It is officially mud season.  Rained yesterday and all day today..  And now we have Archer.  I've washed the kitchen and laundry room floors once last night and 3 times today.  The front hall once when Jess  arrived and inadvertently let Ami out of the laundry room... he was drenched, muddy paws on the floor and shook himself off... did I ever mention the front hall is cream colored wallpaper?

I also just washed and dried all the towels and they are all muddy and wet again!

This was not a problem last year... Ami was an outdoor only dog then.  But now... mud everywhere.

How do y'all  keep the critters from trashing the house in mud season?  Anyone try those microfiber, exorbitantly expensive floor mats?  Short of breaking out a blow dryer every time they come inside, any hints for drying them off?  Archer's ok but Ami... his fur hold on to the wet like crazy.  Towels just don't cut it.  And it would take a whole roll of paper towels every time he comes in.

And my laundry room stinks of wet smelly dog.

Or do i just keep washing floors and towels

Amy, here we dont get much mud. However, Kohdi and Mishka do manage to find it where they can. I think...you just keep washing your floors and towels...try not to think about it...and remember how much joy they bring to your lives *most* of the time

Btw...I just love reading your posts!

You know, I read the title and didn't even have to look for the author to know it was you, Amy! Maya just comes in with muddy feet and she is pretty good about letting us "bucket wash" the paws. Most of the body water is shook off outside before she asks to come back in...come to think of it she is really kind of blessing during fowl weather, not too much trouble at all.

I'm pretty sure I still have some unseen mud splatters on my kitchen cabinets.

I just wash when it's rainy and muddy. If it's really bad, Mishka gets put in his crate, but towels work on him so I don't have that much of a problem with it.

I also had a feeling this was an Amy post before I clicked on it.

Hmmm - bucket wash? Never thought of that. I may try an old dish pan of water on the back steps - maybe I could get Ami to step in that. He hates having his feet towel dried. And wrestling with him is risky with my back. If I could get most of the mud of, I wouldn't mind my "towel walking" routine (I lay the towels on the floor and then walk him back and forth until no more prints are left.)

BUt yesterday, lordy, lordy. His under belly, his tail, his leg feathers...all mud. Archer, by contrast, is a dream to clean. Short haired, nothing sticks and he LOVES the attention of rubbing with a towel.

Ashleigh - no room here for a crate, we use the laundry room as a sort of big crate.

That recognizable, huh

When it rains here, Diz comes in covered with black city muck from paw to belly. Now, I have a place command. I put a couple towels on his dog bed and make him lay there until he's dry. In our old place the bathroom was right next to the front door, and I had a sprayer shower head. If he was really bad I'd walk him straight into the bathroom and spray off his belly and legs.

We start keeping old towels by the doors to wipe them down when they come inside. and the floors get washed more often....

ugh i keep a few rag towels by the back door but if they get too muddy i carry them straight to the tub and wash them off then towel dry em the best i can but i try to also keep a wet rag to wipe their paws down too. but i just have to remember its only for a little while *sigh*

Ugh, Jen.  Black city mud is even worse.  To get to the bathroom would be a trek across a white rug.

I guess it comes with the territory...husky, gotta love 'em.

Kelly, looks like I should go to salvation army and pick up a bunch of old towels for the back door.  And make sure the DIL shuts the door behind her

Rachel! CARRY?!!? How do you manage that?

I have muscles lol just kidding but i have colton carry nala because shes a little bit heavier than Oakley but since hes a puppy i suspect i wont be able to to it much longer

We have a little rinse pan at the front door. It's an old cookie sheet with a dollar store shower mat on the bottom so she won't slip. On muddy days we fill it with water, and she puts her paws in to rinse the mud off before she comes in. It gives visitors quite a show when we say "Wipe your paws!" And Anya's methodically puts one foot in at a time until they're clean

When it's a disaster, like even her belly and tail are muddy, we take her into the laundry room and use our forced air dryer on her.

Kat - that shallow pan sounds really doable. Ami can be personality about some things and a shallow pan rather than the dish pan I was considering might be easier for me to coax! Unfortunately, I don't see a dryer being successful...

Thanks guys for all the suggestions... with all the pictures of muddy sibes I've seen on here , sort of hoped somebody had an easier way than what I was doing.