You all know that commercial where they the lady is swishing around a mop and saying that the last thing she wants to do at the end of a long day is wash a floor? I used to laugh at that commercial, thinking who on earth is cleaning their floors each and every night? Maybe when I was in my 30’s, but as I near my 60’s, I snorted at the idea.
Well…guess what I have started doing after the dogs go to bed for the night? Yep. How nuts is that, eh? But hear me out, with big dogs, doing a little bit each day is the key to keeping the house clean. It can get crazy dirty, real fast if you don’t stay on top of it.
Dogs and Kids – I’ve been a big dog momma for 20 years. First with English Mastiffs and now a Saint Bernard, too. Big dogs (Hemingway is 240lbs and Berkeley is 160) track in a whole lot of dirt and mess with those massive paws, especially in spring and fall when the ground is wet. The one (only?) good thing about snow is that less dirt is coming into the house.
Big dogs drool all over the floor and furniture. They slobber and send slingers onto walls, shed like mad, and track in a lot of dirt. They are the bestest dogs ever, though, so totally worth every bit of it.
This post applies if you have kids or grandies, too. They also make window art, wall smudges, spills on rugs…
(Edited to add that we lost our darling Hemingway this past summer, and so are currently down to just one big doggie, our sweet St Bernard, Berkeley. We are heartbroken.
Here’s how to easily have a clean house with big dogs (and kids).
Floors– I’ve started to do a quick wash of the floors each evening before I go to bed. After the coffee pot is set for morning, the dogs have done their outside business and gone to bed, I give the floors a quick once over so they are fresh for the next day.
The other day, I walked in the house and thought, wow, the house smells lovely. No dog smell, no cooking smells, the house just had that freshly cleaned fresh scent. The fact that my house (currently holding 3 dogs and 1 cat) smells this nice when I open the door… well, I cannot even begin to tell you how happy I am.
I don’t have a whole lot of floors to wash as we have rugs everywhere. My Hemingway is afraid of floors so we have a rug in each room, and a couple runners going down the hallway, too, so it takes me less than 10 minutes to wash the entire upper floor. Totally worth the few minutes to have the house feel fresh and clean the next day, for unexpected guests, or just because.
I use two different floor washes, whichever one suits my fancy that day. They are both mildly scented, smell nice, safe for all types of flooring, and environmentally friendly. You can get both at Well.ca (this is not a plug, I just know that they sell both there.. often at a discounted price).
The first one, my most favourite, is Mint Floor Wash. Only takes a small dollop of the floor wash in a bucket of water, is very lightly scented, smells so very, very nice. It smells so good that you actually want to wash your floors more often!
The other one I use regularly is Mrs. Meyer’s Lemon Verbena Multi-Surface Cleaner. It comes in other scents, as well, but I have a thing for citrus-y scents. Mrs Meyer’s also has a counter spray, window cleaner, and laundry soap. You can get Mrs Meyers at London Drugs, Canadian Tire, and some grocery stores.
Rugs – So, if my floors are a mess from slobber, slingers, dirt, hair, and who knows what from these big beasties, you might be wondering what I do about keeping my rugs clean from all that shedding hair, dirt, slobber? You’re thinking that I bring out the old carpet cleaner once a month, eh?
Not so! I have found the most fabulous rugs that are non-skid, do not bunch up or curl up at the corners. They are pretty, come in all sorts of colours and sizes, are very affordable, but best of all… they are machine washable!
It’s true. I wash them all in the washing machine. The rugs in the TV sitting room, the doormats, the runners… They all go in the washing machine.
Depending on the time of year, they get washed 2 to 4 times a month. It is true, sometimes I need to wash them weekly!
I know you all are thinking I am off my rocker now, but as I like clean, it is a necessity with these dogs.
Now, I don’t want you to start thinking you’ll get a cat instead, hah, big dogs are worth every bit of it and life is a breeze now that I’ve found these rugs! Wash on the quick-wash cycle, tumble dry for 20 minutes, ta da, clean rugs again.
Find these rugs at Homesense and Amazon.
As they are so affordable and easy to wash up that I even use them out on our deck in summer instead of the plastic ones. Toss it in the wash, as needed.
These rugs come in all sizes, but the biggest one I can buy to fit my washer is the 5’x7′, maybe a 6’x8′. If you have a larger machine, or a top loader, you may be able to go a bit bigger. If I wanted a larger rug in the sitting room, I could always place 2 rugs side by side as the rubber grippy on the back keeps them from moving about.
Runners- Hemingway was afraid of all bare floors, be it tile, wood, vinyl, so we have a few sets of machine washable, non slip hallway runners to change the colours out for the seasons. With Hemingway gone, I no longer put runners in the hallway in summer, but still like the warmth and cosiness during the winter months.
The one thing I have to tell you is that these rugs are thin. They are not plush and thick, cushy under your toes. If you are looking for something cuddly underfoot, this is not what you are looking for. We wear slippers so is not a big deal for us.
If, however, you have (grand) kids that spill food and juice, spouses that spill coffee, dogs that track in dirt, or high traffic areas like front hallways, these rugs are the answer! They do not bleed or fade, just look awesome all the time. Oh, and they dry in no time at all. I usually toss them out on the deck railing but on rain days, they go in the dryer for just 20 minutes.
My son and daughter-in-law have two large dogs in a very small suite. They bought one of the Ruggables rugs and really liked it, but switched to these much less expensive ones when they saw how nice mine are.
A Good Vacuum – I vacuum twice a week to get up the dog hair tumbleweeds. A good vacuum is a must have. I have two. A Hetty (British pull after vacuum that works super great but is a pain in the patoot as the bumper gets caught on every corner) and a Noma stick vacuum from Canadian Tire that bends to get under furniture. I like that one for every day quick vacuuming and use Hetty for the deep cleans.
My gf has a Dyson V8 and loves it so much that she bought one for all 3 of her daughters, plus her mom. She swears by it, it’s the bomb. Said the best part is the detangling bar. She has a dog, she has long hair, her daughter’s have long hair, has hardwood floors with rugs in the main living areas and carpet in the bedrooms.
I absolutely love cordless vacuums! Hang it on the wall to charge, it is out of the way, does not get caught on corners. This has a 40 minute run time.
Walls – This mop is the bestest of best tips for washing your walls (and floors).
Mastiffs and St Bernard’s are both slobbery. Have you seen the movies Beethoven and Hootch? Yeah, like that. They get slingers, they drool after drinking water/getting a treat, they rub their big ole dirty bodies against corners, shake their heads so slingers fly onto the walls… these dogs are messy. You will be washing your walls often.
I also have a grandson who likes to run his hands along the walls as he walks down the hallway, he also hangs on to walls as he turns corners.
I’ve found that the best way to wash walls, especially if you cannot bend and stretch well, is with this spin mop. It makes it easy to keep my walls and baseboards clean of drool, dirt, dust, and fingerprints! I have fancy schmancy baseboards with lots of grooves to catch all the dust and dirt. If it would not cost so much money, I would switch them out with super simple ones. Instead, I run the mop along the baseboards often to keep dust and dirt from building up.
The triangle shaped mophead fits into corners and small spaces, does a great job on tiles, walls, grout lines, baseboards, even that slider door track. Oh, and no sheets to throw away, the mopheads last a couple of years at minimum! I have two so that one is always clean.
For bookshelves, light switches, a quick dust, or wipe here or there, I use the Mint All Purpose Spray and a cloth, but I also do quick clean up with Clorox disinfecting wipes (especially during flu season). They clean up little messes, fingerprints, and dusty bits lickety split.
Other helpful tips..
Do a little bit of something daily. Wiping, walls, vacuum or wash floors… do one of these each day to avoid getting overwhelmed. When I don’t get to it regularly for some reason (arthritis is acting up), it starts to feel like a lot very quickly. If I am aching, have not been able to get to the cleaning for a bit, I sometimes have a house cleaner come in to do a one time clean for me. It’s easier for me to keep it up when I start with clean.
Feed the dogs outside. My dogs eat their meals outside, on the bottom step to the deck. This raises the bowls off the ground a bit, to make it easier for them to eat/better for them, plus keeps the big messes outside. When too cold outside (we live on the prairies where temps can go to 40 below), they eat their meals on a washable doormat by the back door.
We use non-slip, large, metal bowls so they don’t nose the bowls around the house. Or the deck. They have to be big enough for a mastiff snout to fit in well, hold enough food, and not pricey. Metal is safer, harbours less bacteria, is easy to scrub good and clean after each meal.
We always have two or more water bowls on the go, too. You want big ones to hold all their water as they drink a lot. One bowl is inside (on a rug to catch the drips), the others outside. The dogs will have a drink and try to use you as their drool cloth, so having a cloth nearby to wipe their jowls is a good idea.
Grooming – The dogs have two big shedding seasons, spring and fall, during which time it really helps if you give them a regular brushing with either a loop grooming tool or a slicker brush. The dogs will hustle over, try to push the other one aside, to get a good brushing!
Berkie goes to the groomer quarterly, but Hemingway is too chicken (a mastiff thing) so he gets a shower in the new sauna shower room.
Windows – sticky slobber and nose art is a thing. You will need a good quality glass cleaner to get their sticky ‘art’ off the windows and doors.
I hope this does not dissuade you from getting big dogs. They really are the very best dogs ever. If you want a loving couch potato type, get an English Mastiff. They are big marshmallows. If you want a dog with more stamina, maybe to take long walks or jog with you, a St Bernard is awesome.
It is very possible to have a clean home with big dogs (and little kids), but it takes a wee bit of time each day.
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