Shedding is not really a grooming problem, it is a hoovering problem. The hair is coming out whether you brush or not, and the only question is whether it comes out onto a tool in your hand or onto the sofa, the car and everything black you own. A deshedding edge exists to get to the loose undercoat before the house does.

The edge is stainless steel and reaches down through the topcoat to lift loose undercoat hair, which FURminator say it does without damaging the topcoat above it or cutting the skin below. A SkinGuard sits behind the edge so it glides instead of digging in at the ends, the edge is curved to follow the shape of the dog rather than fighting it, and a FURejector button pushes the collected hair off in one movement. There is a guard that clips over the teeth for storage.

• Stainless steel deshedding edge
• Sized for large dogs with long coats
• SkinGuard stops the edge digging in at the ends
• Curved edge follows the dog's build
• FURejector button releases the collected hair
• Edge guard protects the teeth in a drawer

Match the tool to the coat, and go gently. This is the large, long-hair version, and a deshedding edge used on the wrong coat type — or too hard, or too long over the same patch — takes out more than the loose undercoat. Short sessions, light pressure, and stop when the hair stops coming away easily. It is not a tool for a smooth-coated dog, and it is not for a dog with sore, broken or irritated skin.

Who it's for: owners of a large long-haired dog — a retriever, a collie, a shepherd — in those few weeks of the year when the undercoat is coming out and the house is losing.