apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

amazing!

There is no way my dog would put up with that--he'd get one paw in then scream bloody murder before I could clean off the other three. Plus, why would I shell out $30 for something I can do with a hose or a pitcher of water?

We have far too much disposable income.....

ditto what burpchick said. I'd be able to spring that on my dog once and only once. Any subsequent attempts would result in yelping, snapping jaws, and me losing fingers.

Why do I need this when I have old hand towels that work just as well, in fact, probably even better.

Goofy.

Too many craptastic gadget gizmos on AT lately. This one. The paper soap/shampoo one. The tattoo for grocery lists.

There was a time that most posts seemed to be centered on catalogs like DWR and magazines like Dwell.

Now it looks like the main focus is Harriet Carter:
http://www.harrietcarter.com/

And it seems fairly hypocritical to have wasteful items on a site that touts GREEN GREEN GREEN. There's a lot of hypocrisy anyway, but this is so obvious...the buying of ridiculous items when there are perfectly good, much less expensive, greener alternatives.

Use the old sheets, shirts, rags for the dog's feet. Use shampoo that comes as shampoo, and I don't think it's a great idea to be shampooing in the ocean, no matter what the soap is made of. And what happened to just writing your list on the back of scrap paper, like old envelops and then recycling that envelop when done?

This is the doggie equivalent of baby wipe warmers for infants. You don't need it at all. Not to mention most dogs wouldn't go for it.

My dog would not tolerate this. He doesn't even like me grabbing his paws, let alone shoving it into something..and you can forget about all the other paws, because he would fight me every step of the way.

Setting aside the "would my dog tolerate this" question, and assuming that this product does exactly what it promises, this still doesn't interest me. When my dog finds a puddle, he ends up with muddy paws AND belly (and he's a 80lb lab, well tall enough to stay above the water).

I'll stick with the old towel, thanks.

ChzPlz, my dog also gets muddy belly and chest to go with the paws. She's a dachshund and her legs are only a few inches long.

An old towel by the front door takes care of the problem. If it's really bad I give her a rinse with warm water once we are inside.

I have to use one of my grandma favs..'it is the end of the world'.

Ditto Slim,

I have a doxie too. I just use an old towel.

Julia

Use a rag. Cheaper, washable, and has multiple other uses.

*If* you can get your dog to go for it, you still shouldn't use this, because the looking like a dumbass factor is ridiculously high.

@TrueBlue Obviously you've never blogged for dollars. If you're paid by the post (and I don't know if AT'ers are), you'll post just about anything.

Palmetto, yeah, they are paid by post:

"This is a paid freelance part-time job (2-4 posts required a day). Contributors are paid per post; compensation will be discussed upon consideration."

Source:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/atla-news/at-los-angeles-asia-australia-bloggers-search-054404

That's no excuse though. Click on just the Los Angeles link to see the large numbers of postings that are basically crap. Not all of them. Some are excellent, like these:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/look/look-more-mustard-and-dark-brown-plus-white-054768
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/lighting/do-you-leave-your-porch-light-on-054599
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/la-times-house-garden-roundup/the-timeless-ceramics-of-otto-heinola-times-home-garden-062608-054603
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/architectural/eric-garcettis-green-echo-park-home-054571

Compare and contrast with the other cities. And look for original content. Janel has THE EYE when it comes to combining things, and she puts together some fabulous finds for AT-Chicago. And I like the reviews of local places, like Lotus Bleu that Sally did for AT-SF.

But so much is swiped from other blogs. It's like that phone game, where this place heard it from that place, that got it from another place who first heard it from so and so.

Original content, good. Swiped stuff, not so good. Gimmicks, not good. Think about this Paw Plunger. It has no lid. It's design will not neatly fit into a cup holder. You have to have a water source to put water in it. And then you have to do something with the water when you are done.

It is not going to be effective at removing all the dirt. You will then have a dog with wet paws, that may be slightly less muddy, but no less wet. You will then have to dry the paws. It's a gimmick, a gadget, a totally useless product created to take your dollars and eventually be tossed as garbage because it can't be used for anything else and doesn't work great for what it was intended to be.

Yes, the AT-LA threads will get hits. Because they are posting things intended to ruffle feathers. It pisses people off:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/cleaning/the-mouthwashtoilet-habit-rinse-spit-wash-054677

It's bogus. If the only way to get traffic is to post National Enquirer for design stuff, it's probably being done wrong.

My Jack Russell would bite my hand off if I tried to stick his paw in that. Paw sensitive dogs would hate that thing.

I wouldn't want to accidentally drink out of that, one groggy morning.

My dog lets me wipe his muddy paws with a wet paper towel. The hard part is his legs and belly (or as I like to call it...his "underdog") He'd never go for this contraption.

Umm, hate to be defending something you're all piling up on BUT I have one of these and I LOVE it. It's not for when my dogs get full-body muddy, just when their paws are filthy, like after a walk. No way would a towel do the same job. Also, one of the dogs has a pollen allergy, and this thing has saved us from the pink skin between the toes and constant licking that happens this time of year. The Paw Plunger was a gift, and I thought it was silly. Then I tried it. If I lost it, I'd replace it. It's better than mopping muddy pawprints. One note: My dogs don't have paw issues. They let me hold their feet, clip nails, etc.

"And it seems fairly hypocritical to have wasteful items on a site that touts GREEN GREEN GREEN. "

this is what drives me UP THE WALL about this site. You scream green design and using less and then promote completely unnecessary products and excessive living styles with glee.

Pick one or the other.

We have been using paw plunger for about 1 year.
It is washing the paws in the bottle, so it is better than wiping.
We wipe the paws with dry towels afterward.
The water goes to to patio plants, and the towels are washes every weekend; which mean no wasting.
We walk with our two dogs twice a day. It looks silly and kind big, but we need something to clean their paws. It works for us.

Back when we had a dog, we also lived in a house where the previous owners stockpiled empty coffee ground cans like there was no tomorrow.

During that first winter with our dog and how dirty his paws got from walks (or irritated by ice melt chemicals here in MN), we started rinsing his feet after we got back in the house. We found that swishing his paws vigorously in just enough water to get the entire paw wet got pretty much all the grit out. For extra dirty paws, we'd use fresh water for each paw. Dried it with an old towel we kept around for this kind of purpose.

No extra money spent.