Mud happens, it's everywhere. With our Saint it's easy. With the huskies? It's terribly laughable and so messy. I've been told that you're only supposed to bathe your puppy a couple of times a year. I've never had to use wipes before. Balou, our Saint, takes a warm damp towel for his paws and legs and that's it. But if you do use wipes how is that different from bathing? You're still using something wet with chemicals on it, soap or what have you.

When it's been raining for a few days at a time we can't just keep washing them, I know it's bad for their skin and fur. I can't just keep taking them on walks only they need to run too.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

Put a towel down in a crate or a small closed room, give them a chew and come back an hour or so later. The mud will dry and fall off completely. I call them the Amazing Self Cleaning Dogs!

Unless its stinky, sticky winter pool cover off in the spring mud. That needs a bath.

Our back door opens into the laundry room with a vinyl floor. I throw old towels or sheets on the floor, they come in there, I can towel them off, (sort of, the Big Red Fluffy is averse to ANY grooming ) leave them in there, do a quick brush. The dirt just falls off. Sometimes, I have to extend the towel/sheet thing into the kitchen and block them off in there. We have really wet soil, spring is a nightmare with mud. I wash a lot of sheets and towels...

Oh - if stink is the problem, I sprinkle with cornstarch based baby powder, leave in for a few minutes brush out. Stink solved.

Ha ha, I have a load of muddy “dog towels” in the washing machine right now!

Our strategy is:
- doormat and towels where dog comes in ( cleans off paw bottoms)
- dry towel on dog bed where he lays ( soaks water off his body)
- trained to Shake! Shake! Right Before going in.
- blot back with towel ( that part tends to stay wet even after the shake)
- avoid muddy trails/woods when it has rained a lot

What does not work:
- umbrellas. I can not get him to walk under an umbrella, although I have seen some dogs do it!

It rains a lot here...we are rain pros...

@thefluffisreal the only place I see getting any rain in Texas is up toward the east end of the Red River.

We're having a beautiful day today but ...



Yeh, our projected high for Monday and Tuesday is lower than our low for tonight!!  A 50 degree drop from Sunday night to Monday morning!!!

Whoever stole my summer - I want it back!!!!!!!

As for wet dogs, I don't have that much of a problem here - no rain! - but when Sahsa goes out and stands in the pool, I get wet puppy tracks in the house but, oddly, no mud - she levitates from the pool to the back door??

And I've been trying to be nicer this year and not rub in the rotten weather you all have been having up north - and you've all had some hellacious weather - but this temperature change is gonna hurt ( wrist broken many years ago, the barometric change with that temperature drop is gonna be bad!!!! )

Of truth you speak, Al. Mid thirties today, for a change. Tuesday night? Back down to 5°. That is FIVE degrees. As in single digits. Sigh. Usually I love winter but this one started way too early (I didn't even get my garlic in this year between my Mom's stroke and the early snow. The early snow that arrived and stayed. And stayed. And stayed.) And, have been sick, more or less for most of it. Hubby says if this crap comes back again, I'm going in for culture and sensitivities to see what exactly I'm growing. I hope not. Way too many antibiotics for my taste. Prednisone has its pluses though - all the nerve stuff from the stenosis is comfortably held at bay.

I even started looking at long term Airbnb rentals on South Padre Island...seems quite dog friendly.

Towels, yes... Been doing towels like crazy. Hah! We trained Balou to brush his paws off on the towel. It's been misting and light raining so wet dogs not so much it's the mud. Our back yard turns into a giant pool of mud. If the mud dries I can deal, gotcha. Thanks for that. We don't really have a way to block off the back door to the kitchen but I can put them back into their crate after they go through the kitchen heh. They like to roll/lay in the mud.

@aljones don't say that! It's gonna be stupid hot soon. XD

@amymeme I have arthritis from several injuries I feel your pain. Today, I'm just all over aching. This is one of the reasons why I refuse to go back up north. Too cold.

Thanks for the advice everyone! I had no idea corn starch could be use, going to have to pick some up. And some door mats! Then teach them not to eat the door mats. Because, you know it's gonna happen. XD

We have rain in the forcast today which is almost as weird as it being in the 40s. Last weekend we got 3 feet of snow and today its almost 50. Thankfully my dogs dont like the mud and stay pretty clean but i end up running the steam cleaner every day when its muddy out

“They like to roll/lay in the mud”???!!!????
Whoa! My dog would rather die than lay in mud...if he even gets one brownish paw, he licks and licks until it is snowy white again! You have my deepest sympathy!

@thefluffisreal - "Stupid Hot"??  I'm a transplant - came out of the frozen north in '78 - which makes me a very hardy transplant.  I've been north of the Mason-Dixon twice since I moved down here!

We, down where I live, don't often see stupid hot.  Very seldom over 105 - maybe 110 but never "stupid hot!"  I'm, in a lot of ways, an "old timer", my single source of water is water catchment, electricity is solar (but right now I wish I had a wind generator!), no A/C and my pups and I are apt to be out walking when it's a little on the warm side (er, that's 90+)

You can't really be from south Texas and think 90+ is hot!!  (( hey, everyone, it's her fault, she got me started!! ))

I start complaining around 80 the dogs complain when its closer to 70. But we dont get much above 85 ever. And no ac here... its the next thing on the list. Im supposed to go to fl in April and between the altitude change the humidity and the temp its not going to be a fun trip

Hmmm... let's see I'd be going from a low 3500 ft to less that 100 ft, 10% humidity to 85% (or more) and from 90+ to, well, 90+.  About the only thing I could hang my hat on would be the temperature - but the humidity would 'eat my lunch.' Could not handle the humidity in the southeast now.

Yo have my sympathy, it's not gonna be a fun trip - or at least it wouldn't be for me.

I have to laugh at Avalanche, he's quite happy laying in the driveway when it's 90+  "Just soaking up some rays, dad!"

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Just realized, from my tag line,  that Sky just celebrated her 8th birthday (I missed it, bad daddy!) and in a few more days, Sasha will have been here for 7 years!  That'll make her something over 9 years old (maybe 10?)  *I'm* getting old!!!!!

For me its 8400 ft to sea level... and ive discovered altitude sickness goes both ways

@Shepsky13, yeah I attempted to take some photos but they weren't having it.

@aljones, yes. Stupid hot. I'm a northern transplant. I've been here for about twelve years, in Central Texas. I am still not used to the heat. Oh, and seasonal allergies.

@Lostmaniac, I start feeling it at about 85. Balou loves to sun himself, we'll see with the puppies. We're planning on putting a small thick kiddie pool on the concrete portion of our back yard. Balou hates water but these pups bath in the auto feeder water bowl. LOL

Squirt loves going swimming and chasing the trout in the river. Spider not so much. Last year squirt even went swimming in the irrigation ditch that makes up 1 of my property lines. Ive been trying to teach her not to drink river water because when she drinks down river from the hot springs she pukes

Today, the mud isn't too bad. There isn't enough to roll in but their legs and paws are covered. Y'all were right about the mud drying and falling off though. It's pretty amazing. I've just upped my amount of sweeping, which is no big deal. We want to take a trip to the ocean again and may bring the pups when they are older. So... I admit it. When it comes to regular behavior training I can get that pretty easily. However, anything beyond that I struggle a little with. We're thinking about taking them into a professional trainer when they are a bit older and the behavior training is done.

What do I mean? I do sit, stay, fetch, drop it, potty training, leave it (useful with the cat) and come when called and leash training. These pups have a bit of German Shephard so I'm wondering if they can do some of the cooler stuff. Like switching on and off the light. Dancing, agility training, and off the leash training. The person we are talking to used to work in a K9 unit and now works with service animals for special needs children. I dunno, it would be great to have them trained with off the leash. We'll see.

@Lostmaniac does she ever catch one? Yeah, hot springs not so good for the tummy. You'd think the salty taste would be a deterrent. XD Silly puppy.

So... My floor. I'll be moping today, again. Heh. And floor mats, we need those badly. Thanks for the idea!

She does the grizzly thing where she snags them when they jump to get bugs. Shes actually really good at it and as a bonus i let her eat them when she gets them. Squirt could put most hunting dogs to shame and prolly some bears also. Im really proud of her rabbit skills she knows how to catch and kill them without puncturing the skin which makes for good dinner

Lostmaniac wrote:

She does the grizzly thing  where she snags them when they jump to get bugs. Shes actually really good at it and as a bonus i let her eat them when she gets them. Squirt could put most hunting dogs to shame and prolly some bears also. Im really proud of her rabbit skills she knows how to catch and kill them without puncturing the skin which makes for good dinner

Wow! Every think of doing a video of her catching one!? I bet it would go viral. Pretty neat.

Im afraid if i try videoing it that between holding the cable and paying attention ill lose my phone..... again. Last time it fell in the rio grande i found it 30 miles down river in a field of bison with the find my phone app. But its way funny how she herds the trout to where its shallow and then they jump and she snags them out of the air. Also im not sure if her going after fish is legal with rabbits i have to have hunting tags and she can only get them during rabbit season

Wow! Find my phone app worked great!

My phone never winds up in such interesting places...

I live in the absolute middle of nowhere "resort" town and when i say resort i mean camping hunting atv fishing hiking and wolf creek ski resort is 11 miles away. And 11 miles is close i have to drive almost 50 miles to get to a real grocery store. Its an amazing place to live except when you go to leave and there are a few hundred cows on the road

@lostmaniac You place sounds almost as remote as mine - maybe, give or take a bit!  I live just outside the Big Bend National forest and just around the corner from the Big Bend Ranch State park ( now, I'm sure you understand "just outside" and "just around the corner" are a few miles, right? )  We have a small town, Terlingua, 18 miles down the road with a year round population of a couple hundred people - more dogs and cats than people, of course.  The nearest "real grocery store" is up in Alpine - about 70 miles from home.

The real reason I had to respond - we don't have cattle in the road, they're pretty well fenced in - we do have signs for "Burros ahead" about an 8 mile stretch where they wander back and forth across the road.  About the time you figure they've gone back up in the hills is when you'll find one standing in the middle of the road!!  And they're disgusting cuss' they'll move when they're ready and not before and since they're wild, it's not a good idea to get out of a car and try to shoo them out of the way!

Does this mean that we both live in the "Old West" in our respective parts of the country???

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It's blowing up a gale outside, 25+mph steady winds out of the east, gusting to ???; my (water catchment) roof is rumbling enough that the dogs want inside - surprise, I looked down expecting to see Avalanche under my chair since he's deathly afraid of rumble (whether it's thunder or roof!) and it's Sasha who's stretched out beside me (in her normal spot) Avalanche is .....??? inside but who knows where.

We've had out 50 degree drop, the high today was 87 and it's now down to 37 - heading toward 32ish.  Like I said earlier, I want my summer back!!!!!

Im near a town called south fork that has a year round population of less then 600 my house is down the mountain from the rio grande forest the rio grande is 3000 ft from my back door and its open range so yeah cows. I also own 10 acres about 75 miles down river in the least populated county in Colorado. (Its off grid closest neighbor is 5 miles away) but yeah the whole san luis valley (im on the western side where it stops being the valley)is cows potatoes and tourists. And yup its the wild west here stolen livestock included https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine,_Colorado

Way off topic but check out this mule deer i almost hit with my truck