Blow that hair of the dog

THEY used to hold vacuum cleaner demonstrations in the salons of polite society in Victorian times. Engineer Hubert Cecil Booth would send along his Vacuum Cleaner Cooperatives with their petrol-driven cleaner mounted on a horse-drawn van, which would stand outside the London mansions with 800ft long hoses snaking through the first floor windows.

The Cooperatives would scrub away at the carpets and upholstery and the ladies would gasp and giggle and put their hands over their ears while the maids downstairs carried on cleaning and the cabbies outside cursed at the infernal noise.

Vacuum cleaners, as they say, have come a long way since then. The latest into the market are two top-range Miele machines which promise to wage war against two banes of domestic cleaning; house mites and pet hairs.

House mites, as we know, are a recent arrival from the laboratories of medical science and with the ferocious energy of all new-born things they are blamed for ravaging our health, causing scratchy eczema, sneezes and wheezes and aggravating asthma - 85% of asthmatic children are allergic to their droppings, which they leave unfeelingly all over the bedding.

Cat and dog hairs, however, have all too obviously been with us from the day we first let animals into the cave, and a nation is looking for the way to keep them off the back seat of the car.

Dog warden, kennel owner and smallholder Rona Jack from Hardgate agreed to give the Miele Cat and Dog vacuum a whirl. She has 10 dogs, and while not all of them stay in the house, they visit frequently, leaving a deal of grit and mud and hair all over the place.

``I could string them up half the time! But I'm a real believer that if you take a dog it's for its life span. They do create a lot of hassle and upset and trauma, not to mention, of course, that they cost you a fortune, but they're worth it.''

The worst offender is her Rhodesian Ridgeback. ``He's got a very short, jaggy coat. I've got an Astra estate, and he's a big swine - he permanently flattens the dog grid and comes through, it's a never ending battle to try keeping him on the other side. The hairs stick on the car seats and if you get into my car and you're wearing black it's panic stations.''

The Cat and Dog vacuum, at #199, promises a charcoal filter sandwiched between two other filters to suck up smells as well as fur. The head has a rotating rollerbrush which loosens dirt and then collects hair.

Rona said: ``The brushes go round and what happens is dog hairs get caught in them, and you've got to get a pair of scissors and cut them along and you're footering around; it's a pain. It's excellent on hard floors and it's compact, it's reasonably quiet, it's not terribly noisy.

``And it's great for the fact that it's so light.

``But when you've got a dog that's moulting it seems to clog up the bag and you lose the suction.'' A blow-back switch allows you to shoot out the clot of hair, but Rona said she preferred her Vax, which you can dismantle to whisk out the offending clump.

``It has its plus points,'' she concluded. ``But I think it's only the name that makes it different.''

Over in Dundee, Louise Hogarth, 25, has suffered from asthma since contracting pneumonia at the age of 10. Her severe attacks have effectively disabled her - she lands in hospital up to 10 times a year, and she can no longer work - although she is pursuing a course of food allergy testing at the Western Infirmary at Glasgow, which she feels is helping.

We gave her the Miele Medivac to try out. The machine's filter, says the company, was the first to win the British Allergy Foundation's seal of approval, and it holds the British Standard 5415, the mandatory performance for hospitals and clinics. It also promises to retain 99.985% of all particles down to 0.3 of a micron.

And it has changed her life, says Louise. At #299 (#254.47 for recognised dust allergy or asthma sufferers) it might seem pricey, but Louise says it performs better than her specialist Kirby machine - ``and you can pay up to a thousand pounds for a Kirby''.

``It certainly has made a difference. Before, I couldn't use a normal hoover because you always got the dust coming out the back.

``It certainly picks up a lot more dirt from the carpets - I'm very impressed. It's not too heavy; I think for asthmatics the weight of something makes a big difference.

``I have used it on the matress on my bed as well, and what a difference that's made - I'm having fewer attacks. It's wonderful, it's like having a part of my life back.''

n Check Miele stockists on 01235 402277.

n Rona Jack is always looking for good homes for abandoned animals: call 01389 876966.

WHY IT'S SUCH A DIRTY JOB

Top five niggles when buying a vacuum cleaner

n Too heavy - always lift the machine and imagine yourself toting it round the house

n Too noisy - one in three testers thought their new vacuums too noisy

n Too bulky - especially uprights, which store their hose and attachments on the machine

n Uprights are top heavy, and can topple over on the stairs

n Tools and accessories hard to access - upright clips are too tight, or cylinder stow away compartments hard to get to

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