Ha, I expect my daughter wishes the same, Brainless. She's a stylish London based girl and whenever she comes to visit us living in the sticks as we do, you can guarantee she will be wearing black somewhere on her person and we have to leave one of those sticky hair removing brushes in her room.

Yep she brings her own sticky lint remover thing when she comes around

Just to clarify....we live in a 2 bed bungalow that the previous owners extended to add a conservatory/dining room and a 3rd bedroom. When we moved,  I left a larger than average kitchen and didn't have half the space I used to have, so we added a second conservatory/utility room  to house the dog's 'stuff'. It has become a bit of a bone of contention between hubby and me as I ok'd it and the builder ran off without completing the job. So we are £6000 down with a conservatory that leaks :( sadly it was the last of my inheritance so I have nothing left to get it rectified. As I haven't worked this year, he is keeping on top of the mortgage and bills etc so its not fair to add the cost of my (albeit innocent) mistake to his list of things he needs to deal with...

We moved because of the access to the field behind the house (sad but true) for the dogs to exercise without being screamed at by little old ladies worrying for the well being of their little terrors (who would be viciously barking and trying to get to our lot, who simply ignored them). Although the official line is that we moved because at 34, I am a little old lady at heart and my dream was owning a bungalow ;)

Can you not see if one of these shows like Cowboy Builders can recoup your losses? Our garage leaks and it drives me nuts, I would be up a wall if it was my house.

So far, we are in talks with a different builder who will write up a quote to send to the original builder (who is demanding the outstanding balance). Lets see what happens.

I've just read this whole thread, and I can only say:  I find it totally INSPIRING!  I thought I was the only one dealing with all this. 

I've been feeling so smug over my non-shedding breed choice and then...

1) Nobody warned me about the hair apocalypse clipping is.  Because he's so young i've been doing a bit here, a bit there, every few days, to get him used to it, and at the moment am doing it wherever he is most relaxed (will ultimately have a table and arm in the garage but not yet) so that's usually in the living room, and the hair, even if i've only shaved a paw or trimmed half a throat, seems to get everywhere! And every time i need a shower afterwards because i'm covered in teeny short clippings which work their way through my clothes!  Soooo itchy!  Luckily we have hard floors otherwise i'd be buying an industrial vacuum to de-poodle the carpets!

2) it is raining hard this morning.  And poodle puppies, even with some of their fluff gone (I de-bulked him a bit with the clippers when it was so hot because he was obviously uncomfortable) are basically like large sponges with legs.  When he shook this morning almost NOTHING came off him!  And yet he was still soaking.  I gave him a good rub and his breakfast, and then had to dry all my floors.

On the plus side, he is now all curly, which i LOVE.

Fluffy paws are the worst culprit. The dog goes out when it's wet underfoot and that hairy foot absorbs pints of rainwater I'm sure, then they come in and squelch it all round the house. The wet paw prints are endless, doesn't seem to make any difference if I give her paws a good rub in a towel, more water comes out as she walks from place to place. So I trim the hair on her paws as much as I can, yet they still bring water in. I reckon there are some little reservoirs in dogs paws.

What fun fluffy paws can be!  I have invested in Hug Rugs (after seeing them recommended on here a few years ago) for the utility room, and they do remove a lot of the sogginess; but in the winter when they get muddy and have to be washed I find they take a long time to dry when out-of-doors is not possible. I've had to resort to using old bath mats, which are excellent especially when Their Poochinesses are confined to a small bath-matted area for a short while.

You know what's really depressing?  When you forget to take your glasses off before moving from your chair (I need them for watching TV or driving only) and suddenly realise that you ought to wear them when you do the housework, too ...