Thursday, August 16, 2012

Mud

(This photo was taken when I was younger,
and I had to have a bath afterwards)

We have been absent from blogging and mud is one of the reasons. It is winter here in Auckland, and it has rained so much that you can see where we run around our back yard.

My human spends her time trying to catch us, wiping our feet, washing the floor, washing all the towels she uses to clean us with and sighing a lot!  She says if she had dogs that always lived outdoors, or self-cleaning cats (with small feet) she wouldn't have this problem. She also says if she lived in a big house with a "mud room" or a maid she wouldn't have this problem.

When Enzo and I go outside the rain water and clay squelches up between our toes and sticks to our fur. 

(Enzo with just a hint of mud on his back legs!)


 

 (Enzo's feet sinking into the mud in our back yard - he tries
to look innocent, but I know better)


(Mum's gumboots sinking into the mud and surface water)

When we play and chase each other around the back yard the mud covers us. Mum can't keep us on short leashes all the time. There are times we need to visit the garden to do our business and we also find interesting puddles on our walks, so she has put huge mats by the doors (inside and outside) for us to wipe our feet. She is constantly telling us walk in circles on these mats or to stand still while she dries us with towels (that we try to steal off her which is another fun game!), but sometimes all her rubbing does is work the mud into our fur. One of us usually manages to escape the towel like Enzo did in the photo below.
 (Did I kick mud onto Enzo's face?)

(Enzo's front paws)


Mum also laughs when we try to cover her clothes with paw prints. She says if she didn't laugh she would cry, so she cleans up after us and then the next time we come inside she just laughs at our paw prints. Sometimes she leaves some of our prints on the floors until tomorrow, rather than vacuuming carpet and washing floors more than once a day!  
 (Surrounded by paw prints - our floors had already
been washed once on the day this photo was taken)

Now we know that there are people who would be horrified to have paw prints on their floors (so wouldn't let their dogs inside), and they may find it hard to look at these photos as they would be compelled to wash the floors four or five times a day if we were their dogs, but I think our mum has realised it is better to have two dogs who make her smile lots and for her to spend time doing nice things with us (like going for walks and playing games) than spending all her spare time cleaning the floors. Plus she knows Spring will be here soon!
Woofs,
Riley

15 comments:

rottrover said...

We LOVE your floor!! That squishy mud looks fun!!

-Bart and Ruby

WFT Nobby said...

Pawprints on the floor add character, surely? I like to remind Gail of what her Swiss godmother (owner of a house that was slightly un-Swiss in its slightly shabby, cosy but lived-in look) apparently said to her. "People should remember that they own the house, the house doesn't own them".
Toodle pip!
Bertie.

Molly the Airedale said...

Wow - that's a lot of mud and a constant battle if you want it to be. No way would our mom be washing floors all day long! Life is to be enjoyed!

Love ya lots,
Mitch and Molly

Finn said...

Oh my goodness, that is a lot of mud!! You guys must sure have a lot of fun this season!

Frankie Furter and Ernie said...

My mom says that seeing Paw Prints on the floor.. proves that our house if full of LOVE.

Maxmom said...

Aw...I can hear by your momma's tone that the mud is making things really tough for her. I feel sorry for you all.
But, perhaps it is, indeed, time to forget about the muddy pawprints....
tell mom to 'turn the dogs loose' :)
Rest assured, Spring is on the way.
Sending lotsaluv
MAXMOM IN SOUTH AFRICA

sprinkles said...

I kind of like the floor all muddy! I don't think I'd wash it more than once a day either. My boys are small, but they can make just as big a mess on my kitchen floor with their paw prints.

STELLA and RORY from Down Under said...

Riley, your home looks just like our except our muddy footprints are always on THE CARPET! Mum sighs a lot too hehehe. Also our backyard has mud trails like yours. We love them. Mum keeps a sign up that says (and you can copy it if you like hehe)
"The house was clean yesterday,
sorry you missed it".
Have a wonderful weekend. No worries, and love, Stella and Rory

joanne fox said...

Riley, I'm sure you both bring your mum so much joy that it makes all the cleaning worthwhile in the long run. Anyway, soon spring will come, bringing new adventures and a little less mud!

the booker man said...

mud! one of my most favoritest thingies to woof about! heehee. sometimes the hoomans just don't get it. you 'n enzo keep enjoyin' the squishy mud while you have the chance!

*woof*
the booker man

pee s -- totally love the mud placement on enzo's face!

Dexter said...

Sheesh. You two are like mops. You really know how to pick up the mud. Too bad you can't kind of roll around the house and pick up the paw prints.

Slobbers,
Mango

Mrs. JP said...

OH, I remember that first picture of Riley in the mud. We have the same thing in the winter here. It's so hard to catch 24 muddy paws coming in the door at once. But that's a small price to pay for the love and protection we receive. I say this now because it's dry outside. I'll be singing your tune in our winter mud time.

Pip said...

Your mom is 100% right! Dirty floors is a small price for the love of two great boys like you! I has to admit though, I don't know how you can stand having your feet dirty like that. But then- I'm a self-cleaning cat!
Give extra snuggles to your mom, she sounds great!
Your furend, TK

IRIS E DONA said...

Well, my Mom knows very well the problem of the muddy paw prints on the floor .... we do the same on the winter (but now is summer, Yes !!)

Kisses
Iris

Anonymous said...

Greetings oh fellow New Zealand doggy blogger. Me and Nellie know all about mud. With all this rain We have been getting very muddy. Love Nellie and Jasper the two bestest maremmas in all of the land.