Garnet-based Lu-Hf geochronology using conventional (HF-HNO₃) dissolution methods may be compromised by full or partial digestion of Hf-rich zircon inclusions. This study integrates two complimentary methods to substantially reduce zircon digestion while assuring complete digestion of garnet and sample-spike equilibration. Handpicked garnet fractions are heat treated to >1000°Cinan evacuated silica glass ampoule to anneal zircon inclusions and then dissolved with 12 M HCl at 210°C and cold 28 M HF. Analyses of heat-treated garnet (and their high-temperature breakdown products orthopyroxene-spinel-quartz) from Gore Mountain, New York, demonstrate the method is capable of complete dissolution of garnet and routinely achieving sample-spike equilibration. Independent analyses of annealed and unannealed zircons dissolved by HCl- cold HF demonstrate the benefit of heat treatment prior to dissolution. Analyses of zircon-rich garnets from peletic paragneisses of Labrador, Canada, show the potential of this method by returning Lu-Hf ratios commensurate with the degree of heat treatment. Finally, a complementary chemical separation method for Lu and Hf is presented that supports analysis of garnet by MC-ICP-MS.