Weather Blues

Hi Like most dog owners have to take the dogs out whatever the weather is doing,unless you are lucky to have a garden that is accessable,you can open the back door and just let them out.

When you bring them in,they usually shake,and as we only have a hall and not a seperate room to leave them in,the hall becomes very grubby,and we are constantly cleaning the walls,but luckily we put wallpaper on the top and paint on the bottom.I have also found,that even when I had put my Afghan in a Kangool with everything covered,as soon as I take it off he shakes.

When I was at Crufts many years ago,I saw a demonstration,which showed you could alleviate all these problems and purchased one,It washed well,but several years later it was falling apart,and have tried to find this product.

The Beauty of it is that your dog will happily curl up with this on and doze,when you think he is dry,you take it off and pop in the washing machine,it saves your paintwork
and the dog doesnt leave muddy pawmarks everywhere.
I have included a link crystal girl

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&k...l_5pgey6vfzj_b

I just keep a towel by the front door as we come in before anyone has a chance to shake they are wrapped and rubbed and generally cleaned up. If it's really bad and mud monster look has been achieved I march straight into the shower and they get slooshed down or shampooed before they even think of shaking LOL

All the towels cost me was 55p at a car boot sale.

With my GSD she got 'hosed off' to get the worst off before coming inside!

With my smaller dogs, I keep the lead on until we are in the shower room and shower them off. I too keep old towels in the car and flat. Bella the minpin doesn't get very dirty at all in any weather - just the paws really and sand stuck to underbelly. My old Cavvy however was a totally different matter! Lord she DID get muddy - even when other dogs stayed clean! I had to keep the car seats covered all winter and she got so used to being showered off she'd walk straight into the shower tray herself when we got back!

Fortunately both little dogs have ADORED baths and showers. My GSDs - well it was a 'me in a swimsuit' job to give them a bath! I don't think either of them really enjoyed a cold hosing down (apart from in high summer - when you used to get them in the UK!) but didn't have much option.

I'm afraid it's the cold hose pipe for my lot - two of them are medium coated with trousers so take a lot more cleaning. Then it's dry off with a towel and, if really bad, they stay in the utility until I think they're clean enough to come in. As I've just had the hall, stairs and landing decorated and a new carpet, they're staying out there more than they used to!

I keep a towel by the back door, Holly is rubbed down before she is allowed indoors. I once kept her lead on and took her straight to the shower as she stunk, she had rolled in something. In the summer she is sometimes washed outside.

We have to come in the front door which leads straight into the living room - no hall. When he's wet & or dirty I have to keep the lead on till we get either into the kitchen for a rub down or into the garden for a hose down. Even then he either shakes in the kitchen so all the units & radiator are splashed or goes in the living room & shakes so all the TV & suite get covered With having to come in the front way we get all the muddy/wet footprints on the wooden floor anyway before I can even dry him off I'm glad ive not got carpets now

My two are got covered in mud this afternoon but it had started to dry on the drive home already. in general I just leave it on, they go in the kitchen until its dry and then it just falls off...or they nibble it off.

Being a staffie and a bull lurcher their coats are so short tha I've not needed to do anything else. If they are sopping wet they just get a rub down with a dog towel.

That's why I don't think I'll have a long coated dog again! Mind you my parent used to do the same with their GSD/collie/lurcher.

Oooo Blimey, I've just seen the link. I hate to think what either of mine would be like in one of those! Particularly Tonks as she comes homes from walks like a adrenaline fuelled missile. Pretty certain she wouldn't sit still in one and would career about the house causing utter chaos!

My friend keeps a small blaster in her porch which gets the worst off the dogs before they get indoors. I knew someone who had clear Perspex on the bottom half of her hall walls she said it was easier than keep replacing wallpaper but later put tiles up.