Who Knew? The Amazing Shedding Shag

About a year ago, I bought the Quinn Felted Shag Rug from Pottery Barn for our family room. (Our old oriental rug had been through house-training with a new puppy and kitten, and alas, had not survived to tell the tale.)

I had lusted after this rug -- with its incredibly thick, nubby plushness and slightly shagadelic vibe -- for ages, and loved the way it looked in the room and felt underfoot. (Our corgi, Bonnie, regularly throws herself down on it and wriggles all around while emitting yelps of pure joy. Our best guess is that she thinks the rug is another animal, and that they're playing together -- or maybe they're doing something a bit more adult, but I don't want to think about that ... ) I even felt a little smug about snagging the brand-new shag for about half of regular retail, from an eBay seller who lived near a Pottery Barn outlet store.

But let me tell you: This rug has become the absolute bane of my existence. It sheds more than our three housepets combined, and I'm regularly scooping up tumbleweeds of shed shag fibers from around the house. Just vacuuming the rug will fill a brand-new vacuum bag to bursting.

Some internet sleuthing led to a message board where owners of the Quinn and similar felted shags (like the Crate+Barrel Pebbles Shag and West Elm's Cable Shag), as well as trendy-again wool flokati rugs, were ranting about the problem. The consensus seemed to be that the shedding would calm down over time. Sadly, a year down the line, that doesn't seem to be the case with ours. Some nights, I dream of giant spheres of soft white rug fibers blowing across the floor ...

Anyway, consider yourself warned.

(And if anyone has a similar tale to tell -- or, even better, a possible solution to the problem -- please feel free to share it!)