Puppy blues due to dirty house - will this get better?

[Puppyblueshelp]

Looking to hear from dog owners who may have experienced something similar.

We have a 7 month old puppy and by all accounts we have been really lucky with him - he is friendly, affectionate, calm, well trained etc. However I am suffering from a severe case of the puppy blues because my house now feels constantly dirty and gross - the dog smell, dog hairs everywhere, mud being tracked in all over the floors, the garden is dug up and ruined and we are barely keeping on top of removing the dog poo. I knew dog ownership would mean extra cleaning of course, but I don't think I had anticipated how much our house would change and the effect it would have on me. The constant cleaning and feeling grossed out by the mess is taking a huge toll and although I have a great bond with the puppy, I am questioning whether this is worth it. This feels like it will be a lifetime problem and not something that will get better over time (like most puppy problems do). Did anyone else feel like this and how long did it take for you to get over it? Any tips?

I am sorry you are having this experience, as once again I’m sorry to say this is the realty of life with a dog. I would be happy to help in anyway I can, I hate the thought of begrudging your furry friend, or even worst getting rid of him.
What type of dog is he? Can you give more details regarding why your having such a hard time with him?

At 7 mths I was threatening to send the little blighter back. It felt like a constant battle against dog hair, poo, pee along with just mess everywhere and half the garden destroyed. Didn't feel like I had a minute to myself and she was chewing everything including me. Came to my senses and sent her to day care twice a week to get some space and sanity as well as making the effort to get to more puppy training classes and OH take her out more. She's the light of my life and I wouldn't change her now, she's well on the way to being my perfect dog at 2.5yrs but it was a fraught few months initially. Hang in there, it's definitely a recognised part of living with a new puppy.

This is also much worse at this time of year - once it eventually gets drier and warmer things become less overwhelming!

I’m sorry you’re struggling OP, as someone who has a Labrador I’m afraid to say this is just life with a dog but there are absolutely things you can do to help.

The destroying the garden is a puppy thing, you can train that away so that part you can deal with.

The tracking mud through the house you can also deal with, clean the dogs paws before they come back into the house from the garden/walk. It’s a bit of a hassle but far easier to clean 4 paws than to clean the whole house, prevention is better than treatment with that one, clean them off before they come in.

The hairs & smell- sweep and run a mop round daily, that’s what we do so it never builds up! Once you’re in the habit it just becomes another thing like brushing your teeth.

& the poo’s in the garden- once the dog is older they really only tend to have 2 poo’s a day rather than 4/5 sometimes a day as a puppy so way more manageable. Plus my dog doesn’t really ever have his poo in the garden now, we take him out for his morning walk and he does it then, and the same for his evening walk, it’s really rare now that he would poo in the garden!

Limit the areas your puppy can access. They don’t need to be all over the house.
we use stair gates.
always wash her down after a walk, we use a mud daddy which allows you to give them a warm wash down.
old towels in the dog area mop up mud and water. Always
clean up in the garden when they go outside.
you need to train them not to dig in the beds. Maybe put them in a lead in the garden so you can have more control.
our puppy is going to be 2 in the summer and I do feel your pain. It does get better.
we mostly have hard floors down stairs and I end up hoovering daily and I must admit my standards have adjusted since getting the puppy.
Good luck enjoy the pup.

Yes it's tougher than a new baby in some ways. Ours chewed walls,coffee table, stood on sofa and peed all over it , pooed on a white fluffy bedside rug. This was despite taking him out every half hour and saying "toilet" and praising when he did .
It all passed after a couple months and now have an excellent companion who is well trained .
It's worth it in the end

Well he's always going to be a dog, he wont grow out of that and they are dirty and hairy.

I have 3 and I am just resigned to the house being a bit hairy and pongy sometimes.

To me they're worth it.

This time of year is awful for dogs trailing dirt into the house. I honestly can’t wait for drier weather myself.

Agree with pp about the dog poo. If they are getting 2 walks a day most dogs prefer to do it on walks than in their garden once they mature a bit.

Depending on your dogs breed, you potentially have another 14-16 years of this. So yes, it is a lifetime 'problem' but that's part and parcel of dog ownership, I am afraid.I know someone idiot who shaves down her beautiful Old English until it's basically a giant rat - but her house still smells like dog, there's still drool on the floor, mud on the floor etc.

On the dog poo points - two or three walks a day should fix that. Mine don't poo in the garden as they got out three times a day. How often are you taking your dog out?

You can easily stop the garden being dug up by supervising your dog when it's in the garden and stopping it before it gets started. Just divert and reward.

Im afraid this is to do with having a dog not just a puppy. We had two years without a dog when our last dog passed away. The house was amazingly clean and I forgot how mucky it was with a dog. Then our current dog joined us and I now live with constantly muddy floors, grubby curtains where she brushes past them to get out of the patio door, hair everywhere and toys all over the place.

A roomba helps

It will get better but a lot depends on breed. I previously had a lab and found the mess, smell and hair incredibly hard to deal with, made harder by the fact it only bothered me. I didn’t think I would ever get a dog again, but we got a small poodle and he is so much easier. No shedding, very little smell, easier to bathe etc. This time of year is hard, because of the constant rain and mud but you just have to have a strict routine. Our dog goes everywhere in the house, but previously I had a stair gate. Hard floors are much easier and we also had faux grass, which again stopped all the mud and digging.
I hope it gets better for you. I understand how hard it is.

I can cope with most of the dirt, it's when his dirty tail brushes on the kitchen cabinets and gets ingrained in the wood effect.

I have obviously warned him I'll be chopping the bloody thing off, but he still does it.

It took me a while, but he makes me smile everyday so now I'm also resigned to a house that smells like dog (wet dog specifically at the moment), is covered in red fur and muddy paw prints.

It does get easier ... You learn not to see it all 😂

Hair, mud, smell and constant poo picking is just dog ownership. I adapt my house - no dogs upstairs, hard floors downstairs, hoover and mop on standby, a dedicated wetroom for them to dry off in etc.

Help!

It seems worse now because of the weather.

I always watch my dog on the garden and pick her poo up immediately (not often she needs to go because she usually does them on her walks)

I've got one of those bottles of "dry shampoo" from Herbal Dog Co, I spray some on her microfibre towel while she's outside then when she comes in I can get her to wipe her own feet on the doormat to get the excess off and then I use the towel on her feet to get the rest off and she ends up smelling like coconut instead of mud/wet dog. No muddy paw prints in the house.

To help with dog hair you need to brush the dog more frequently.