No, I haven't suddenly expanded - lol- but I'm so fed up of the mud. :( :( :(. Our new house has a through lounge with patio doors opening on to the garden. The previous owners had  new bright blue carpet fitted. Now it's muddy blue....I feel with two boisterous labs coming in and out I'm fighting a losing battle. We don't want to replace the carpet with laminate, because of the slipping issue, but this carpet is always going to look a mess...help!!

Same here only with two Malamutes hoofing through the mud and then over the carpet :D :D

Sympathy from someone with a "used to be" green carpet :D Three Mallies and a mongrel have eventually given it a fashionable "muddy" haze. LOL

No use washing it too often, it just helps the new mud to stick quicker! I'm afraid my house is here for the comfort of the WHOLE family, so I live with it - and visitors beware :)

Hi,

Having 4 Golden Retrievers and the whole of our garden at present is a mud bath due to building work going on I know how you feel.
Do you not have a shed or garage where you can wipe the dogs feet ?I know its a pain done it many times before :-)
Although I have a large kennel and 2 runs at present I have the 2 males in the house ,in the utility room and the girls in back run as one is still in season.Surrounding the kennels is mud at the moment and taking the dogs for walks is a right mucky problems as we go across farmland tracks lovely mud the dogs are showing weekly at the moment they love nothing more than looking like Flatcoats :-DThey then have to come through the garden to get to our backdoor to come through kitchen which okay for us is tiledand wipe their feet and worst of muck of to finish drying in Utility.Then add 4 children with this mud as well o the joys I can't wait until we finished paving around kennels and house unfortunately we are laying drains so wont be for while yet and worse of winter still to come :-D

Good job I can still laugh or I would cry and from Kitchen to lounge we have cream carpet :-o .It was supposed to be oatmeal.

Good luck,

Briony :-)

Ditto!!! Mud everywhere in my house!
I have seen somewhere that you can buy a special type of door mat that is especially designed to trap mud from mucky paws, but they seemed really expensive. Has any one got one and do they work?

I have what they call a dirt trapper mat I Brrought from Crufts suppose it was quite expensive at the time
but it is really good,you can get them for carpets or hard floors anti slip backings .
Absorb alot of water and mud ,chuck in washing machine at 40 but take a little while to dry.
I will buy a couple more :-)

Briony :-)

Any idea where I can get one I can't wait for crufts...I also had new carpets this year but with the dogs, children and mud from the stables the carpets covered, as fast as I clean its as bad again - as well as the settees where they do their 'wall of death' tricks. I try doing feet but the kids keep leaving the back door open...thats when the chickens join the fun (even the pony decided to pay us a visit the other day :rolleyes: ). I suppose animals + children + winter = mud. My husband has started telling visitors to wipe their feet on the way out....

Funny but our dog is actually named Hippo! When we bought him he was fat and wrinkly! But now he's really living up to his name. Took him down to see my horses, one of them decided to roll in the muddiest and wettest part of the field and Hippo had to copy!

Hi there

I have three, one that I bought from Homebase stores and the other two from www.lakelandlimited.co.uk.  The ones from Lakeland are runners which are great for larger areas.  Hope this helps.

Hi,

There are several companies that make thees mats using similar trade names, but not the same obviously some are better quality which is what you pay for :-)

Ijust can't remember off hand the company which sparked the Original Dirt Trapper mats if it comes to me ill post it as it was this company that was at Crufts :-)

Briony :-)

I do have laminate so out comes the mop every 2 minutes but we do have a rug so the slipping issue isnt an issue.  We have managed (not quite sure how) to train the dogs to come in and sit on their towel which stays constantly by the front door.  They sit there and wait for their paws to be cleaned off!  Quite sweet really...

Claire

We gave up on carpets years ago - now the whole of our ground floor is tiled ( the mediterranean look :-D ) and we've stripped and waxed the floor boards upstairs. All our wall are painted white with that scrubbable vinyl paint and the heavy traffic areas are given a new coat every summer. We put bright but cheap rugs on the floors and loads of pictures on the walls and it's easy to clean and always looks fresh and does'nt hold thst distinctive 'doggy aroma' ( well except when my 6 hairy pooches have been for a 'swim' in the mud :rolleyes: ).

We also use a blaster/dryer to get rid of the worst of the mud/water after a walk and it's great for getting rid of the tons of dog hair when they are moulting - have to do it outside though !. After 20 years of owning them I have come to realise that carpets and Belgians just don't go together  :p

LOL

A CHEAPER alternative to the expensive dirt trapper/turtle rugs is a cotton bath mat (rubber backed too ;) ) or two or three :D  and they come in colours to suit most decor :D :D :D  I use them for my muddy family and they work a treat :D :D

OK! OK! I know I'm a cheapskate :D :D :D

I have found the original 'Turtle Mat' to be the best.  My first ones came from Lakeland and although the top was fine, the rubber back broke up with continual washing.

Another tip..........don't buy one too big for your washing machine (I have been there) ;)

Sandra

I agree with the earlier post, I have bath mats (cotton ones).  They are great for absorbing the water, come in a variety of shades and can easily be chucked in the washing machine.  Mine are cream and as they are so cheap I have spares to use while the others are in the wash.  Don`t waste your money on the more expensive mats.  Mine cost a fiver each.

NB I have three exuberant huskies so know all about wet dogs and mud in the house!

My sister has ceramic tiles all over  her ground floor and i am too are just laying them aswell 1 winter was enough for me!!!

I had to cut mine in half !!

Given up trying to keep my lounge carpet clean its a nightmare. We are in the middle of having the kitchen and hall way flagged with quarry tiles.not that it will save the lounge carpet but i have at least four old beach towels down most of the time does stop some of the dirt.

We have lino in the kitchen, easy to clean but sick of mopping, mats are no good maisie just shakes them to death dirt flying everywere !

Bath mats!!now why did i not think of that, thanks!!

We had mud everywhere  last winter, and our garden ended up like a bog.  We had it block paved over the summer and it cost a bomb but it was worth every penny!  It saves on a lot of mess!

I catch beagle Caleb on the way in from the garden with a towel and just wipe his feet!

Laminate floor is grear too, so easy to just mop when dirty! 

And when toilet training a new puppy its a godsend.

If we had had carpet I think it would have been as manky as hell by now.

Also the door mats people are talking about are good as well.  The other half brought one for the back door and its washable too

Same problem here.....I am going for laminate floor next time.     Just hope that dogs don't slip everywere!!

We had same problem, though our entire downstairs is tiled now ;). Outside we've decked and patioed upto the house, so a lot of the mud comes off before they get indoors thank goodness!

Thanks for all your ideas, I think the idea of bath mats is brilliant! :) :) :). Now, having dealt with the horizontal......we inherited the previous owners' cream curtains, with no tie-backs, for the patio doors. They are now brown - I'll change them 'cos they're impractical - I'm considering an unlined cotton fabric, with tie-backs, that will be easily washable - or has anyone any better ideas??? 

YES! Ban everyone other than dog people from your house and no one will notice the dirt and hair! My mum frequently stands there shouting "But look at all that mess, how can you seriously expect me to let you have another one?!" And I look, but I don't see..............dog number three will be arriving next spring. Nuff said!