It is hard to get us humans to wipe our feet when we come in from outdoors. We can try to remember to wipe our shoes or take them off at the door and spare the floors at home all the mud and dirt that gets tracked in. It would be great if pets could be easily trained to wipe their feet or roll around in a towel to clean themselves off. It is possible to train them, but for most people help on coping with the slush and muck at this time of year is more realistic.

Take your pet in and out of one door. This decreases all the places muddy paw prints may have to be wiped up from. Hang a towel or 2 near that door. You can wipe your pet’s paws with one (it will be the dirtiest) and use the other one to wipe off their belly and legs. This will help keep them clean, and any dissolved salts will not be in contact with the skin to irritate them. Even though your cat would prefer to groom all the muck off, wipe off as much as you can. For long haired dogs, it is fine to rinse them off with just a warm water bath. If you need to use shampoo use only a pet shampoo, especially one that has low detergent level such as the oatmeal shampoos. Human shampoo, especially baby shampoo is very drying to pet skin, so avoid using that.

If your pet does not like to be rubbed down, make it rewarding for them. Find out what treat they really like but only give it to them when you are wiping off their feet, or body. It is really important that you give this reward as they are being rubbed and not fighting you. If they fight, hold the treat away until they settle down, and focus on the treat. Give the treat as you touch the body. The idea is that they care more about getting the treat than being upset about being handled. If they get the treat as they are upset, they thing they are good for being upset. If they do not get a treat for not fighting, then they do not learn calm is good.

Most pets want out badly to walk, run and play even when it is a mess outside. They need their activity, so be prepared and maybe it won’t be so messy!