Wet dogs & house

QuobAsti

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Ok I need some suggestions please ...

We have 5 spaniels
Our back garden is fairly small and completely paved, so when the dogs go to toilet we hose it down straight away (pick up solids).
Obviously this then leaves the dogs with wet feet / legs, and more if they decide to have a play or run around. No matter how well you wash it down there will still be the element of a small amount of wee in the water transferring to their feet. All of our downstairs is laminate flooring so have to be careful about how wet the floor gets. Tiling the back room (dog room) / kitchen area is not an option either, prior to the laminate it was carpet but back then we only had 2 spaniels.

I originally bought some large absorbent rubber backed mats which are machine washable, they weren’t cheap. I washed one of them once in the machine, never again, I thought the machine was going to either exit the house or blow up. I have to lift these mats up if we leave the dogs downstairs whilst we are upstairs otherwise the younger dogs chew them, even though they have plenty of dog things to chew.
So I then took to washing them in the garden but they take forever to dry. I’d put a clean one down and it would get wet pretty quickly, however I noticed the rubber was also starting to get wet. This then meant the laminate flooring was getting wet, and the rubber on the mat started to stick to the floor coming away from the mat.
I then bought some smaller cheap mats which really aren’t big enough or absorbent enough, so that’s a non-starter.

I was thinking of possibly getting some heavy duty vinyl plastic carpet runners to put down, and then placing some old towels over the runner to soak up the wet. At least if they are wet / smell I can get them in the washing machine and put some more towels down, I’m not sure if this will work either though, help!

Any thoughts, advice, ideas welcome, the constant wet and slight wee smell is driving me crazy.
 
Our spaniel, who is kennelled overnight, is a stinky beast and also always wees in the porch - she has a huge grassed garden but likes the paved bit. So we have the same problem. Also, when it rains I have four dogs traipsing in and out with wet and muddy paws.
I use bath towels, old ones, and wash them on the 20 minute cycle at the end of the day. She also has her paws dunked in the kennel disinfectant in the morning. I wash the porch down with water.
Could you try to get them to go in a certain area? A friend has a lot of dogs with a small garden, about 11! and she has a patch of astroturf that they use.
 
This is the bane of my life with the springer - we have half an acre garden, all of which is grass aside from the driveway. She bombs about like a loon under the guise of going for a wee amd subsequently comes in soaked and muddy when its wet.

I lay some blankets in the tiled utility and shut her in there until she dries off, so floor does get wet but luckily is easily mopped.

Winter she will have a kennel to go in until dry as I wont be able to cope else 🙈
 
Swap them all for whippets, they won't bring in nearly so much wet and dirt! Seriously, when we did have dirty, wet hairy dogs I would put old towels down on the floor - a friend used to have a hotel and we got a load of the worn towels they were chucking out. However, our kitchen floor is slate, so we didn't have to worry about the floor getting ruined. Is there any way you could section off a corner of the kitchen area with baby gates or similar so there is somewhere they can go when they are wet to dry off without padding around all over the place? Might stop the chewing problem too. I also second the suggestion of lifting a few slabs and having a porous astroturf area for them to urinate on - probably nicer for the dogs anyway.
 
Towels for me too - four dogs (non hairy) and an average little back lawn area don't equate in wet weather, or after muddy walks! Old towels all over the kitchen floor tiles, chuck them in on a 15 min rapid cycle when necessary. It also helps when the little darlings think it is too wet to go outside..... washing towel plus quick zap with a cloth and disinfectant deals with the problem easily, and no smells
 
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