This is the worst vacuum I've ever owned or heard about anyone using. In fact, my friends cannot believe my story about this vacuum! I am on my third Dirt Devil Purpose for Pets so far - after a few uses, the first one kept overheating and cutting off. Dirt Devil's customer service said that I could take it to a repair facility or back to Wal Mart. I chose to return it to Wal Mart and got a new one. The new one did the same thing. I couldn't even vacuum a whole room before it would cut off. So I called Dirt Devil and they said to send it back. They sent me a return label and said to take it to the UPS store. We'd thrown away the box, so we had to pay to have it packed. When DD received my vacuum, they sent us a new one, but we were without a vacuum for over a week. The THIRD vacuum did exactly the same thing! So I called customer service back and spoke with Juanita. She informed me that the filter in the vacuum I'd returned had been clogged and that had caused the machine to overheat and cut off. So the lesson here is, if you buy the Dirt Devil Purpose for Pets Vacuum, be prepared to remove, clean, and dry the filter after every use. Also, don't expect any customer service from Dirt Devil. By the way, I now have a comparably priced Bissell vacuum that actually vacuums my whole house without overheating!