How to Keep a Clean House with Dogs

If you know me, you know my two dogs are my children, best friends, loves of my life. Seriously, they are very spoiled and I would not have it any other way! As much as I love them, I won’t lie.. their fur can be a lot. Since moving on the mountain, they are constantly exploring, playing, getting dirty and bringing the mess inside. One of my most frequently asked questions is How do you keep a clean house with dogs?! And today I’m spilling my secrets!

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First and foremost, my house is not always clean. Keeping a clean house with dogs is hard! So please don’t think that I have it mastered (and you mamas with dogs AND kids?! You’re the real champion!)! But I have developed tricks, bought magical vacuum cleaners and learned how to keep it maintained most of the time. I had so many questions submitted on Instagram (@RileySitton), so I thought it would be easiest to just answer those one by one. They cover almost all my tips and tricks, so it will be fun & hopefully helpful! ps. I was able to find all our vacuums on sale!

HOW TO KEEP A CLEAN HOUSE WITH DOGS, the YES,PLEASE WAY:

Q. What is your cleaning routine with the dogs?

A. This was one of the most asked questions, including what vacuum(s) we used/loved. First up, our cleaning routine. Once a week I take about 1-2 hours and clean our whole downstairs. We don’t go upstairs a ton so we usually don’t have to clean it that often. I start in our Kitchen and work my way to the other side of the house. I’ll do the dishes, clean out the fridge, straighten things up, pick up dog toys, general cleaning things. I also wipe down all the counter/surfaces, dust and vacuum. In between that, I usually do a mini version of this either on Friday or Monday. I usually do a quick run through picking up the house and then I let our Roomba do the vacuuming. In addition, every evening/morning, I do a quick 15 minute tidying up where I pick up any dishes/dog toys, a quick wipe down of the counters, spot vacuum with our Cordless Dyson and random things. Finally, about once a month we have a cleaning lady who comes and deep cleans our entire downstairs.

Q. What is your specific cleaning routine for your floors? What vacuum(s) do you use?

A. I shared our cleaning routine above, but a quick breakdown of our floors- we usually vacuum every day but it’s not a full vacuum. Once a week we vacuum the whole downstairs with our Dyson Animal Ball 2 Upright. Two-three times a week, we spot vacuum with our Dyson Cordless. Once-three times a week, we let our Roomba run throughout the downstairs. We absolutely LOVE all three of these vacuums, but if you could only choose one I would say the Roomba, it’s so great and helpful! It doesn’t get every single spot in our home but it’s been a HUGE help with maintenance and keeping it clean between big cleanings.

Q. Do you have carpet?

A. Yes! Upstairs in the bedrooms, we have carpet, downstairs is all hardwood. Our master is also hardwood. We spend 99% of our time downstairs, so I don’t have much to contribute to carpet maintenance, I’m sorry!

Q. Do the pups get on the couch? How do you keep fur off your furniture? How do you have light colored furniture?

A. Our dogs get dirty. We live on an acre of land and part of that is woods that they love to wander through. It makes them so happy to get dirty, so I never stop them but sometimes I pay for it! And of course, snuggling with them is my favorite thing ever so they’re always on the furniture! When it’s a wetter time of year, we keep an old towel by the back door and wipe their paws when they come in. I find this helps a lot! We have the Ikea Ektorp Sofa in Loffallet Beige (a very light oatmeal color). I have found that I love this couch for so many reasons. I like that it’s light enough to look almost white, yet the color is great at camouflaging dirt. The cover is also removable and can be washed in the washer/dryer which is HUGE! We spot clean it in between washes but try to wash it about every two weeks. I find that Costco brand laundry detergent is amazing at removing stains and cheap. I also find that the Ektorp fabric is good because it doesn’t seem to trap hair, so I can quickly shake off the pillows or vacuum the cushions if needed.

Q: Best Stain Remover?

A: One of the bloggers I follow swears by this stain remover and it truly works so well! I can’t recommend it enough.

Q. Do they sleep in your bed? How do you keep a white comforter?!

A. They do sleep in our bed every night. Doodle literally sleeps on my pillow with me, tucked under the covers! Once a week (most of the time), I wash our sheets on sanitary mode with my favorite detergent it keeps the sheets smelling and feeling fresh! We also get lots of questions about having a white bedspread and I love that it’s white because I can bleach it as needed!

Q. Tips for Shedding??

A. Sadly, I have not mastered shedding BUT I feel like we are doing better with it. One of our biggest lifesavers is this Deshedding Brush. It brushes and gets the hair from the undercoat. We use the large brush on both Dallas and Doodle. Doodle is not a huge fan of being brushed, but Dallas loves it. We also shave Dallas at the beginning of each Summer. We have actually heard mixed reviews on if you’re supposed to shave Goldens or not, but Dallas LOVES being shaved. You can tell he’s so much cooler when shaved, it seriously helps with shedding and he looks so cute when he’s shaved hah! Grooming them often is another way to help conrol shedding.

Q. How do you control the dog smell?

A. This is a long answer so I broke it into parts.

– First, when we were moving a few years ago we heard our home was ‘doggy’ so we spent a full day cleaning, like hardcore cleaning. We were so disappointed to hear the smell was still there. We soon realized that we stored the pups’ food right next to the front door, in an open container. When you walked in you got a huge whiff of dog food. Be sure you’re storing all food and treats in a sealed container. It made a HUGE difference.

– We also use a Febreeze Air Purifier. It’s small, I keep it plugged in under the bar cart and you can’t see it! It does make a slight humming noise, but after a day you won’t notice it. Not only does it purify the air but it also releases scents. It’s nothing overpowering just enough to refresh the air. It takes refillable cartridges that you can find at Walmart or Target. I also like this because we leaving it running 24/7 unlike candles or other things you won’t feel comfortable leaving going while not at home.

-I love a Reed Diffuser and this one works so well! I was skeptical about how well it would work but it’s amazing. We keep ours in our bedroom (which can become ‘doggiest’ first since the dogs sleep in there) and this keeps the whole bedroom smelling fresh.

-In addition to the candles and diffusers, we love love love a wax melter! You can purchase scents so many different places, including Walmart.

-Another thing to remember is that fabrics can trap smells so easily. I like to use a fabric spray like Febreeze or Method Lavender Lilac Spray (from Target) on all fabric furniture, pillows, rugs, etc. I try to wash all blankets every other week and our sheets once a week with this detergent.

-Finally, when you vacuum make sure to clean your vacuum out– replace filters, wash filters and removable parts, etc. If not you will just be recycling and spreading the dog smell around!

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I think that mainly answers all the questions! Sorry for the long post, I wanted to try and be as helpful as possible. I got a few other specific dog questions about training and their health care which I will save for a separate post. What tips do you have for keeping a clean house with dogs? Drop them in the comments below so others can see too! XO shop the post | Tank (Set of 3 for $24!) | Eyelet Shorts (Similar) |