I would highly recomend up-right Dyson. It has a rotating brush and a brush attachment for upholstery / difficult to reach areas. Our golden lab sheds so much hair that I could probably stuff a medium sized cushion every day.
I've ordered the handheld Dyson Animal, so will keep people posted. My Dirt Devil was seriously frustrating me this morning, it has a motorized end but the suction is next to nil. If anyone is looking to purchase it I'd suggest they don't.
Had my Dyson a few weeks now and I gotta say its brilliant. The suction is almost as good as my upright cleaner and it does a great job. I highly recommend it!
however we have a really cheap carpet sweeper (around 15 euro in argos) and it's great at picking up the hairs. we usuually give a run over with the carpet sweeper on areas that the vacum cleaner failed on.