Who is over this rainy and drizzly weather as much as I am ?Here are my tips on how to survive Mother Nature’s wet side and avoiding a MUD-pocalypse in a multi dog household

I love dogs, and I love Texas, but boy, rain + Texas soil + dogs don’t mix well. If your yard has already turned into a swamp, or you are even finding yourself at a never-been-there-before lakefront property, this blog is for you!
As an owner of multiple dogs, I have some tips and tricks for you on how to get through these tough times. Hang in there; you’re not alone!
First off, I have a huge stack of dog towels (probably more than towels for humans); these are old ones which, over time, I demoted from human-use towels to dog towels. I always have at least 2 of those towels lying by the door that my dogs go out the most. One towel is for their paws (which usually gets super dirty and muddy), and the other one is for their body. All of mine know the routine: they sit, give me their front paws to dry off, followed by giving me their rear paws. For this, it comes in super handy to have an excellent “Sit-Stay” command and even a command like “Give paw” or “Shake” (for me, actually the only reason to teach a dog this particular command) as well as a “Stand” command.
Next, my dogs go out in groups; that way, there’s less commotion going on at the door while drying off everyone’s feet, less splashing and playing in puddles and mud pits with each other, which makes for a cleaner dog, and quicker potty break. If you are now intervening with “But how is my dog supposed to burn off some energy if not romping around the yard???”, please see one of my previous blog posts “Indoor Games and Activities to beat winter boredom”. Another thing that I do is leash walking my dogs for their potty break, hence the small groups. That way, I can navigate them away from the puddles and muddy spots to do their business in more adequate areas. One more good reason why you should teach your dog to go potty on a leash ;-) as covered in previous blog posts as well.
Something that I also take care of regularly is trimming their nails because short nails won’t collect as much mud.
For a quick clean-up of muddy paws or whatever, I also have some fragrance-free baby wipes in the house.
More things you could do to keep your sanity and your dog sanitary:

• Set up a canopy or pop-up shelter to give your dog a mud-free area to go potty
  
• Invest in a raincoat for your dog, especially if you have a long-coated dog who takes forever to dry and make sure it also covers the belly adequately
  
• Put down artificial turf or playground mulch, which is pretty much mud free
  
• Have a cleaning station by the door, maybe even with access to the garden hose for muddy messes
  

I hope you found these tips and tricks helpful. Let me know what works for you or if you have other ideas and suggestions.