Wellies for dogs??!

[lurchermummy]

So sick of my dog bringing half the garden in when he's been out for a wee. I'm seriously considering getting him some dog wellies! Am I mad? Does anyone do this? He runs circuits round the flower beds - we tried putting bark chippings down but it's actually worse than the mud.

We have a largish patio and fenced it off with ornamental iron fencing when we first got the dog , the it has a gate through to the other patio and the grass , dog only goes on the grass when invited .

@Floralnomad thanks I can't really do that in our garden, it would look very odd due to the layout

Take him out on a lead to stop him. Or rinse paws when he comes in.

I know someone who had some artificial lawn put down even though they hate the stuff because the mud got so bad :/

A turtle mat by your back door will catch a lot of the mud - we have one and it has massively reduced the muddy paw-prints across the kitchen floor.

Thanks turtle mat a good idea but he literally has clumps of soul on his paws and in his claws. I use a wet microfibre cloth to wipe his feet. I've tried getting him to put them in a bowl of water but he's not keen.

My friend makes her dog stand on a towel and she dips her little feet in a bowl of soapy water and then wipes with a towel. Dog knows the routine and waits patiently. I’ve seen videos of dogs that have been trained to wipe their feet on a mat 😬

I also have a tortoise so all our flower beds have that log roll fencing around it - it's fairly unobtrusive and goes round curves. Obviously if dog wanted to jump over it's not a challenge but it's been a boundary since day 1 and she does respect it.
The lawn still gets horrifically muddy anyway. I trained "spin" on the back door mat - which is massive and that helps a little bit but otherwise use an old towel to wipe her paws.
I've spent hours googling other solutions. Not found the magic bullet yet so following this thread with interest!

We have a back room (an old coal storage area I think) that is our only back door to the garden. We use washable micro fibre mats on the floor & have taught the dogs ‘round & round’ so they can get some of the muck off their feet! If they’re particularly grubby (like today with the much needed rain) they stand still with the ‘wait’ command, with ‘high 5’, ‘other high 5’ & if I tap the younger dood’s back legs he’ll shoot them straight backwards for wiping rofl. They are very long haired doods so suck up muck like walking sponges! We tried those beaker devices with silicon prongs you pop your dog’s legs in to wash them, but they’re big, 40+kg, fluffy oafs & even the largest size is comically small for their fat legs 😂

We’ve done lots of variations of tack mats, washable rugs etc in the front hallway (laminate), nothing works 100% so we’re back to just vacuuming the mud up when dry after a quick rub down on the path to knock off big chunks, then running the mop over afterwards.

We have got a v v second hand Roomba whose primary task is picking up dried mud & grass from the hallway!

I had a big rubber backed mat for my dog. When it was muddy she had to stay there until her feets were dry. She was a good girl

What breed?
I have hairy dogs that need clipping.

We have "Poodle-Feet" basically the fur is clipped very short. No mud, stones or grass can cling on! Total life changer!
So easy to wash their feet!

I’d go for the bark or whatever mulch works for you over mud or clods of earth. An inside doormat and a soft brush of each paw (like the brush from a dustpan and brush set) when he comes in will get all the mess off in one place. You can treat him for standing on the mat and give a ‘stand’ or ‘wait’ command.