EnvironMental Monday: Claiming a Fur-Free Zone

It's shedding time in my household at the moment. Truth be told, with two long-haired, VERY active dogs, it's pretty much always shedding time. Fur flies behind my doors, gets stuck in nooks and crannies, and I'll inexplicably find a stray Killian hair in my soup every so often. It's not pleasant, but unless I'm willing to vaccuum every day (I'm not), it seems to be an inescapable part of having hounds. I can be a bitter woman with a cleaning fetish, I can get rid of my canine compadres, or I can suck it up and deal.

I've chosen to deal.

HOWEVER, over the past month, I did come to a rather revolutionary (for me) decision: I made my living room sofa a fur-free zone. There are two dogs beds on the floor, but for the past two years, both dogs have become accustomed to reclining on my aged sofa whenever they had the yen. Killian, in particular, loved to stretch waaaay out with his belly in the air, and snooze the day away. The result of that particular habit was that I almost never spent any time in my living room, because the couch was always covered with fur. Which meant that anytime I wanted to hang out and watch a little TV, by the end of the evening I would also be covered with fur. Having guests was always mortifying, as I'd frequently find myself explaining that the sofa wasn't so much my sofa as... well, the dogs' sofa.

So, last month I decided enough was enough. The dogs have the run of the rest of the house, they can sleep on my bed, I spend more on their groceries each month than I do on my own... I should have one place that's just mine, right? Indeed. I washed the couch cover, cleaned the living room from top to bottom, bought myself a handy-dandy little shelf for my TV and DVDs, and now keep a broom stashed lengthwise over the couch whenever I'm not there, to discourage any trespassers. The dogs don't seem inordinately distressed by this arrangement, and neither of them have attempted to get back on the couch since I passed the No Dogs on the Sofa decree. And me? I get to snuggle up and watch TV or read while the dogs are happily snoozing on their beds on the floor.

The Fur-Free Zone has definitely made my world feel much more human-habitable - and, I'm much more likely to take a little time and lounge with the hounds, now that there is a space I feel good about. And that's something everyone in the house can woof about.