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Tuesday 11 January 2011

Fancy footwork is a muddy problem

Today I am appealing for help from my fellow bloggers!

There must be someone out there with the same problem.

I have churned the back lawn into a quagmire doing zoomies at least once a day.

Now, whenever I have had my fun  - the Lady Of The House makes me go in through the back door where she has to pull clods of grass and earth from between my toes and usually wash my feet, legs and tails too as now that the ground has thawed I get mud everywhere.
My handiwork (or footwork)
I know some of you lucky dogs in America have safely enclosed dog parks where you can let off steam - but there's nowhere round here where I can do that. The LOTH daren't let me off the lead in a normal park because I have SUCH a high prey drive that I'd be off without a backward glance if something took my fancy - which she says could end up with me under a car on the road.

The Man Of The House wondered about paving the back garden - but the LOTH thought I'd miss the grass (or mud, as it is now). She wondered about artificial turf....but that might not be suitable when I need to do what a girl's got to do inbetween walks.

Anyone got any thoughts?

14 comments:

House of Carnivores said...

I've been trying to solve that problem for awhile now. I don't know that I have any great solutions, but I personally am going to try to make a paving stone path through the yard that MIGHT make an easier running track. Then again, Argos might still choose to churn up the grass instead.

Unknown said...

Maybe a treadmill for inside exercise to blow off some of that excess energy? Greyhounds are born to run though, aren't they. Tough one.

Nadia said...

Maybe you could get some little dogie shoes. I think they sell them on the internet. Then when you come inside, just take the shoes off and you wont be dirty. I have not tried them, but it seems like they would work......

houndstooth said...

There's been a lot of discussion about this over the years on the Greyhound boards. A lot of people we know have used different kinds of mulch as a solution, but we haven't had to deal with the problem yet, because our back yard isn't fenced in. I say just run like crazy and enjoy it while you can!

Bunny

P.S. We liked your mom's comments this morning!

BZ Dogs said...

If you come up with something that works, please share!!!!!!

Golden Boys create quagmire's too!

Two Pitties in the City said...

We don't have our own yard, so the pooches aren't really running around like that a lot, but we do like the dog shoes because they make the cleanup so much easier. Lately we've just been using balloons since they're so much easier to put on, but there are also other kinds and they would definitely help with keeping the mud out of her nails.

Beyond the Dog Dish said...

OH dear!! You sure do make short work of the green bathroom fast! IDEA! I a friend that goes to a tennis court and her Mom closes the dog so she can run loose. Have any? My pawrents use a long 20' traing lead in parks with me (spaniel birds and squirrels dont mix) but I think with your long legs that might not work as well as it does for my short legs. Good luck!

Trixie, Lily, and Sammy-Joe said...

We don't know! Our Mama lets us in the backyard and we run out there. We get muddy paws and she wipes up our feet with a towel. Cooper And Lola did a good review today on some special rubber boot thingies for dogs!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for visiting our blog. We promise you won't mind wearing these boots. They feel a little funny at first but they are very comfy and keep our feet dry. AND as hard as we try to get them off, they stay on. Which makes our mom happy.

Anonymous said...

Ohhh BTW we are new followers!

♥I am Holly♥ said...

Winnie, your yard looks like ours! We don't have any answers....mom just lets me outside and I run all over the backyard and track mud in and mess up the yard. I don't think she really cares anymore. She doesn't trust the dogparks here so it's run run run in the yard for me! Lots of love, Holly and mom

Sue said...

If you designated an area of proper grass as the toilet area (Song soon caught on that she had to go in that area - she had to be taken out on the lead till she gotit right. now she just goes there), you could then put the artificial stuff down elsewhere.

Song get's the grass/dirt stuck into her dew claws, but her feet aren't usually too bad and neither is her bely or tail.

Another thought, how about a track of sand?

Carol's Critter Corner said...

We have a carpet in our kitchen that my dogs wipe their feet on. It's a mess of a carpet but that's why we bought it. We also have wood floors so we just mop them up. Wish we had tile instead tho since it's would be easier to keep clean with dogs and cats.

Let us know what you end up doing.

Two French Bulldogs said...

we are not sure but maybe sod/new lawn
Snuggles,
Benny & Lily