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My dogs' fur is super-short, so their butts stay really clean when they poop, no wiping there except on rare occasions.
We walk on the street and on a little grass when we walk, so their feet stay clean, no wiping there either. Now when they are in my backyard, they might get muddy and require a towel to knock the dirt off.
What I do wipe are their faces. Just warm water on a piece of paper towel. I'll wipe the sleep from their eyes or the spit off their face...when they play, they sometimes get spit all over the other one's face .
Oh, and Dubh hates it when her belly has dirt on it, so I'll wipe her belly with a wet warm paper towel sometimes . Casey has enough fur on her belly not to notice.
I use a paper towel with plain warm water on it because I think the dogs will feel like it's a lick - like a mother dog would do .
I also keep a towel by the back door for Ben. If it wet/muddy he gets his feet wiped and if it's raining he gets a full rub down. Short lab fur so I don't have to worry about his butt.
Location: Just transplanted to FL from the N GA mountains
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Another teflon-coated Eskie owner here (thanks! I love that analogy!). Q-tip's feet get wiped if it is raining or muddy, and she does occasionally have to have a "bum" wipe if she has a tummy ache, but most of the time she's self-cleaning. Do any of the other eskie owner's notice that their dogs feet smells like buttered popcorn? Or is it just my dog?
Since Ted's got allergies I try my hardest to remember to wipe them during spring when we get all the pollen. He usually lets me know if there is something I need to take off of his foot. Like tonight on our walk; we went for a 2 mile walk (yes a shih tzu on a two mile walk ) we get half way through our walk and he starts to slow down then stop. I know what that mean now after having him this long; it means "Mommy get this thing off my foot!". We walked past a house in the proccess of being built (this is at night so it's dark) and he got something sticky like a stick with tar on it stuck in his foot hair. Once it's out he's ready to start walking again. He also let's me know about burs. His feet are so sensitive from having the mounds of burs in his feet when I got hom. So nothing is left unsaid.
Buster, Mahalo, and Duncan all get their feet cleaned when it rains, pollen, or they've been through the sprinklers.
I have heard it's good to wipe their feet down because of what they track in. It can help to keep allergies down because if they get (what ever they're allergic to) on their feet then scratch; it ends up in the coat and on the skin.
They're biodegradable and organic, they might have less of an irritant factor than regular baby wipes (I don't know what they put in baby wipes ). I thought I'd share this for those who use wipes.
I have been washing my dogs' feet when they come inside since I first got Noodle (nearly 11 years ago). Here's something I once wrote to illustrate why:
One of the "perks" of living in Korea is the daily hopscotch you get to do to avoid the various chunky puke puddles and the jiggly, quivering globs of phlegm . I'm quite used to watching where I walk and very, very, very rarely step in anything (unless there is just no other way to proceed). The dogs, however, don't share my squeamishness. Walking through things that rate high on my ick scale is not something that they think twice about.
So, sometimes, when I am washing their feet after we come in (I'll bet that now everyone completely understands why I think this is necessary), I get that familiar slimy, gooey, feeling in my hand that you usually only get when you blow your nose during a bad cold and the tissue fails to hold it all and you end up with it in your hand. Except, this isn't your own snot...this is some stranger's "lung butter". And it is much thicker in consistency than the average snot during a cold. This is cold, nasty and almost spongy in texture and you don't know how sick the person was who coughed it up and spat it out. And, not only is this on your dog's foot, but you've got to use your very own hands to get it off.
First, let me tell you from experience, that using your own fingers to repeatedly try to pull it off just won't work. Somehow, it clings. Perhaps the slimy texture is what prevents you from getting a good hold on it. I still find it amazing that something so slimy can be so sticky at the same time.
Soap will not work. You can try dog shampoo, your own soap...it is not going to break down the mucous glob. For the longest time, up until yesterday that is, I would settle in for a good 10 minutes of scrubbing the guilty dog's foot and trying not to feel like puking when I manage to remove a long strand of phlegm and watch it swish its way to the drain. I thought there was no other way.
However, yesterday, I finally had an epiphany. Soap doesn't work...perhaps something gritty would. Since I use baking soda to wash my hair, naturally I had a container of it in the bathroom. I quickly ordered the dog to stay and not make a bolt for freedom and poured a good amount of baking soda into my hand. Then I commenced with scrubbing his foot. It did not hurt him in the slightest...he appeared to believe he was getting a rather marvelous foot massage and closed his eyes in pleasure. The phlegm came off! This was the fastest way I've ever been able to remove a phlegm glob from a dog foot....and this foot happened to have a lot of hair in the pad as he was long overdo for a foot trim. ( Phlegm tends to cling to hair and make removal even more difficult than when the foot has been freshly shaven.)
So, if your dogs ever step in phlegm , you now know a wonderful way to remove it.
EDIT: Those of you who wash/wipe off your dogs' feet when they come in....do you also remove your own shoes so you are not tracking anything in?
I've got a Boxer. I wipe her paws if it's wet outside.
Speaking of pants though, she used to have hygiene pants to wear when she was in season which she absolutely hated and managed to get off, so I eventually gave up on that.
So I see I'm not the only one! Three dogs--two of which are velcro dogs, everything sticks to them--consequently, three sets of paws, butts, and faces (but not in that order )--at the end of each and every trip outside, using a combination of towels and wet wipes.
Today, he struggled to have one 'dislodge' from the 'docking station'. Of course, there was enough debris to keep the 'wipe down' ineffective. I had to give him a bath, this morning.
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. Casey has enough fur on her belly not to notice.
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) we get half way through our walk and he starts to slow down then stop. I know what that mean now after having him this long; it means "Mommy get this thing off my foot!". We walked past a house in the proccess of being built (this is at night so it's dark) and he got something sticky like a stick with tar on it stuck in his foot hair. 
). I thought I'd share this for those who use wipes.
)--at the end of each and every trip outside, using a combination of towels and wet wipes.
