To wonder how to keep my house clean

[didistutter56]

Posting for traffic because DP and I are losing our minds and I’m hoping people have answers I haven’t considered yet!

We have two dogs; one age 4, one 6 month old cocker spaniel puppy. We have a mostly lawned garden that is clay soil and turns to mud every autumn/winter, not helped this year by the latest puppy getting zoomies and ending up covered in mud!

We try to take them out separately, bring them in and wipe their feet before coming back in. We have an absorbant door mat and a towel at the back door to try and catch their muddy feet, but SOMEHOW I still end up with mud all over the furniture. We hoover and mop at least once daily, with another spray mop to keep on top of the mud, but it’s all over my sofa and armchairs from the dogs jumping everywhere.

We have blankets on the sofa and easy clean sofas to get the mud off, but we’re still having the clean the furniture multiple times a day and we are already so fed up with it.

If you have dogs/multiple pets, are there any must have products you have or things you use to keep your home clean?

I have throws/blankets over the leather sofas so they just go in the wash and the sofas can be wiped. But tbh I just suck up a bit of mud here or slobber there (one is a giant dog, it's a losing battle to be house proud!) It's the price of having dogs imho. My dogs are only allowed in the living room, though. Direct access to the garden but that's it, so the mud/slobber/dog stink is at least contained.

We wipe paws and then the dogs stay in the kitchen on their towels until paws are drier. Only for 30 mins or so.
We also don’t have them on the furniture, so that helps enormously.

I only allow dry paws out of the kitchen. I dry them with a towel, then keep the kitchen door shut for half an hour or so.

We actually have a gate between the living room and the rest of the downstairs so I’ll try keeping them in the other rooms, although I have fabric sofas and the puppy likes to climb from the dining chairs onto the table (despite being told many times no!) so hopefully that will keep the mud a bit more contained.

Its one of those things Contain the 4 legged furry fiends, or accept the mess.

Love ours - but yes he can create a mess in the time it takes me to spin around.

In addition to keeping them contained in one room until they are dry and clean(er!), you could try using one of those 'all-in-one' fleecy body suits (Equafleece are a well-known brand). Either using one for when out on a walk, so you can take it off when home and have a lot less to dry/clean on the dog, or when you get home, put it on to help them dry off and contain any mud?

Door mats do exactly nothing for muddy paws, the only way is to wipe their paws by hand or preferably, wash the mud off with warm water then dry their paws.

I have a small house with no utility room (I have daydreams about a huge utility room with built in dog washing station for this exact reason) and am resigned to doing multiple dog towel/blanket/fleece jacket washes per week this time of year because they're permamnently damp and muddy, plus daily floor cleans because no matter what they leave pawprints everywhere.

Our spaniel brought in so much mud if her fur grew out her feathers, we had to keep her closely clipped so she wasn't constantly soggy with mud. It helped a lot.

Honestly OP my DH and I have similar conversations every year! I think it's a choice between just putting up with a dirtier a house or cleaning and wiping things down a lot more. For us, I do tend to do 45 mins of cleaning every day (the organised mum method) and that keeps me almost on top of it but it is still very clear a dog lives here and I do sometimes wonder why I bother.

For sofas - I know you said you have blankets but I do rate a ruff and tumble throw - they're almost a towelling fabric so they do another job of drying out the paws once they've jumped up on the sofa multiple times!

We slabbed the garden, extreme but much less messy!

I used to know someone with a cocker spaniel who made him stand in a bowl of warm water every time he came in from a walk.

Spaniel here too. Great big hairy one.

Mud everywhere and I agree, it is bloody depressing. I think back with longing to the pristine house I used to have when it was just me.

BUT I love the bones of him, wouldn't be without him and so must accept my fate. (Though the nexyt dog is going to be something much smaller and cleaner!).

However, I find keeping the hair on his paws short really helps reduce how much mud he brings back. I also bought robust and darker coloured sofas and a carpet cleaner with furniture attachment and resign myself to cleaning all the cushions down every 3-4 months.