Due to the hard snowy winter, my cows, the snow, the beginning of shedding, my woodstove --- my floors are disgusting and my house is beginning to really have a "farmy" odor.

So what do you folks do to keep your whole house from smelling like a dog bed? Perhaps this is a guestion for dear Abby ---- but she doesn't have dogs, I don"t think.....

How are you guys coping with dog-messes this hard and snowy winter?

I have no carpet or rugs in the area, where the dogs roam. Just tiles or hardwood floor. Dogs are trained to not go upstairs into the carpeted areas of the house. That helps quite a bit. No dogs allowed in beds or on furniture.
The Yorkie has a smelly dog bed, but the shepherd removed his bed from his kennel as he was a puppy. He just doesn't like soft surfaces to lay on. I tried a few times to offer a dog bed, but then he sleeps somewhere else. I never had a dog that didn't like a soft bed before.
It is so weird, that the Yorkie smells more than the shepherd, but that's how it is.

Both my dogs are outside 24/7.
The worst part about that is I have no one to blame for all the grime I track in the house.
My wife wont ride in my car. THAT I can blame on the dogs.

This is a problem that has had me pulling my hair out these last few weeks, we haven't had any snow or even any hard frosts to harden the ground, and everywhere the dogs go, the fields and the garden are mud baths, it is driving me insane, and the worst part is, the shoe box we live in has no back door, or back gate, so all traffic comes straight into the sitting room.

The dogs have always had access upstairs, and on the sofas, which of course is entirely down to me being way too indulgent with them, so I have only myself to blame, which in itself is annoying!

On rainy days, and we have had nothing but rain for weeks, the house smells pretty ripe - thank god for febreeze - and the washing machine is in constant use; I was using up annual leave last week, and what with Kaiser and the up chucking of scalding hot cheese pastry, and Bon's love of trotting round and round the garden before she pees or poos, I found myself seriously contemplating an early return to work; the fact I hate house work didn't help my black mood, but the mop and bucket were a permanent feature, as was the hot cycle on the washing machine to yet again clean the dog towels and the throws to cover the ruined leather sofas.

So, to condense, bleach, washing detergent, fabric conditioner, febreeze and scented candles are my only weapons in the war of the English weather and the wet, muddy canines.

My next dog may well be a Mexican hairless that never comes into the house, and wears wellington boots and a rain coat when walked

Love your post, Tracey! Bleach and the hot water cycle on the washer are my friends, as well.

My guys don't go upstairs, and Pinker is confined to one chair. The big dog only comes in for short visits, otherwise he lives in the garage, sleeps there.

Which means, actually, when I think about it --- most of this mess is likely mine ! And Bob, my husband won't ride in my car either.....

Our house actually isn't too bad, now that the ground's been frozen for about 3 weeks and we're down to just one dog for the first time in over 25 years. Also, we don't let our dogs on furniture and we taught Bailey to wipe her feet on a small carpet section each time she comes in from the back, when it's wet outside.

That said, we're having carpet replaced and had to move all our furniture out in preparation. Now we keep a pretty clean house and vacuum regularly. Even with that, you should see all the loose dog hair we found in all the areas we couldn't get a vacuum in over the 13 years we've been in the house. We could have built 50 dogs from all the old hair we picked up.

I don't use chemical anything. Including sprays like febreeze. The effects on our health and especially the dogs when they lay with their noses right on the surfaces that were sprayed is something I'm not willing to do. But that's just my opinion. A lot of people do it.

My weapon is a really good steamer and natural odor remover, used together. And I wash beds in hot water, without bleach. For me personally, bleach has two purposes. Make things whiter and kill mold or mildew.

Our house occasionally smells a but doggy , but the steamer takes care of that quickly. Aside from that, I vacuum and sweep when I need to, and a full size towel hangs at each doorway. I live on a farm and our dogs live inside, do anyone coming to visit who has an issue with a house with a bit of dog hair, dust, or varying degrees of dog smell probably shouldn't visit. I like it clean, but I love my dog.

So check out a steamer.

Amber will track in mud but its livable, I don't notice any doggie odor BUT tracking in stuff from the barn is definitely noticeable, it was really bad when we had geese, chicken, and ducks mixed with horsepoop. Awful! I'll take dog odor any day. Hair! Loose fur, we've got plenty of that,lol. The stray hay and dog fur in my car make a nice mat,lol.

We no longer have carpet - so its pretty easy to keep everything vacuumed and mopped. I use doTerra essential oil products that are completely natural.

I also will use real apple cider vinegar for cleaning when I want to kill smells. Once the vinegar smell fades the house just smells clean.

When I had carpets, I would use baking soda with 4-5 drops of essential oils stirred in, then I would sprinkle on the carpets. I would leave this for an hour, then add 1-2 drops of oil to the HEPA filter in the vacuum and then vacuum all the baking soda up. This makes the house smell AMAZING while you clean.

I also have one of those shark steam mops. If you put a microfiber head on, you can use this along your carpets to kill bacteria, mold etc. I found this really helped with the smell too.

For cleaning, invest in a REALLY good carpet steamer - it is worth its weight in gold in the end.

No carpet, no dog on furniture and my barn clothing get in the washing machine now and then, they do bring a strong smell. Ok dog stuff also (dog coats and dog bed) get regular wash.

And dogs get a bath (free at one pet feed store) as they spend lots of time sleeping in the barn aka box stall and hay.