Any tips for keeping a house very clean with two dogs?

[Snapdragon]

I have two dogs. They have not been living with me for the past 6 months. they have been staying where we used to live with some other people while I lived somewhere else. I have a baby and it has been very easy to keep the hose clean without the dogs. Very soon I am moving to a new place and will have the dogs come live with me again. I am remembering how much of a mess they made all the time in my old house! ugh! Just by being dogs- there was fur everywhere, mud  and dirt tracked in all the time, smelly dog beds, etcetera. I am really not looking forward to this aspect of it and am trying to figure out ways to have the dogs while still keeping a clean house and a clean floor for the baby to crawl on.

some ideas I have are to gate off certain areas of the house to not allow the dogs into.  I like the idea of bathing and brushing them regularly to keep them cleaner, as well as wiping their paws off each time I let them in.  But I am not sure I will take the time to do that. they are already not allowed on the furniture but they sometimes jump on it anyway.

any ideas for keeping a really clean house and having dogs? Is it possible to do? I would love to hear from anyone who has dogs (they are labs) that shed and run around outside who also have very clean houses. thanks!

[greenmagick]

I dont know...personally I enjoy dogs way more than having a clean house.  I am sure it can be done, but to me its not worth the effort.  Some dog hair, mud, etc is not going to hurt the baby, in fact, will probably help them.

Frequent bathing and brushing, washing the dog beds, etc will help for sure.  My dogs are allowed on the couches, I actually prefer it as then the kids dont accidentally run into them or fall on them, so I just put blankets or sheets on the couch which are easy to toss in the wash.  

[Snapdragon]

I am just not into the mess at all these days! I have had the dogs many years and had other dogs before them, much of my adult life- and the mess didn't bother me. But these days cleanliness feels way more important to me than it used to! Especially with a baby but also for me. I guess I am just gonna have to give them regular baths and brush them a lot and get dog beds that are fully washable. The ones we have now have washable cover but the middle part isn't. I found some natural dog shampoos and that kind of thing and also I just looked around online and found dog wipes- natural ones too without nasty products. So I guess I will just try to be proactive about keeping the dogs cleaner than I used to! I must say it has been fun having a break from all that maintenance in these past 6 months, after having dogs for like 15 years of my life or more! I think when these dogs pass on (they are fairly aged) I will not get new dogs for a good long while.

[ChristyMarie]

I find putting a nubby rug (texture so it catches more dirt) in front of the door where Sam goes in and out helps a LOT.  I do keep small towels there to wipe his paws if it is nasty out.

Beds washed often, brush them and normal house cleaning with extra sweeping. 

If it is super rainy out and he's wet he's confined to the areas of the house with wood, no carpet for wet dogs!

Sam is allowed on 1 couch with a blanket.  I just throw the blanket in the washer.

But yeah, you are gonna have doggie toys all over and the fur is just part of it. 

[zebu]

Monthly professional grooming made all the difference for us.  We also try to go to a self-serve pet bathing place between professional grooming appointments and try to brush weekly, but even if we miss a few weeks of doing it ourselves, we hardly see a hair anywhere because the pros are just really good at getting him brushed and clean.

I keep a towel laid out at the door so that his first few steps are on the towel, but I don't specifically wipe his feet.

He is not allowed in the kitchen or on furniture.  Keeping him out of the kitchen started as a safety thing, but I realized that it keeps the kitchen SO MUCH cleaner when I did some dog-sitting and the dog was not trained to stay out of the kitchen.  I think we ate a little (or a lot) extra dog hair that week