Hi.. I bet you have all has the same problem as me in the last week or so....muddy dog! Wondered how you all managed to clean them off? I have a conservatory and garden to clean off my gsp but hate to be bogged down with loads of muddy towels! Apart from using the hose pipe ( icy cold water wouldn't be appreciated by my girl!!!! ) how do you manage?

Hosepipe and the cold water for mine, I think she doesn't mind too much as she gets hot easily especially at the moment as its so mild. Then a quick rub over with a towel, then into a dog dry bag. She's zipped into it so only her head is visable, means she has to settle and doze off which is usually what she wants to do after a good run. Comes out almost dry and as the bag is made of a micro fibre, it dries pretty quickly. Allegedly you can put a wet and muddy dog into the bag and the dog will come out dry and clean. Once the bag is dry it's just a matter of shaking the dirt out. Not tried it with a muddy dog so no idea if it works that well, does work with a sandy dog though. Very useful thing to have. When I first got it I didn't really think my dog would use it, that she might panic being unable to walk around, but she seems to enjoy the whole experience and is more then happy to sit in the opened bag whilst we zip it up around her. Mind you I first started using it on her when she was only six months.

Slightly shorter legs which means filthy stomachs as well , oh I loath wet weather. But over the years have refined it down to; into the utility room, small container of warm water & sponge cloth to clean them with, fortunately they will lay down & roll over for the process, the sponge cloth is also great for removing excess water. Then dried with old tea towels, find them much easier to manage, as absorbent if not better than towels & so much easier to wash & dry.
Biggest problem is having to get up from the floor!

Bucket of water, paws rinsed one at a time followed by any other muddy bits. Then a good rub over with an old towel. If it's really bad then they get showered off in the bath, which they love. I like snowy days, at least they come in clean and just need drying!

We work our cockers up tp 3 times a week, there are some days where they end up wet cold and very muddy.
Ours are stood in the bath and showered with loads of warm water (no soaps or shampoos), toweld dry and then have their "Equafleece" coats on while they finish drying.
Summer time mud they would just get the cold hosepipe !

Where we are now, we confine to the kitchen for a towel down.   The joy of short-coated breeds.   I have been known to use a bucket of warm water (to avoid the cold hose water!) and stand each leg in it - imagine that with a Basset!  I'm afraid a British Winter just means muddy dogs.   And joy again, snow in Canada = no dirty dogs, until the thaw.  And boy was that an event!

How.about wearing a coat when out so there is less dirty dog to deal with. My gsd has to rinsed in cold water as I can't get him easily upstairs and into the bath or the whole house would be covered same with flat coat.now my toy breed cam easily be put in the sink

We have 3 low to the ground dogs and they get very muddy! .best thing we did was to have an outside shower fitted with hot and cold water. When we come back from a walk the dogs all run to the shower and then jump onto a bench and I just wash them down, easy peasey.

Use a hrose bucket  with warm soapy water in and rinse off with the hose pipe in summer mainly due to the love of rolling in horse manure grrr. If  cold and muddy it's from me a warm bath,shower  down then lots of @#@ from me as operation clean bathroom goes into action!
My other half does use the hose pipe and bucket all time outside.
Love idea of outside shower. In fact cottage we rented in Yorkshire had a tack room I'd LOVE one

I have many times thought about connecting a push on shower fitting to the kitchen taps and showering the girls just outside the kitchen window. (never use soap of ank kind on their coats ! )

Some walks have long grass at the end so if its been raining I throw his ball in and out. All the water on the grass cleans his legs and belly, then he dries off on towels in the car on the way home.
If he comes home dirty I've got one of these
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hozelock-4-1-Porta-Shower/dp/B001ULCILM/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1446898877&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=hoselocl+shower
I fill it with warm water and clean him off outside. Its great because you can use the head to clean the underbelly just like a shower. Its easy to stick it in the back of the car as well if you think you might need it, or for a quick rinse off if hes been in the sea.

I have a butler sink in the garage with hot and cold water supply.  It's big enough to hold a muddy cocker for hosing, then onto the worktop for towelling and into a drying coat.  Works best with a door from the garage direct to the house.

well thanks for all those suggestions ...I will try them out... Trouble is on the last couple of walks Saffi has been actually eating clumps of mud and grass.. So I now also have to contend with both ends and mud mud everywhere! Oh the joys of having a dog! Thanks guys!

I have often wondered if it would work to have a pit in the garage ( they come in that way)  which they could walk through, depth to at least the top of their legs (Cavaliers could swim) and they would come out at least clean.  Not sure how  I would get through.  Mud is awful; fox poo is dreadful; dead fish are the worst of all ( especially when you are camping.) Been there, done that .....
"A propensity for grovelling in mud, rolling in various poo and other noxious substances" should most definitely be part of the Golden Retriever breed standard.

How about a doggie version of the car wash where the dogs are taken through by a dog minder (paid to get wet) you can decide whether to have just the wash (in hot weather) the wash and blow dry (in cold weather) or the full wash with shampoo, conditioner and blow dry style.  From there some bright spark could invent th mobile home version of this, where you pushed buttons to get the programme that you wanted at that time.

Cloud cuckoo land comes to mind, perhaps I should go to bed and get some sleep......

Love the idea!  You could have a franchise, with a van at popular dog-walking places.  It would need to be fitted to take multiple dogs at once, though ...

It's good to dream

when its not too cold I send my girl in the river on the way out of the field for a swim. Got another shorter legged breed here so we get the wet and muddy legs and belly but also mine likes to roll around on the floor (lucky she wouldn't roll in poop or anything smelly just likes to roll about) so she now gets wet all over.

But luckily she doesn't take long to dry, just a quick rub down with a towl and she is good again.

There was a product I saw once for muddy paws, it looks like a big mug and you stick the feet in it.

Dead fish?

> There was a product I saw once for muddy paws, it looks like a big mug and you stick the feet in it.

Paw Plunger? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Paw-Plunger-Grooming-Washing-Medium-x/dp/B003AO0VV6 (loads of suppliers sell them).  My niece uses one with her miniature schnauzers and likes it (I think the dogs do, too! ).

Yep that's it merrypaws.
Never tryed one myself though.

Dead fish at the side of a lake when we were camping with Newfoundland folk at Wellington country Park. Luckily Newfi people come well equipped with shampoo.

I got a paw plunger but found the water too dirty to clean the remaining 3 paws, running water is much better!  I got an attachment to hook a hose onto a warm tap through the open kitchen window.

Yep, that's just the very thing I'm going to try and fix up but with a shower head fitted somehow!

4 GSP here - they are washed off after a walk with warm water in a bucket. Teach them to stand in bucket with front legs whist the front legs and belly are sponged down then get them to step out and place back legs in bucket to do rear. They form an orderly line :) I dry them off with aquamats which are great at soaking up water from coats. Best when slightly damp rather than bone dry so after use we rince  out and leave on washing line for next walk.

We are having a hot and cold tap installed in the garden, will see if dogs like it! At the moment they get carried upstairs and showered in the bathtub, then towelled dry, they are only small/medium size so not a problem.

That's what we have, but had a shower attachment fitted and it is brilliant. Dogs queue up to be washed. I have a small plastic table and they stand on that,saves my back as they are low to the ground.!

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Elizabeth Kingsbury says:  I made a coat for my 16month white lab as her play friend loves to be the dominant partner and rests her front legs across my girls back so double whammy with the mud!!! I sprayed the fabric with waterproof spray for tents and it works wonders all I do now
is wipe head and paws with a damp microfiber cloth And hey presto white lab!!!