Odd question: any recommendations for a dog-friendly vacuum cleaner?

[Petepreston]

Can anybody recommend a vacuum cleaner that is good if your puppy is one of those that chases it and barks? I'm quite sure its the noise Posie doesn't like because that's how she behaves even when I don't move it. It just has to be switched on.

She's a working Cocker and our floors are mostly laminate so pet specific isn't a requirement, at least, not from the a hypo-allergenic or molting point of view.

[vixen]

Most of my floors are wood, laminate or ceramic tiles.
I have a Dyson Animal cylinder and I love it.    I like Dyson as they go on forever and you can get replacements for nearly all the parts.
Other members on this forum also recommend Miele Pet vacuum cleaners.
If you go to the Shopping topic and type in vacuum cleaners in the Search, you should get up lots of other previous discussions of which cleaners are recommended. 
I have two workers and they are act very differently when the cleaner comes out (every day).  One watches it from a distance, the other actively follows it around.
Have you tried rewarding your puppy when she is calm around the vacuum cleaner?  I have never had a problem with my two girls but I am sure other members will have had similar experiences to you and hopefully one of them will give you advice as to how to stop the barking/chasing. 

[Anita D]

I have a Miele cylinder purchased this year.  To say I LOVE it is an understatement.

I've previously owned Henry's, Electroluxs, dyson.  The Miele is brilliant. 

It has a quiet setting too which I use around the cats to avoid alarming them too much! 

[ejp]

Love, love, love my Miele, and yes, I know, I need a life!!     Co-op electrical have them at a good price...

[smartietopdog]

See I would say avoid a Dyson, as I found mine was VERY loud. Smartie has a big fear of the hoover, but since I traded to a lovely pink Hetty (Henry's sister!) she seems to be coming round to it.
Apart from being smiley all the time, it now comes with a boost button, which makes it super sucky. I find I don't so much need it with my wooden floors, but its good for carpet.

[mooching]

Have you tried rewarding your puppy when she is calm around the vacuum cleaner?  I have never had a problem with my two girls but I am sure other members will have had similar experiences to you and hopefully one of them will give you advice as to how to stop the barking/chasing. 

I agree with vixen.

What we did with Alfie when he was very young was have my daughter hold him while I did it, stroking him and telling him he was a good boy, while he got accustomed to the noise (did the same with the washing machine, mower etc), and rewarding him with a treat when he was still and calm. Are you using a clicker at all in her training? That could be very useful here. Does she start barking and chasing when she just sees you getting the vacuum out, or only when it starts up? Has this been going on right from when you got her?
You've mentioned elsewhere that her training is going well, in which case you could also use the "Sit" and "Stay" command while the vacuuming is being done (ie away from the area you are vacuuming). Nowadays Alfie doesn't need anyone to hold him, I just sit him on his bed out of the way and tell him to stay.

I have a Dyson DC24 which is wonderfully lightweight and has an easy switch to lift the rotating brush so that you can vacuum hard floors. It's a *little* quieter than my old Dyson DC1, but not much. We have been working on getting Alfie accustomed to different noises since he was 8 wks old; we're wondering how he will react to fireworks, what with Halloween and Bonfire Night coming up in 6 weeks or so.

[Saffaroo]

I have recently acquired a Sebo Felix.  We have stone floors throughout the ground floor and a kind of marble mix hard flooring everywhere else - oh and lots of stairs as well  just a few rugs here and there, so a cleaner which I could transport easily up and down stairs as well as being quiet (ish) was important.  I have found the Sebo exceptionally quiet even on its high setting which is what I use all the time. The height of the handle can be adjusted as well, plus there is a carry handle for easy stair operation.  The Sebo takes a bit of getting used to as the cleaning head swivels in use to get around static furniture and corners - so anyone with weak wrists forget it...   Both my dogs are very used to all our household machines - they will sit and let me vacuum around them  as they are just too lazy to move...even my blind dog is cool and chilled out...but this is the least noisy machine I have ever used and it works for us.
What may be useful is just to get the machine out and wander around the house with it from time to time (not putting it on) to get your dog used to seeing it - then progress with very short operation.  Volunteers at our dog re-homing centre do this when they have a dog going to a new home to help introduce to home life after being in a kennel - it works very well.

[Petepreston]

Thanks for all the replies.

I would reward her for being quiet around the machine, but that never happens. She doesn't seem scared but does get hyperactive. Her tails wags like crazy and she chases the sweeper (it's a cylinder type), all the time barking and pouncing at it. She'll even bit it a few times. She's much the same with the lawnmower but resorts to trying to bite the cable instead. With the mower she barks at it even when it's not switched on, whereas the vacuum cleaner is left alone when not switched on. The hairdrier gets the same treatment.

The one thing that all items have in common is a high pitched whining sound from the motor so I'm sure that's what's bothering her. We tend to keep her in a different room when possible.

Our vacuum is an old Hoover (8 years old?) and I've read that most manufacturers make quieter models although I can't find any actual noise level figures. Miele is the front runner from my research - reliable, sturdy, powerful and quiet setting available. Dyson seem to have a mixed review, many people love them, many people return them or buy another brand and leave the Dyson in the cupboard. I got access to Which? reviews and Miele had 80% of the top 20 rated machines. Dyson didn't make it into the Top 20.

Thanks again for the help and input. Time to suck it and see, so to speak.  Miele it is. I think.

[Coco]

Miele all the way. Not sure about the noise but with my Miele (the yellow one?) you can turn it down to do curtains etc which makes it much quieter. Maybe you could try her with it on a quieter setting working up to the loudest.
Having said that Giz is 'scared' or the hoover (and the mower) and will just run away when it comes out, i've never really worried too much about teaching her otherwise. I guess as a working cocker running away from something scary isn't great but it only seems to be the hoover and mower that do it 

[Petepreston]

As long as the work Giz should be doing isn't the hoovering and lawnmowing, eh?

[mooching]

If you can afford Miele, then go for it, but they're way out of my price range.

[mooching]

I would reward her for being quiet around the machine, but that never happens.

Didn't you say elsewhere that she has learned "Sit" and "Stay"? Am I thinking of someone else maybe?

[Emma xx]

Alfie didnt used to like the hoover, he would leave the room when it came out. We never took any notice, and eventually he got used to it and will now stand right at the front of it or at the side of me/whoevers hoovering with no problem (i can even hoover his back using the nozzle ). If we make a big deal of them making a big deal surely it would just get worse? JMO xxx

[mooching]

What may be useful is just to get the machine out and wander around the house with it from time to time (not putting it on) to get your dog used to seeing it - then progress with very short operation. 

Great advice from Saffaroo!

[siam]

Have read this thread with interest as I haven't managed to get Alfie used to the Dyson or the mower but am going down the line of helping him to cope with it rather than buy another machine as I don't think it would make any difference with a quieter one, he starts barking and jumping at it as soon as I put my hand on the handle of it to undo the flex. If any of my sons are around they take him into the garden to play. If I'm on my own, I put him outside with his Kong. It's not a longterm solution I know, but he often barks so much it's hard to get a second to reward him when he's not barking. The boys have tried holding him and reassuring him when it's switched on but he barks when being held too. I've also tried stroking him and moving the Dyson slowly beside him when its off but will keep persevering.