My floor is FILTHY!

[femalephish]

I don't know how I never noticed this until now, but now that DD and I spend (nearly) every waking moment crawling around on the floor I realize it's just gross! There is dirt, dust and pet hair everywhere. AND I have been sweeping daily. (we have hardwood floors) My fingers feel gritty, dd has dog hair stuck in her mouth and her white clothes look dingy/brownish by the end of the day. How do you keep your house clean enough for you LO to play on the floor? I have honestly thought about giving away our dog (a young boxer- who is always bringing in dirt and sheds more than I thought was possable for a short haired dog) because I can't follow her around with a broom everywhere!

HELP!

[sunshynbaby]

Lol! I could have written this! I swiffer with a wet rag before putting him down, and he still ends up covered in pet hair and dirt within seconds.

[tzs]

same here. the worst was that i scrubbed our house for a visit from my sil and her one year-old but apparently i forgot the stairs thinking she wasn;t that advanced of a crawler. the kid's flannel pj's were covered which then transferred to everybody else. blah....

i'm keeping one room of the house dog-free with a new area rug. it's my sanctuary.

[Mya's Mommy]

Yup, that sounds about right. My DD is COVERED with black dog hair and her clothes also look dingy/dirty after crawling on the floor. I vacuum every single day and there is still fur. Also I use a wet floor cleaner (from Norwax I think)- it just uses water, no chemicals, but works well. I actually don't "clean" the floor very often, just vacuuming. I keep a lint roller (the kind where you peel off the sticky tape) in almost every room and frequently roll the fur off DD and her toys. It helps keep me sane to roll the fur off as much as I can. I also change her clothes several times a day (between the dog fur, drool, and food she needs it). I was beginning to resent my black lab for his messiness, but have come accept his non-stop shedding fur. Dogs can't help their shedding and before we had our human babies, weren't they our babies? I know mine was/ still is. Also, kids who are exposed to pet hair have less allergies and my DD LOVES her doggie! She laughs and smiles and waves to him constantly. I hope you can keep your dog or if you really can't accept the "mess" of a dog that you find him a wonderful new home.

[honeybunmom]

I like the Swiffer Wet Jet. I also like to remind myself that if I had rugs, all this stuff would be in the rug and I'd be less likely to be aware of it - just vacuuming regularly, but probably not daily, which, since I do have wood, I know is really necessary. So, don't be so hard on yourself! Ds sweeps the floor with his woolies! LOL! That's always a good reminder to break out the swiffer.

[femalephish]

Originally Posted by Mya's Mommy

Yup, that sounds about right. My DD is COVERED with black dog hair and her clothes also look dingy/dirty after crawling on the floor. I vacuum every single day and there is still fur. Also I use a wet floor cleaner (from Norwax I think)- it just uses water, no chemicals, but works well. I actually don't "clean" the floor very often, just vacuuming. I keep a lint roller (the kind where you peel off the sticky tape) in almost every room and frequently roll the fur off DD and her toys. It helps keep me sane to roll the fur off as much as I can. I also change her clothes several times a day (between the dog fur, drool, and food she needs it). I was beginning to resent my black lab for his messiness, but have come accept his non-stop shedding fur. Dogs can't help their shedding and before we had our human babies, weren't they our babies? I know mine was/ still is. Also, kids who are exposed to pet hair have less allergies and my DD LOVES her doggie! She laughs and smiles and waves to him constantly. I hope you can keep your dog or if you really can't accept the "mess" of a dog that you find him a wonderful new home.

Thanks so much to everyone- this post especially. We aren't going to rehome our dog, but I DO resent her a little! At least I'm not the only one. NAK

[Icehockey18]

We have a German shephard and she was my baby before ds. I try to vacuum often, but it doesn't matter, our house is a hairy mess!!! I wish we had wood floors, the hair clings to the carpet and is impossible to get up! I just put down a big quilt and try to keep ds on it.... It atleat minimized how hairy het gets!

[SomethingAnonymous]

It's gotta be the dog mainly...because we don't have one and the floor is never like that. What would happen if you took the dog outside and brushed her really thoroughly? Would that help at all?

[Kreeblim]

I totally feel your pain...we adopted a Siberian Huskie a few years back and every spring he recarpets our house. We literally replace our vacume yearly solely due to his fur, and no matter how much we brush, the kids STILL leave the house just covered in white/grey dog hair.

[marinak1977]

3 border collie practice kids here and we're all covered in dog hair. It is an essential food group so I'm ok with it. Plus they are wonderful siblings to our LO, lately their thing is sneaking up and licking his head while I'm not looking.

[Just1More]

Yeup, lots of dirt, lots of dog hair. Especially in the Spring. Any minute now I'm expecting to see the yearly dog hair tumbleweeds in the hallway...

We had 2 (big, high energy) dogs when dd1 was a baby, and I finally just put a baby gate in front of her room so that I could play in there with her and not worry about the floor being yucky. I never wore shoes, or even socks, in there so I wouldn't transfer gunk. As I had more kids, the dogs started spending more time outside, so it was less of an issue, but we still have plenty of hair. Now we just have one dog, and she'll be 10 this year, so she's quieter and doesn't fling her hair all over the place like they both used to, lol.

But, I'm a fan of making a place that you can keep clean, and don't stress about the rest. It's a never-ending battle.

[annettemarie]

Moving to Mindful Home Management.

[MangoMommy]

I end up having to soak most of DD's clothes because they get so nasty from the floor. I wetjet and vacuum every other day but the carpet is just so gross I guess, ugg.

[mattemma04]

I limit the dogs by way of baby gates.Some hair does travel,but keeping them out of certain areas has overall been great.I know people lose 50-100 hairs per day average.I am thinking my dogs lose 1k or more!!!

[ArtsyMomma]

Originally Posted by Kreeblim

I totally feel your pain...we adopted a Siberian Huskie a few years back and every spring he recarpets our house. We literally replace our vacume yearly solely due to his fur, and no matter how much we brush, the kids STILL leave the house just covered in white/grey dog hair.

I had a Husky growing up, they still shed like crazy but it helped to sit outside with her in the spring and just pull out handfuls of her winter coat. It doesn't hurt and didn't bother her in the least. My yard would look like several rabbits had suffered an untimely death afterwords!

[ArtsyMomma]

What about getting yourself some of those mop-slipper thingys? They are microfiber and you wear them on your feet. They would pick up a lot of the hair and you could use them to mop the floors then throw them in the wash.

[Kreeblim]

Originally Posted by ArtsyMomma

I had a Husky growing up, they still shed like crazy but it helped to sit outside with her in the spring and just pull out handfuls of her winter coat. It doesn't hurt and didn't bother her in the least. My yard would look like several rabbits had suffered an untimely death afterwords!

We've always done this as well, but this spring we're going to put the clumps and brushings into a bag and distribute it throughout the woods when we go for hikes. The birds who live around our yard don't seem too smart and I think the fur was luring them down to ground level. They never managed to make it back to their nests, though my elderly husky did seem to get a confidence boost from the take down.

[bluebirdiemama]

....you just convinced me not to get a dog!!!
our floors are dirty enough without one

[lolar2]

My mother brushes her cats with lint rollers to limit shedding. I've also heard of vacuuming dogs.

[SquishyKitty]

I have 3 dogs and 2 cats, but I don't have a crawling baby anymore.

The floors are awful, the stairs are awful, we don't allow them on the furniture or it would be awful too.

We sweep/vaccuum/mop every day, and it doesn't seem to make much of a difference. Kind of exhausting.

Brushing doesn't really help, and since its winter I don't want to hit them with the furminator just yet, they still need their undercoat.

I have found that if I wear them out really well, they sleep more in the house instead of playing and don't shed lol.