I liked Biff Loman’s “Low Maintenance” post and would like to hear some bright ideas from folks on how to design for low maintenance for dog owners. We have 4 and wonder all the time what I could do to make keeping up after them easier. I’m mainly concerned with keeping the interior of the house clean but realize the yard’s condition affects that. The main issues are what they track into the house and shedding. I wish I had a dog cleaner that would suck off all the dirt and loose fur as they entered the house.
One thing I’ve considered is “routing” the dogs along around a long skinny deck on the side of our house that reaches from one deck to another where the door we let them in is. I could place what basically amounts to a long course floor mat along there to clean their feet.
One level is another thing we’re moving towards for dealing with old dogs that can’t handle stairs.
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I heard of a guy who put in a dog grooming room where the dogs could be cleaned, and brushed before coming inside. I have four dogs and a dirty hairy house myself.
A dirty harry house would be cool. I love those films.
Family.....They're always there when they need you.
I thought that the fur on the floor and furniture was a design, life style statement.
It's insulation too.
That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it. We have a husky who moults six months out of 12, and a terrier who sheds tiny, wire-like hairs. Both dogs have found a patch of burrs that so far remains hidden to me, and they seem to take a peculiar delight in rolling in the burrs, then rubbing them off on any available interior surface. Our "solution", such as it is, is to have slate floors and leather furniture - dogs can't damage too much, and we always warn folks who haven't been here before that they're sharing space with the chiens, so anyone who's allergic can't say they weren't warned.
"If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies". -Moshe Dayan, military leader and politician (1915-1981)
Spoiled? Who's spoiled?
Birthday!
Oh, thats Rosiee hiding under the covers..LOL
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It was about zero outside IIRC.
Sheesh, they have grown.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
They kill Prophets, for Profits.
Four dog night?
Sure was..Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
They kill Prophets, for Profits.
Spoiled? You want spoiled?
"If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies". -Moshe Dayan, military leader and politician (1915-1981)
My dog food dispenser. Holds 50# of Purina and drops 2 cups every time you pull the gold knob
http://gfretwell.com/electrical/doggie%20dumper.jpg
I'm pretty sure dogs shouldn't drink red wine:-)
The nice thing about dogs eating with you is that they wash their own plates.
And they'll clean yours, too.
"If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies". -Moshe Dayan, military leader and politician (1915-1981)
They sometimes do.
"Look, I can see myself."
Dog slobber has to be one of the slipperiest substances found in nature.
Complain, complain... (G)
"If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies". -Moshe Dayan, military leader and politician (1915-1981)
There was a story by Ann Landers or Dear Abbey one time where a women was complaining about a friend that showed up for dinner unannounced and uninvited. The host got the idea of letting the dog clean up the plates after dinner once and then she put them directly in the cupboard along with the other "clean" plates...the friend stopped showing up for dinner.
This being Texas, "mudroom" is not a reall common space in houses. However, I've been seeing a neat new room tacked onto garage side doors, or the like.
This room is basically a big shower pan with a floor drain. The best ones have a bench along one side with some shelving over. Both doors then have high-quality doog doors in the passage doors.
Any creatures that are muddy can come in, then rinse right off. If there are more than one muddy creature, some can park on the bench (or a person can sit and rinse creatures). Shelves allow storage for bedding, towels, etc.
The mudroom with 2 doors is a great idea and one we hope to incorporate in new construction. We like if for no other reason for a sort of airlock where we don't have to worry about standing in the open doorway calling the dogs in. The floor drain and bench make a lot sense too.
Walk off matts help.
Mud rooms are great, but you need to keep plenty of old towels stocked in there. Tile the walls up at least 4' for the wet dog shake on rainy days. A tile floor is slick for dogs so keep a rubber mat in there also. It will keep both you and the dogs on your feet. Small dogs get an intial wipe down and then lifted to a table or bench for a complete dry down. A dogy blow dryer is also a handy item yo have, and for really dirty days some rinseless dog shampoo.
Takes a little more time, but wipe down as they come in. Keep a small vacum in there too, as you will get a couple of hands full of hair with ech wipe down.
What I've done outside (which reminds me, I need to renew the chips again this year) is put down a deep (like 6 inches at least) layer of wood chips on the pathways.
I figured out the pathways by letting the dog out of the back door and making a note on how she ran. That became pathways and I arranged the garden beds around the pathways. All the pathways have wood chips, NOT mulch. It breaks down more slowly and is GREAT in spring & fall on making paws less muddy.
It may look like spring, it may feel like spring, it may even SMELL like spring but trust me, it ain't spring. sigh
Same here, the pen area is all shredded trees, and every Sunday AM is poop day..clean it out and add more chips. I am expanding the fenced area as $$ allows.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
They kill Prophets, for Profits.
we have a 120 lb bouvier so he dumps big time
wife discovered that crows will eat his dumps if we throw out day old bread
sow now we just throw out the bread and clap our hands and the appear like magic , talk about recycling LOL
We've got about 300 lb. of canine running around on 16 legs so I'm well aquainted with yard clean-up. I throw bread out in yard too but the dogs eat it before the birds can get to it. I think I like your "reccycling" plan better. ;)
Edited 2/9/2009 8:36 pm ET by semipro
Edited 2/9/2009 8:36 pm ET by semipro
the trick is in the training man
let the dog out first then throw out the bread that way the crows get a hot meal with a side order of bread
they leave a scout in the trees to call the rest when dinner arrives
them crows are sure getting fatter , no sh*t !
We just finished building our house and set it up with two doors on the front for the explicit purpose of keeping muddy paws out of the foyer. It's working great (we won't mention Mrs. Runnerguy trying to keep Runnerguy out of the foyer when he's just back from a run).
The photos aren't really all that clear but the "dog door" is not on the same wall as the front door. It's set back a few feet. I made the "dog door" a french door so the dogs could look out and the laundry room (where the dogs are) would get plenty of light.
Had a client (I'm an architect) contemplating the same dog problem in his 30' wide house and when I said "Why don't you have two front doors?" he looked at me like I was crazy 'till he drove over here to see it.
Runnerguy
Edited 2/10/2009 4:32 pm ET by runnerguy