tool for single-coated breeds such as Greyhounds or Poodles, and on an already matted coat it will pull rather than release. Deal with existing mats first, then rake.

Who it's for: Owners of double-coated dogs who lose the argument with shedding season every year and would like to move most of it outdoors.