The present invention relates to a dryer and to a control method therefor. More specifically, the present invention relates to a dryer control method comprising: a first drying stage entailing the drying of an item to be dried by subjecting the item to a strong hot-air stream while tumble-drying the item in a drum; and a second drying stage entailing the drying of the item to be dried by subjecting the item to a weak hot-air stream while tumble-drying the item in the drum. Consequently, by repeatedly subjecting an item to be dried to drying stages according to the above drying algorithm, the present invention makes it possible to prevent shrinkage and wrinkling of items to be dried made of woollen fibre, as occurs in the drying process.