Wet-muddy-PNW-Doodle Clean up ideas??

[Nancy]

Okay, those of us up here in the PNW know a little about rain and wet, muddy doodles. What kinds of things do you do to help keep your doodles (and your floors, etc...) looking good during the rainy season?

[Eva (Lilo and Rocky)]

I was just fretting over this yesterday after being out in the rain for a couple of hours and realizing that summer is definitely over... I keep my dogs feet shaved (like poodles), because they drag in way less dirt that way (some people don't like the look, I didn't either in the beginning, but it makes a huge difference, so I've learned to love it). In terms of keeping the floors clean, hmmmmm, I think I've given up on that!!! I do hose the dogs off when we come home from a muddy walk, and I'm fortunate to have a shower downstairs that has a long detachable hose, so they don't have to get sprayed with cold water outside, or leave muddy footprints on a carpeted area. I also keep a stack of towels by the patio door so they can get their feet wiped after a potty break or run in the yard. On really rainy and miserable days, they end up getting several foot & leg baths to fight the mud. Oh, and the lovely Ms Lilo of course loves to roll in mud and stinky stuff, which doesn't make me very happy, but that's just the way she is. I think when you live around here, you just have to accept dirt as part of life with dogs, and not agonize too much over it, or it'll drive you crazy.

[Rae]

What a great question and I can hardly hear some good answers. We have stacks of towels in the garage next to the dog door that goes out to the potty area and we use baby wipes like crazy. We also have runner type rugs down (in dark color) for at least 6 months of the year...sometimes longer. That means heading to the laundramat once a month - too many & too big for our washer. I'd love to learn better ways. Bushing daily while dog stands on a sheet helps too.

[Scott Chalkley]

Yeah, we just wash like crazy. We have tried doggie booties before but it seems to be just as time consuming to put them on all the dogs and take them back off. So we wipe and wash. Logan is the worst because the dirt really shows on him since he is chalk. The last two days he has come to door looking like a black and white cookie. You would think it would just be the paws but he manages to get his whole underside covered as well. Guess he is either running really fast or just laying in the mud. We haven't actually caught him doing it yet. The funny thing is there is really only one spot on our property where he can get really muddy. The rest is decking, gravel, grass, river rock etc. So I guess he likes the mud.

We really haven't had much trouble with any of our other dogs. Just need to wipe with a towel upon entering. We have had a small kiddie pool filled with water on the front porch before and we just rinse them off before coming in and then have them step on a row of towels so it cleans as they walk.

[Dreamydoodles Northwest]

I like the kiddy pool idea! That's a good one. We have a big side yard that wraps around the house and we have a doggie door that goes out from our dinning room to the side/back yard..well they were going out there and getting soooo dirty and then they would come running back in and jump up on the couch or worse in bed with us all muddy and wet!
So, we built a picket fence with a gate and we cut the yard into just a small area outside the sliding glass door and then we covered everything with river rock. There's just not enough thick grass in the yard, it's very sparse here and there grass and mostly it's just dirt ground cover. This was all fine and good during the summer months but once the NW rain hit us..the yard became straight mudd and hell.
So now they have access to the side yard during the evening to do their business or lay out in the cold air like they like to do and they have a cement slab right out the door (the patio) and then on each side of that they have river rock which we hose down every day so the doodoo and pee just filters down into the the ground through the rocks. They seem to be fine with it.
Then we make sure to take them on a lot of long walks for their excersize and I wash them once a week (at least) we keep towels by the door and long throw rugs and runners at the front door.
This was a great question!! Me and my husband both come from California and last time we owned dogs was in California so we just looked at each other and were like "How do people deal with this mess all the time"? There must be some ancient secret we're not aware of yet? Haha!

Toby and Teddy at the dog park in the mud and rain..

Toby in the side yard .. you can see how patchy it is here..