Muddy paws

[Memsnutter]

Does anyone have any good gadgets for getting dogs paws clean? My lab is in and out of the garden every five minutes. The garden’s off our kitchen (which has white tiles). To keep them clean I have to mop about four times a day (I don’t).

Anyone successfully trained their dog to wipe their paws ?

Ha! No there is nothing. You have a lab (so do I) muddy paw prints are par for the course.

I have a mat in the boot room where mine goes in and out, it doesn’t make much difference.

We tried hiding her feet but it didn’t help much and then she bit through the hose! I’ll just have to try and wipe her feet each time she comes back in.

Hosing not hiding!

I have a series of really absorbant microfibre bathmats. It's not perfect, but they absorb the worst and are easy to wash and dry.

Yes I’ve got one of those. Time to invest in a few more!

@Memsnutter
For a nano-second I wondered how on earth you hide your dog’s feet - and how it would even help

I have a huge microfibre noodle mat by the back door- doesn’t completely eliminate paw prints but definitely helps.

My husband and I have different attitudes to the back door! My thought was to leave the door open as much as possible to facilitate toilet trips. My husband was much more of the opinion that the dog should only go out to the toilet and come straight in again. It was much easier to limit the muddy paw prints that way.

We put an ornamental fence around our patio area which is outside the French doors so the dog only gets to go on grass / mud when we let him . The added bonus is that he doesn’t disappear down the garden late at night to chase cats etc .

@IthinkIsawahairbrushbackthere yea we let her out a will when training her last summer and now she prefers to be outside but dashes to the back door and cries every time we’re in the kitchen on the off chance there might be food on offer!

We’ve just come back from a walk and had to use a camping shower and a bucket of water to get her clean!

Ornamental fence is a good idea but I think it would have to be too high to stop her jumping it.

I might just end up with a line of newspaper a la Thora Hurd (showing my age)

She also dug a load of holes in the garden so I’m coming round to the idea of shutting the patio off somehow.

Can’t bring myself to buy artificial grass.

We have a turtle mat. Helps a lot.

Our lab just chews and eats any mats so we have a very hard bristled one by back door and even then he has had a little chew....

I’ve got a wall / gate between the patio and grass to keep them on the flags, they only go on the garden supervised otherwise in addition to muddy paws my veg beds and flowers would be dug up!

Our fence is like ornamental park railings , about 3’ high , dog could easily jump it but has never bothered .

Noodle socks?

We originally put our fence up because when dog was about 5 months he dug up and started chewing a daffodil bulb resulting in a very worrying weekend and hefty vet bill . I really cannot spend hours outside with him and as soon as your back is turned he digs huge trenches . He had a digging pit on the patio for a while but wouldn’t use it so now he just digs when he’s allowed on the garden or takes his opportunities when he’s out for walks .

I’ll look at turtle mats and noodle socks too. Thanks everyone !

Boot buddy.

I wipe my dogs paws every time he comes in, he’s so used to it now he stands patiently and lifts each one up lol

I don’t let my dog out unattended into the garden.
She’s only out briefly for toilet and supervised on a nice sunny day or if I’m gardening

Mine waits on the mat when she comes back in to have her paws dried (and the rest of her if it's raining, she gets quite upset if you don't give her a little rub down!)