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You're house smells like dogs, cats, and children. Ewwwww
It's the children that push it over the edge.
I understand about the crating. I've had to go back to crating one of mine at night, but only because she felt the need to wake me up every two hours so she could go bark at invisible things. Now that the crate door is shut she sleeps like a baby all night long.
The other dog "sneaks" up on the bed with me when she thinks I'm asleep. As the house is mostly uninsulated and it's cold, I let her sneak up and then stick my cold feet up under her. Who knows? If it gets really cold this winter I may let the other one out if we have a "two dog night".
Have you seen the industrial strength floor mats made to contain mud and dirt and wet? I think Lands End or LL Bean has them. One of those by the back door might help. I have a friend that taught her dogs to come in and immediately sit so she could wipe their paws off. Mine aren't that well behaved, but they have a mudroom full of rugs to run through before they hit the main house. I also matched the new kitchen linoleum to the dirt, so that helps too.
LOL bark at invisible things.
Jake does the sneak thing too. Sometimes I won't let him on the bed but as soon as he hears the light click off he's there.
Truth is I couldn't imagine him not being there.
Someday I'll build a sunroom that can double as a mud room too. Until then my house is too small for the floor mats. I tiled the entire downstairs so cleanup would be easy. My tiles are dirt colored too, whether clean or not.