Dirty dog!! What do you do with yours?

[taptonaria27]

I have a fox terrier pup, we're really enjoying off lead walks now but he comes back from them absolutely black - he hates the bath and I can't do that everyday anyway, I tried the hose but a) he hated it and b) it didn't get it all off anyway, today I tried wiping with a flannel mitt which was reasonably effective but I've realised the kitchen cupbairds are all covered in black spray splats where he's shaken himself off afterwards. I suspect I'll end up putting him straight on his crate to dry off.
Any top tips please? I don't want him spotless but don't want the house wrecked either.

My answer to it is floor wipes. I've got used to constant cleaning. Fingers crossed someone will come up with a better idea. Mine's too big to get in the bath.

At the moment mine are getting bunged in the bath and rinsed off under the shower after every walk. I'm lucky though as they're whippets and so, unless they've rolled in something dead unsavoury, a quick rinse will get any amount of mud and general grot off.

I hate this time of year. Walks take twice as much time as usual once all the washing of dogs, harnesses and jumpers (their) is factored in.

I am hating the mud. Any tips for keeping the house clean. We have a dog flap and the cats and dogs are endlessly trailing mud in.

Mine hate baths but still get them. Two land that turn into dead weights when I lift them in then try to jump out. I just praise them like crazy in the bath. One has a ball in there too to distract him.
I tend to bath them on fox poo days (couple of times a week) and other days just towelling off mud works, if it's dry outside I play in the garden with them for a bit too to help get rid of some and dry it a bit

Two labs not lands

You can either use a fleece coat when they come in to just let it all dry, or use something like the Hozeloc portable shower so you can wash them off outside with warm water (fill it with hot before you go out and put outside ready).

I have lurchers, so fleece jumper when they come in and some downtime in their crate to dry off and drop mud in there works great unless they are really bad

We have a doormat from BHS that is super absorbent and machine washable. That helps with the paws. It needs washing bloody daily tho. My 6 mo lab needs to be bathed twice a week, other days I just try to towel dry as much as I can. Mucky pups indeed.

Am I the only one who just doesn't bother anymore? The dogs are in and out all day, constantly filthy and wet so I see attempting to clean up after them as utterly futile. They are confined to the kitchen straight after a walk and dry off in their bed. The kitchen walls and cupboards have mud splatter marks up to half height. The floor is conveniently a kind of patterned white and brown lino (not my choice) which disguises the dirt to some extent. I accept I am a slattern. I did buy a steam mop thinking it would miraculously transform our mud house but it just distributes the mud a bit more evenly....

Open plan downstairs here so can't just leave them to it but would if I could

I use a dog drying bag when mine comes back from walks , the bag dries him and if you give them a rub before they come out most of the mud comes off , shake bag outside ,job done . My bag is from the microfibre company ( the original doggy bag ) , they are more expensive than some others but they work better IME .

Morning walk: Hose off outside, towel rub inside, towels all over floor and basket and then I go to work, dog left in kitchen. Vacuum up all the horrible bits when I get home.
Evening - same although he's generally not as muddy as pavement walked rather than through the woods.
We still have dirt all over the place, and as well as the endless sweeping and vacuuming I do a dog towel wash every 2 days - he has about 6 or 7 towels. I hate this time of year too!!

2 questions from me.

1. My dogs like to give themselves a good clean and lickover after they've been out, do they not get frustrated if they can't do that, if they're zipped into those doggy bags?
2. Do people's washing machines not get clogged with hair and dirt with lots of dog towel washing?

I am open to persuasion that my life could be cleaner if I put some more effort in!

Mine goes straight in her crate for 10 mins any time she goes outside, and gets a bucket of warm water chucked over her in the garden if she's rolled in something particularly rank! She's brindle so the mud doesn't show too badly though!

She gets a proper bath about every 4-6 weeks.

I've yet to find a solution to the clogging issue with the washing machine. I'd like to wash her bedding more often but I have to clean the washer out completely every time as she sheds constantly!

Generally, I'm less fussy about cleanliness than I was when she was a puppy

The solution to washing machine clogging is to buy a rug wash bag - they are sold to wash horse rugs and are a large zipped bag. Put dog hair covered stuff in bag, zip, wash. Then shake dog hair out of bag in the garden for the birds.

I second CMOT's suggestion of a rug wash bag for protecting your washer. I got one after reading about them on a thread on here and it's amazing!! Protects the drum from dings from the metal bit of their harnesses/leads as well.

My Irish setter goes straight to the bathroom (himself) and I rinse his legs, belly and bum with plain warm water if it's just mud. Fleece on and that's it.

Thanks, CMOT (great name btw! sausage inna bun?) I'll look into those :)

Ours get dumped in the stream and then into the shower for a rinse (no soap). Wrangling 2 dogs and a baby is hideous in this weather.

We have a bristle mat and then a hug rug by the back door which seems to collect most general garden muck.

I'm also 2 dogs and a baby so I try the least hassle possible....they get a rinse down with the outside hose, quick rub down with a towel and then I'll give them their bones on top of some vet bed or old sheets in the dining room. They'll usually be there for at least an hour.

My kitchen walls are also covered in mud splatters so I just have to wipe them down periodically. I resigned myself to believing this just comes with the territory.

I heard a rumour there's snow next week so no mud!

The suggestion of the doggy dry bag is a great one, but I'd strongly suggest borrowing one first if you can, to see how your dog takes to it. I had high hopes for the one I recently ordered (mop-like, super absorbent Shih Tzu pup, who positively attracts water and dirt), but alas zipping him in it reduced my normally placid boy to a feral monstrosity! And then he simply wriggled straight out of it A complete waste of money ... for us at any rate.

It really is a horrible time of year with all the mud. I live in a bungalow and my lurcher/greyhound X goes straight in to the bathroom and jumps into the bath as soon as we get in. He's such a good boy when it comes to being washed unlike most other dogs I've owned. I think he rather likes it actually. In the summer he will still jump in the bath some days. He misses his wash!

Such good ideas. Do you all use cold or warm water to hose down?

CMOT thank you so much - we were considering another downstairs shower room! This would do the trick. What model do you have?

apricot 'My dogs like to give themselves a good clean and lickover after they've been out, do they not get frustrated if they can't do that, if they're zipped into those doggy bags?, - do you have Albama Rot near you? I worry about that when it comes to licking it off.

This is the time of year I really regret not having a shower downstairs.

Our springers get really muddy, so I usually rinse the worst of it off outside in the yard with a bucket of warm water. Then they have a rub down with a towel, which they love. We have a basket of old towels kept for just the dogs. They then spend the next hour licking their paws clean.

I have a dear little Maltese pup, 10 months and trimmed. She loves to roll about in alsorts! Pee, I imagine ( eww) I rub her down with a towel and then she practises sitting in her basket until dry. She isn't very good at this, but getting there with the help of a huge bone thing she likes.

Piglett, I have this one. If we are going on a very muddy walk elsewhere, we'll put it in the back of the car wrapped in a fleece so we can do legs and tums before getting back in. Mine make a huge fuss over a cold hose, but happily get washed off with the warm.