What's your Wet Dog System?

[natura]

Just started raining here where I live a couple of days ago for the winter season (after 8 months of no rain it's heaven!) and I'm already out of dry dog towels😂No tumble dryer or radiators, either - woohoo!

I'd love to hear all your systems and approaches for dealing with wet and muddy pooches when they come inside – particularly if you have big hairy beasts!

(Except if you have a dedicated 'mud room' – if you have one of those I really don't want to hear about it 😂)

Do your dogs wear raincoats?
How do you get your dogs dry when they come in?
If you use towels, how do you keep your doggy towels from filling the washing machine with hair?
What do you keep by the door?

Hacks, systems, products... give 'em all to me!

For context, I have a VERY wriggly labrador and a big elderly Shepherd mix who is basically a homing pigeon for his bed...

Here for tips - love the blaster hair dryer but don't think my two would tolerate it tbh.

I have a Mud Daddy in the car for when we come back to the car before driving home. If we come back to the house I put in an outdoor dog shower in to use. Use those microfibre fast dry sports towels, they can be washed and dried super fast and they don't hold the mud/sand like normal towels. Then dressing gowns on for an hour or the sofa/dog beds get soaked off their soggy fur!

Mud daddy

Outdoor shower is like this one but we made our own just out of various parts so no idea if this one is any good or not.

We have two equafleece dog suits, so while one is drying we use the other.
I also recently invested in a paw washer/cleaner for under a tenner and I prep that with a towel near the back door for when we return from a rainy or muddy walk.
It's so much less work and it also minimises any wet dog smells.

This thread is rapidly becoming my favourite one I've ever started 😂

Turtle mats, dog blasters, drying robes, portable showers.... you lot are amazing!

Also, on an unrelated note, @shrodingersvaccine loving the idea of Mud Daddy giving away free 'Insulted' jackets 😀 I know it's a typo from 'insulated', but can absolutely imagine my dogs looking DEEPLY insulted if I tried to put clothes on them!

She's got a waterproof puffa type coat, and when we get in she gets showered down in the bath to get rid of mud and then blow dried.

Yes, she is a diva.

Black Lab here.

We have a dog towel and wipes in the car and by the back door for light rain. The towels just get thrown on the line rain or shine then washed in bulk.

When extremely muddy, usually after doggy play dates at our local kennels it’s full bath or shower when we get home, towel dried initially then a blow dry with my hair dryer, she loves it, she won’t leave me alone when I’m trying to dry my own hair. There is usually a trail of dirt that needs cleaning but we have gotten in down to a minimum these days.

For dog hair I try to remove as much as possible first. I wash towels and bedding in bulk lots and use Vamoosh pet hair dissolver in the machine afterwards. I usually fine some hair around the door afterwards but it wipes away easy enough.

We have 2 long hair border collies. Terrified of the hair dryer. They have waterproof coats with built in harness, bought on Amazon
Open plan bungalow,porch then into the living room.waterproof laminate everywhere. Whisk them through to the conservatory,wipe feet if necessary,old towel, which then goes on the airing cupboard tank to dry. They have plenty of oil in their coats and dry pretty quickly

I've got a hozelock shower which I use either on the drive or I take it in the car and use it at the end of the walk.

www.hozelock.com/product/portashower/

I use microfibres towels that are for cars.

I use bamboo tea towels over the car seat. They're miraculously absorbent and paws and undercarriage are pretty much dry by the time we get home. I don't have a problem with getting the top half dry as they think it's beneath them to go out in the rain.

Hose attached to water butt to swish tums and paws. Dry paws on a towel, then Ruff and Tumble drying coat until dry.

I have hairproof bags to wash doggy things without getting hair in the washing machine.

We have a Karcher portable washer rather than a Mud Daddy. We don’t just use it in the dog, but use it washing down wellies, the patio, etc.

https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwin5Oqm2oyCAxXmhWgJHVuhB0wYABAKGgJ3Zg&ae=2&gclid=CjwKCAjws9ipBhB1EiwAccEi1Lzc_SpmFPFUB-qFHRXPwSQQXnhZliXW2LB9Oh71ZKtIwvUtD8UKKhoCreEQAvD_BwE&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAESV-D2aWCaiR1_CK5mN9JaDr_1fAkZ1gptly-yXehD-c0XtQN_QQT7ihzdAZ5W93D-nMOMYX1dsddHqzOKH9cUY72dO01JNm-pNXcu8DlU9BNOF2NWaZjJvQ&sig=AOD64_1YUqe5ejt6Ys8NsZXC1hsO5DXH9g&ctype=46&q=&ved=2ahUKEwi4leSm2oyCAxV1SUEAHadzDfgQzzkoAHoECAUQNw&adurl=

A large rectangular plastic trug lives outside the back door, it sorts muddy paws and under carriage. A big towel to dry the worst off, another towel on the floor to roll on. Plus a jute rug for second roll. Bath when it is awful but we save shampoo for fox poo.
We do have a raincoat for downpours, she hates it. An equafleece or freezing days. Every down stairs door has a damp towel on it in this sort of weather. Just try and avoid using a dog towel to dry your own face and hair.
Wire hair pointer.

Just bought two drying coats and a washing machine bag – I'm so excited!!

Next step, find a way to keep all their coming-into-the-house kit tidy by the door so it doesn't get trampled underfoot when they come bowling in...

I flop my two Turtle mats down on the floor in front of my terrier and he goes into an ecstasy of rolling about, accompanied by loud dog purring (aka comedy growling). I'd love to know what the function is of dogs growling while they dry themselves.

It seems everyone on here makes their dogs even wetter, washing them down with hoses .... attached to a water butt, freezing at this time of the year and full of parasites. Coats on, I don't walk in thick muddy places in winter, luckily I have the beach nearby and parks with lots of concrete.

Cavvie.
straight up to the bath when we get in.

I also have an outside hot and cold tap. You can buy nicer shower things on eBay. Might work for your big dogs.

I just tried to answer my own question by googling phrases like "why does my dog make a growling noise when rolling himself dry". I thought I would get loads of results but nothing much seemed to fit my query. I'm right, aren't I, in thinking that loud purring-type happy growls are common while dogs are rubbing themselves dry? I haven't just owned a succession of freakdogs??

Mine wears an equafleece coat , jumper or suit depending on how muddy it is , that gets taken off in the car and swopped for a ruff and tumble towelling coat and when he gets home he’s lovely and dry . We always go out in the car as our dog can’t walk on pavements anymore due to illness. If he is very wet / muddy at home he goes in his drying bag ( the original doggy bag ) which is excellent .

I dry him off with a hairdryer. He throws his head back like a timotei advert, he adores the hairdryer. As soon as I take it out of the drawer he is yelping and jumping with excitement before I've even plugged it in.

He does have a raincoat and an equafleece so don't get caught out too much.

2 Labradors and a Spaniel get blasted with Blo I200 Hot Blaster in th garage before going in to the house. Pricey at almost £180 but no towels, no mud and greatly reduced hair carried in to the house.

Mine sounds like a dinosaur when having a good scratch of her back off the carpet or is rolling about like a complete tit on the grass.
You should have heard the noise when the vet had to put ear drops in - I think she actually liked it!!

Definitely common, @GoodOldEmmaNess - not just you!

To be fair, I also make weird noises when drying my face with a towel after the shower 😂

Ah, good to know there are others like mine,@BigBundleOfFluff and @natura . Love the noisy response to having itchy ears soothed! I so want drying to be as pleasurable for me as it is for my mutts but alas not.

No carpets downstairs.

I'm really tempted by all this talk of superblasters...

We have a beagle so he's pretty easy to clean.

He doesn't wear a coat on walks, but he does have a dry robe for home. If he's muddy (and not just wet) he gets washed off in the shower and put in his dry robe. If he's just wet, it's a towel off and dry robe on for half an hour or so. He doesn't take long to dry off luckily.

In winter, we also have a towel by the back door and he's been trained to wait until his paws have been wiped before he comes in. We also shut the baby gate into the rest of the house so he's only on hardwood floors until he's clean.