For over 30 years, I was owned by my beloved Golden Retrievers and their thick, double coats. Despite these challenging-to-manage coats, I have always preferred to groom my dogs myself versus taking them to a groomer. I have spent countless weekends brushing, bathing, clipping, and cleaning up the inevitable mess. From this experience, I have perfected my grooming process and developed a keen understanding of the right tools and methods for managing dense undercoats and sleek top coats.

Riggie is my first Bernese Mountain Dog, so it has been interesting to see how he is similar to and different from my Goldens. One distinct similarity is their thick, long-haired, high-shedding, double coats which, for the Bernese, were developed for protection from the harsh alpine winters of Switzerland. Managing Riggie’s coat was a natural transition for me, and I already had all the tools I needed to groom him at home.

Or so I thought. 

In an actual stop-the-scroll moment, I stumbled upon the Neakasa Dog Grooming Vacuum System on Instagram, and it was love at first sight. Anyone who has brushed out a double-coated breed blowing its undercoat knows what an absolute mess this task creates. I only brush my dogs outdoors on our back decks and patios because of the dog hair tornado that results.

Combining a dog brush and a vacuum cleaner into one is like a dream come true, and I could not wait to get my hands on one! I reached out to Neakasa, and they were gracious enough to send us the Neakasa P1 Pro 5-in-1 Pet Grooming Vacuum for Dogs and Cats to test out on our hairy Bernese beast. Read on for our full review!

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Product Features

The deshedding tool resembles a Furminator-style brush with a tight metal comb designed to pull out loose undercoat. Both feature a simple one-handed lever press to release the hair from the brush and suck it up into the vacuum.

The only grooming attachment missing from the system is a grooming rake. I prefer to use a grooming rake first to quickly get through the coat and release the trapped undercoat before performing a more in-depth second pass with a finer brush, like the deshedding tool.

Ease of Use

The Neakasa P1 Pro Dog Grooming Vacuum System is straightforward to operate. Although it comes with a full user manual, I never needed to reference it. 

All the parts and pieces easily clip into place and can be quickly removed. Just remember that all the attachments snap on and off in line with the hose, and there is no button to press to remove them – pull straight up to remove and slide down to snap on.

The vacuum has strong enough suction to quickly whisk away loose hair from the grooming brush. However, I had to press the gray “clean” lever on the handle several times to get the hair loose enough from the bristles for the suction to pull it in.

Sometimes, I would have to loosen the hair from the bristles with my other hand. But, once it is loose, the vacuum swiftly sucks it right up! The deshedding tool seems to release the hair more efficiently, and I never had to manually pull it off.

Riggie’s Response

One of the most attractive features of the Neakasa Dog Grooming Vacuum System is its quiet operation. This is not your standard floor vacuum when it comes to volume! The vacuum operates at 52dB, which is equivalent to a normal conversation, moderate rainfall, or a refrigerator running. It is well below the level of a normal vacuum, which is between 75 and 85 dB.

Maneuvering the hose around with a wiggly young dog did present some challenges. Riggie is only 16 months old, so he does not like to hold still for very long or stay in one place during grooming. We had to frequently move the base unit to account for his newly chosen position. We would imagine this would be less of an issue with an older, calmer dog (like our Golden, Jameson, that we lost in 2022).

Suction & Brushing Performance

The bristles on the grooming brush attachment are only 3/8” long, which is plenty of length for a short-haired breed. However, for a dense, double-coated breed it can make it difficult to get down to the deeper layers of undercoat without physically spreading the coat with your hands and working in very thin planes perpendicular to the skin. 

Many professional grooming slicker brushes have longer wires for medium to long coats. The wires on the grooming brush are longer than 3/8”, but the gray plate that moves up to loosen the hair so it can be sucked up into the vacuum reduces the length by more than 1/8”, making the available bristle length for brushing fairly short.

The deshedding tool does a fantastic job stripping out the loose but trapped undercoat. I found the performance of this attachment to be on par with the Furminator brushes (of which I have 2). Also, the lever to loosen the hair to be sucked up by the vacuum works very well with this attachment. 

Clean-Up

This is where the Neakasa system really shines. Anyone who has performed the arduous task of pulling dead undercoat out of a large double-coated breed knows that this is time-consuming and arm-muscle fatiguing. By the time you finish, you hardly have any strength left to lift a vacuum to clean up the mess. The beauty of the Neakasa system is that it virtually eliminates the clean-up process.

However, the overall small size of the unit is desirable since it allows it to be stored in small spaces. So, this is not a deal-breaker but more a compromise. Neakasa offers 2 other models with 2 and 3 liter dust bins.

If you prefer to brush your dog in the comfort of your home due to weather or a lack of outdoor space, a dog grooming vacuum is essential. This system reduced the amount of loose hair in the immediate area by at least 90%. We still had a small amount of clean-up, and switching to the vacuum attachment at the end allowed us to avoid pulling out our Dyson for a full vacuum job.

Models & Pricing

Neakasa offers 4 different models of dog grooming vacuum:

Final Verdict

With a double-coated large breed, the slightly larger dust bin of the P2 or S1 model would be more accommodating to the copious amount of hair during shedding season. However, the price point of the P1 Pro model is attractive, and emptying the bin once or twice is not a deal breaker.

Neakasa offers many options for dogs of all sizes, breeds, and coat types. The grooming vacuum is also a great choice for cats since the quiet operation is a huge bonus for more skittish kitties. For any household with pets, a pet grooming vacuum system is a worthy investment to make brushing time tidier and help keep your home fur-free!