Puppy Paw Cleaning Rag

Something I have learned from having a dog that comes in and out of the house is that dogs often track dirt and mud into the house. Recently I have been trying to find an easy way to clean off the puppy's paws before she runs around the carpets.

From a wash cloth and some old scraps I was able to create a great puppy paw cleaner that will be within reach whenever we come back from a particularly dirty outdoor adventure.

Here is what is needed to make a puppy paw cleaner

An old wash cloth (or an old dish towel depending on the size or your dogs paws)

A scrap of fabric - I used something about 2" wide and 12" long

Thread and Sewing machine - The easy stitching could easily be done by hand, but having a sewing machine makes things go so much quicker

Start with the scrap of fabric. This will create the hook that will go over the knob of the door so your puppy paw cleaner will be close at hand when you get back from a walk.

I started by folding my scrap in half lengthwise and stitching the long ends together. This creates a great hook but also hides any raw ends to keep the fabric from fraying.

After I completed sewing I turned the fabric so it was right side out creating a nice fabric door hook.

After the door hook is complete its time to sew the wash cloth.

The goal of sewing the washcloth is to create a pocket for the puppy's paw while still giving some flexibility to both rub off the top and bottom of the paw.

I started by sewing the door hook onto the washcloth. I started by folding the door hook and placed it in the front corner of the wash cloth. To sew the fabric hook on, the fabric has to be on the inside of the fold, that way when it is flipped right side out the hook will be on the outside. This may seem unintuitive, but works.

After sewing the hook, I sewed the bottom of the cloth together. This created a pocked with both a side opening and a top opening so both my hand and the puppy's paw can be on the inside of the pocket at the same time, giving flexibility.

Finally after the sewing was done I flipped the pocket right side out.

Once all the sewing is done, I hung the puppy paw cleaner on the door so it would be ready for use. It has come in handy a couple times in the past days since its been particularly muddy. Puppy had no idea what to think of it at first (notice the confused look). It makes cleaning her paws so much faster.

Enjoy!