Whether you take your dog in the car on short rides to the park or on long family road trips, chances are some of its hair winds up on the upholstery. Unless you have a nonshedding breed or invest in a protective cover, you can expect to deal with pet hair on your car seats. Covers for backseats are made with rubberized, water-resistant backings to keep them from slipping and to prevent any accidents from ruining your seats. Without a cover, you need to do a little more work to keep your car free of pet hair.
Rub a dryer sheet over the areas of your car that have dog hair on them. Cloth upholstery and carpeting are usually the worst areas for pet-hair accumulation. A dryer sheet helps reduce the static cling of the hair, making it easier to pick up. Dryer sheets also help reduce any pet odors in the car.
Wet a rubberized glove and shake off most of the moisture. Using the side with the most texture, rub your hand down with the grain of the fabric on your car’s seats in short, overlapping strokes. The hair rolls down with your hand into easy-to-pick-up bunches. You can also use the rubberized fingers to reach into the creases between the seats and seat backs and pull out any hair that may have ended up in there.
Vacuum the interior of the car with a brush attachment on the end of the hose. Work from the top of the car to the bottom in case any hair falls while you are working. Vacuum the headliner, all the seat backs, all the seats and then the floor mats and carpet. Use short, overlapping strokes with the brush attachment to lift out as much of the dog hair as possible.
Use a lint roller or the widest masking or painters’ tape available and lift off your dog’s hair. Adhesive lint rollers all work the same way, so don’t worry about getting one specific to pet hair. If your car is particularly hairy, expect to use an entire lint roller (or two) to clean up all the fur. If you are using tape instead of a roller, unroll enough to wrap around your hand and pat or roll the tape while it is on your hand to pick up the hair. Discard the tape and wrap a new section around your hand when it is no longer sticky.
Dampen a paper towel with water and use it to wipe down any areas of the car’s interior that are not covered in cloth. You can wipe down vinyl, wood and plastic without any chemicals to remove pet hair.
