Koogle, my wife, and I are all about connecting people with disabilities with service dogs. One way we do this is by raising puppies for Canine Companions. We’ll welcome a new puppy to our home this week. When he gets here he will be about nine weeks old and will live with us for about sixteen months. We’ll teach him basic obedience, and we will socialize him to be calm in a variety of environments.
Our current pack consists of Hearing Dog Koogle and two pet dogs – Alex7 and Luna. The puppy will bring the canine head count up to four, and that’s a lot of dogginess!
You might think we’re out of our minds, but Kathleen and I have been working with dogs for a long time. We’ve learned a few tricks, and we know what works.
In this post I’ll discuss a number of products we use that make life with lots of dogs easier. If you follow the links to Amazon and buy something discussed here, the commission we might make will be donated to Canine Companions. Canine Companions provides professionally trained service dogs at no cost to their clients.
Managing Shedding
Koogle and his Canine Companions colleagues are all either Labrador retrievers, golden retrievers, or a cross of the two. These are large breed dogs that shed all year long, and I can’t understate how much fur they loose every day. Put three of them together in one house, and you could have a real mess. The good news is there are a number of products out there that make the clean up easier.
Roomba – $149 and up
Just about any model of the robot vacuum cleaner will work. The trick is to run it often. Most models work with a phone app and can be programmed to run daily at a set time. In our house we have one on every floor.
Other brands may work well too, but we haven’t tried them.
FURemover Rubber Pet Hair Broom – $12.98 to $23.99
Robot vacuums don’t work on stairs and sometimes you just need to sweep up a smaller area. This is where the FURemover comes in. It excels on wood and other hard floors; although it leaves a little to be desired on carpeting.
EyeVac Touchless Dustpan – $149 to $199
You may have seen these in barber shops or salons. Fur and dust can be swept up right to the base of the device, and a vacuum motor will automatically start to suck up all the mess. Less dust gets kicked up than using a conventional dust pan, leading to less sneezing. We have the larger 1400 watt model and use it in conjunction with the FuRemover or a Swiffer.
Uproot Clean Fur-nado Survival Kit – $49.99
This is the best tool we’ve tried for getting fur off upholstery and rugs. I like this three-piece set because I use the tools in different places. The large one gets used indoors on rugs and the sofa; while I use the medium rake in my truck. The pocket-size tool is good for a quick clean up at the end of an Uber ride.
Canine Hygiene
Your dog is going to get muddy from time to time. The garden hose worked fine for bathing when we had fewer dogs and lived in a warmer climate. We had to up our game when we faced washing a whole pack in an Ohio winter.
Vevor 38 inch Dog Grooming Tub – $599.99
This could be the best thing we’ve done to make working with dogs easier. Not only do the dogs get a warm bath indoors during cold weather, the humans don’t have to bend over to soap a dog in the backyard. I installed ours in the basement, replacing an old laundry sink. We bought the 50 inch version which can hold three dogs at a time. (Koogle models it at the top of this page.) The 38 inch tub is big enough for a Labrador or golden retriever and costs a lot less.
Flying Pig High Velocity Dog Dryer with Heater – $187.00
It can take forever to dry a wet Labrador or golden retriever. The Flying Pig is a hair dryer for dogs with an adjustable, high-speed fan that literally blasts water out of the fur. Short hair breeds get completely dry. Dogs with thick fur, like Koogle, go from dripping wet to manageably damp in a short time.
Jasper 360º Dog Finger Toothbrush – $13.99 (set of two)
Oral hygiene is linked to your dog’s overall health, and having a vet remove tarter requires general anesthesia. We used standard dog tooth brushes for a long time and found we weren’t really reaching the teeth in back of the mouth. Our dogs put up with having a finger in their mouths more readily than a hard toothbrush, especially if they like the way the toothpaste tastes. That make brushing easier and more effective.
Petrodex Toothpaste for Dogs and Puppies – $12.41
Your dog is much more likely to put up with toothbrushing if he likes how the toothpaste tastes. Koogle volunteers to have his teeth brushed when I use Petrodex poultry flavor. He likes to lick the brush after I finish scrubbing his teeth. He has also let me know when he disliked other brands, so I stick with the one that works.
Cleaning Up Messes
We’ve learned a lot about house breaking puppies by raising Canine Companions dogs. They still have occasional accidents, and even the grown up dogs get sick sometimes. You need to have a good spot cleaner.
Bissell Little Green Portable Carpet Cleaner – $117.95
The Little Green Cleaner is the easiest spot cleaner I’ve ever used. I keep it pre-loaded with fluid, so I can clean up a mess as soon as it happens. I’ve also developed my own machine rinse out routine for after I use it that minimizes the fuss. I plan to publish a video of my routine in the near future.
Nature’s Miracle Odor Eliminator – $13.55
This is our go-to cleaner for puppy messes on hard floors. We wipe the puddle up first, then spray the Nature’s Miracle on the spot and clean up with a dry towel. When we sold our Houston house the realtor’s home stager remarked on how clean our house smelled despite all the dogs we had.
What Works for Your Pack?
That’s just ten things that work for us. Please leave a comment to let us know about things you’ve found helpful.
Just another tip on dog-hair mitigation: before I wash towels or dog-bed covers, I run them in the dryer on air fluff to get a lot of the fur off. I saves getting quite as much hair stuck in the washing machine.
I love that idea!