My Cleaning Routine with a Dog Indoors

If we’re being real here, I’m the Monica Geller of the friend group. If you’re familiar with that iconic show, you know that might mean nothing brings me more joy than a clean space. Keeping our house tidy is always a top priority of mine because it makes me feel so much more comfortable and at peace, and I worried about how this would change when we got a dog. I grew up having dogs, but not indoors. Cleaning up after a dog and managing the never-ending trail (more like explosion) of dog hair has been new territory for me and it’s elevated the way I clean. I was also very fearful of dog odor, which I’ve been able to completely prevent (or so my family and friends tell me). Without further ado, here’s everything I do to maintain a fresh house!

FURNITURE

I swore I’d never let dogs on my furniture… but here we are. This means I’m now vacuuming our couch every few days and I’m still shocked on a daily basis how much my short-haired dog sheds. I use our Dyson V8 Animal Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner with one of the smaller attachments (the one that looks like a mini vacuum head) on the highest suction and it REALLY does the job! Luckily, though unplanned, our couch color doesn’t show Lucia’s hair as much as a darker couch would have. I’m grateful for that!

As for scent, one of my tricks (though probably unnecessary) is to stick dryer sheets between the cushions after I vacuum them. I don’t leave them in there permanently and I take them out after I’m done cleaning for the day. I’ll sometimes give the cushions a quick swipe with them beforehand too. Lastly, I’d recommend a fabric refresher spray. I’m in the market for a new one, so let me know if you have any recommendations. I like clean linen/cotton scents for this kind of stuff!

FLOORS

Similar to our couch, we got really lucky and our floors and rugs don’t show her hair either since they’re really light. With that being said, I’m SHOCKED how much hair comes up each time I vacuum considering you can’t see any of it. We have hardwood throughout our whole house with rugs here and there, so my ideal scenario is to clean them while Lucia is out of the house on a walk or something with Justin. I like to dry Swiffer, broom sweep and vacuum — and mop when I can with a Swiffer Wet Jet, but I don’t have time without Lucia around to do it as often as I’d like. I’ve found that especially with pets, it’s important to get all the corners, chair legs, etc. because that’s where hair tends to want to collect. I sweep often enough to get ahead of it before it happens.

Another big thing that helps keep things tidy is cleaning up Lucia’s toys every night before bed. She has a hundred of them and I swear she drags out every single one! We put them all away before guests come over too and it’s a quick (and necessary!) way to declutter.

BLANKETS + BEDDING

I’ve always been a stickler about washing our sheets once a week (I would do it every two days if that was manageable and not borderline psychotic 😆) and the blankets that we don’t sleep with pretty often too, but now I’m even more on top of it with a dog in the house. We only use our blankets for three or so days before I toss them in the hamper and swap them for clean ones. I hate seeing hair on blankets and having it transfer to stuff, so this has been the best way for us to manage it.

CANDLES + AIR FRESHNER

I always have candles lit, with or without a dog. I just love them, I’m a big scent person (shocker) and I love the overall ambiance they create. I don’t stick to a particular scent, but Ocean Salt by Sand + Fog is my favorite — you can find it at TJ Maxx and HomeGoods! As for air fresheners, as previously mentioned, I like to use a clean linen or fresh cotton scented spray. This helps everything thing smell so clean and freshly washed, which is ideal in my book.

*I obviously do other cleaning as well, but these are the dog-focused things I do.

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That’s my cleaning routine for maintaining a dog hair/odor free house, and just a clean house in general! What are some essentials in your routine? Let me know in the comments. Thanks so much for reading and happy cleaning!