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Staying on top of the (fur)ball!

If you are behind the curve on your spring cleaning like me then you will love this blog. Last week we showed you how to get rid of the wet dog smell and this week we have a few more tips for making your life with pets easier.

 

We have a saying at our house: Home is where dog hair sticks to everything but the dog! If this is true in your house I think you will love these tips.

 

Here is a quick tip on how to quickly remove pet hair from your couches.

There are a few ways so you can take your pick depending on what you have around the house.

 

-by wiping a damp sponge on upholstery the hair will roll up for easy pick up. 

 

- use a set of rubber gloves or a shower squeegee and the rubber on either item will gather hair from couches or clothes when you rub them over the surface.

 

Now that you have all that extra fur up you can freshen the air with some homemade Febreze! Lets face it, with 2 dogs and 2 cats our house can get a little funky at times so we go through a lot of Febreze. This recipe is a great way to save money and still have your house smelling fresh.

 

 

 

If you are looking for a natural recipe try this one:

 

 

*side note* always test a small area before spraying onto upholstery, rugs or other household items.

 

 

Still looking for a way to freshen your home? Try adding some greenery! These dog friendly plants naturally filter the air. For more information please check out the Mother Nature Network. These plants are considered safe by the California Poison Control System:

 

 

 

SO, now that you have picked up all the extra fur, freshened the couches you still have a few places for lingering odors. The carpets being one of them. Instead of renting those expensive steam cleaners and using harsh chemicals try using this recipe to naturally freshen your carpets.

 

 

What's that smell?!

Hello from the rainy season in Japan. At our last two duty stations we have encountered a rainy season. This is a little more than April showers bring May flowers- it's more like days and days of rain for a period of several months.

 

The rainy season is great for hiding on the couch with coffee and a great movie but the Natives start to get restless after a while- the natives being my two very active golden retrievers. So after cabin fever sets in I eventually get my rain boots and grabbed an umbrella and we play in the rain.

 

 

It is all fun and games until you have two wet golden retrievers who want to come inside! So what do you do? I used to buy the sprays and deodorizers but they can add up pretty fast when you have two large dogs with a lot of fur. I was also encountering the problem where sometimes they would smell like wet dog wearing perfume and that was not a great combination!

So I did some research and some trial and error testing and this is what I found:

 

There are a few ways to freshen up a stinky dog between baths.

 

The first is a tried and true method.

 

Dryer Sheets: Simply wipe down the dog with a dryer sheet before they come back into your home. This works really well for the wet dog smell!

 

Here is another option if you want to stick to natural ingredients. It is a bit more involved but a lot cheaper and you get a pretty big batch out of it.

DIY Pet Wipes: You will need to fill a large bowl with hot water. I added about 50 ounces of hot water. Then, add in 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar  and 1 tablespoon of baking soda.  

Mix that all up and it will fizz a bit but not too much. That's it! As an additional option you can add essential oils for an extra fresh smell. I added about a tablespoon of lavender oil.

 

 

 

Next you will need to get some old cut up towels, rags, or old cut up shirts to be your "wipes."

 

If you would like a more disposable option you can 1/2 a paper towel roll with a sharp knife and use those as your wipes.

 

You will be using the same concept as baby wipe dispenser or a Clorox wipe dispenser. Find an old container such as an old Folgers coffee can, old butter dish, Clorox wipe can, Tupperware or even a Ziploc. You can fashion them into your wipe dispenser by cutting a hole in the lid, adding your towels, or paper towel roll into the container with a generous amount of your liquid. Just enough that the towels are damp and not soaking wet. If you are using old rags or shirts you can wash these and reuse them over and over again.

 

If you like you can even put the liquid in a spray bottle and dampen towels that way. I think it is just personal preference!

 

The last thing you need is a place to store the extra liquid. I used an old coffee creamer bottle. So once the wipes need to be replaced or dampened I can just pour some on them with the easy pour spout!

 

 

 

I jazzed up my wipes container a bit with some scrapbook paper so we would know these were for the puppies. I forgot to, but remember to write on your bottle of extra liquid so everyone knows what that is as well.

 

OK now for the test!!

 

 

 

Here is my wipe before......

 

and here is my wipe after.....

 That is pretty gross! You can actually see my hand print on there! I did not even do the whole dog. This was only about 10 seconds on my dogs back!

 

I think I will keep going!

 

So,  there you have it! Two inexpensive ways to freshen up Fido between baths or after a romp in the rain!