Dirty, dirty dogs! (cleaning, cross, outside, walk)

[Green Irish Eyes]

Originally Posted by Sam I Am

Actually, Dark, I'd already considered a big old piece of artificial turf to go on the back deck...hoping that would grab the stuff off their feet. I can't find any, and Max the Mastiff/Laundry Thief carries off any doormats. I was looking for a big chunk. I live in a rural area with exactly 1 big box home improvement store - I guess I'll have to import a piece. Yes, it's ugly, but not as ugly as my white kitchen floor is right now (as I play on CD and ignore it).

That's all I can think of, to put something washable/plastic and textured down to catch the excess from their paws that can be sprayed off. Just a hint - don't even bother with the 3 x 5 low pile doormats that are backed by rubber. Once the dirt is in them you can never get it out and they are pretty expensive to just throw away. The solution to that is to donate your used ones to my Museum of Dead Doormats, though. I have a fine collection.

In my case, it's not so much the feet that are the problem. The dirt gets in their coats and then they come in and shake and produce, literally, a cloud of dust that settles on EVERYthing.

Originally Posted by subject2change

You could fence off a smaller area and use pea gravel or the astro turf kind of stuff they have at doggie day care, and let them in that smaller area most times to go potty. They could play in the big area once or twice a day (or not at all on days when you finally get a big storm and it's a sea of mud) and that would cut down on the cleanup. It would be a big project but long-term it would be worth it. If they weren't in the larger area as much you might actually get grass to grow.

Eventually, I want to relocate their play area, since it's an eyesore right in the front yard. (However, right now it's really convenient because I can be lazy and just open the door and let them run in/out.) When I do that, I'll definitely try to get some grass growing again.

I thought about gravel, but worried that it might be too rough on their feet ... ???

[subject2change]

The little round pea gravel wouldn't. If they're diggers, though, they'd dig through it easily.

[Kayee]

My life is much easier since I found Waterhog rugs Waffle Waterhog Mat, 23" x 35": Waterhog Mats at L.L.Bean-
I first bought one of these from LLBean for right inside my sunroom door and it was pricey but it really helped. The dirt sticks to it and the dogs do not drag it into the rest of the house. THEN I found a large 4' x 6' one at Costco to put outside on the porch. Now that one traps most of the dirt before they even come in. The one from Costco is a different brand name but it works the same and it was under $20.00. I love them and I have many people ask where I got them.

[DawnMTL]

Originally Posted by cittic10

Why don't you just fix the whole dirt problem then you won't need to clean them off.

I think that if you have at least one dog who is in the yard a lot, it's impossible to "fix the whole dirt problem."

Artie is 35 pounds (smaller than the dogs that have been mentioned) and is a single pup (contrary to the multiple dogs that have been mentioned) and even he runs around and plays enough to have turned our old yard and this yard into a mess. As long as you have one dog that runs around in the yard, you're going to have grass pulled up. And that means dirt. And when it rains, that means mud.

Fixing it (in terms of seeding and/or sod) is time-intensive and/or expensive... and there's no point, really, because it's just going to happen again, in very short order.

Putting rocks or pebbles or whatever is somewhat of a solution, but that's typically not pretty or is not conducive to the dog's activities.

I see it as a choice:

1. I can have a beautiful lawn and no dog.
2. I can have a beautiful lawn and a dog who is not allowed to run around and have fun in the yard.
3. I can have a not-so-nice lawn and a dog who has THE BEST TIME EVER, and I just have to do a little cleanup every time he comes inside.

I chose Option 3. That's not a choice that everyone loves, but that's the choice that I made.

[awkiv]

Originally Posted by DandJ

3. I can have a not-so-nice lawn and a dog who has THE BEST TIME EVER, and I just have to do a little cleanup every time he comes inside.

This is the option I have stuck with as well, lol. It doesn't rain too much here to worry about, but if I were OP I would try to use turfgrass or ole mud flaps from 18 wheelers. My grandparents have used mud flaps before and it seems to work pretty well, they are too heavy to be moved around.... though I would glue some turf grass onto them before laying them out.

[Sam I Am]

My choice too - absolutely. When I lose a dog, will the grass really be the first thing on my mind? Or the mess they made?

Inconvenient? Yes. Time-consuming? Surely. Would I make the trade? Nope.

The problem is dirty dogs and how they track it in. I don't really see a solution - again, if there's anything out there I'm all ears. With 7 dogs I need a very large area for them to run. Every possible solution is also very expensive.

I think if I only had one dog I might make a pit of sorts at the bottom of the deck stairs and fill it with pea gravel, deeply enough that the water drained, and hope that was the answer. Might be for some folks. Our stairs are 26 feet wide; we live in an area where there's no way to get a truck to the back of our house. I'm too old and crabby to wheelbarrow that much pea gravel to the back, but young enough to vacuum and mop every day!

And I wonder why my friends think I'm a little bit crazy?

[awkiv]

Oh, derp, I failed to mention how I clean my dog if he is messy. I have a bucket with water and a towel in the garage. When he comes in I use the wet towel to get off the mud/dirt then use a smaller dry towel to get him "dry". He has short-ish hair so it doesn't mat up when he comes in.

[cittic10]

Well I guess everyone is convinced that having turfgrass and dogs are mutually exclusive even though there's dog parks all over the country that have lots of large dogs playing in them and many of them successfully grow grass. And never mind dog parks, there's human athletic fields that are somehow able to grow grass despite having humans (who weigh a lot more than dogs) using those fields. Yes, maintaining a lawn is work and it costs money... but what part of home maintenance doesn't? I guess if OP is interested, post the question in the garden forum. To help, your location, site and soil conditions and the type of grass you've used in the past will be needed. It's true that not all sites are conducive to growing a lawn however in those cases there are alternative ground covers. And in the case of unwanted digging, you can train your dogs not to do that or to do it only in certain places. Often times that's originally done out of boredom and becomes an unwanted habit not unlike rummaging through the trash. The yard can be like yet another room of the house where certain behavior is allowed and other behavior is not allowed.

[Green Irish Eyes]

Originally Posted by cittic10

I guess if OP is interested, post the question in the garden forum.

That's not the information I'm looking for -- all I wanted was some tips for keeping the doggy dirt out of the house.

Thanks, though.

[DawnMTL]

Y'know, the towel thing works fine for me. Actually, it works well.

But there have been times, especially when my hardwood floors look carpeted (from Artie's fur), that I think how amazing it would be to be able to flip a switch and a "whole-house vacuum system" (should be trademarked, no?) kicks in and just super-sucks all the "stuff" into some giant canister in the attic.

This, however, isn't feasible, I know, because the canister would then contain: Artie's toys, books left on the coffee table, random knick-knacks, shoes, perhaps some clothes, everything on the kitchen counters, etc...

I need to work out on the kinks, I guess.