We went through the same thing — and I was burning up the motors in bagless vacuums about every 4 months. But vacuums with bags made no sense either, since we have so much fur (2 goldens and 2 persian cats).

I finally called and asked my vet what she uses. The Dyson D15 Animal. Yep, it cost a lot, but it’s worth every penny. I couldn’t function without it anymore – that thing will suck the spots off a dalmation, and it never seems to slow down (we’ve had it over a year now).