Swiffer Wet Jet - Worth it?

[DisneyDayTripper]

DW and I adopted a dog that is 3 years old and we are trying our best to potty train her, but she is having a VERY hard time with it. We're tired of going through paper towel and toilet paper like crazy so we're looking at getting a Swiffer Wet Jet to clean up her messes whenever she makes them in our kitchen. She always goes into the kitchen to do it and despite us setting up "pee pads" she uses them like 25% of the time.

Has anyone used the swiffer wet jet and do you think it'd be a good invest me for us or is it not worth it?

 

[Tantor]

Yes, worth it for cleaning up dog messes.I love my Swiffer!!!

 

[robinb]

No, I don't think so. By just "cleaning up" you are not getting rid of the underlying urine smell. Your dog can still smell it and she will continue to think of the kitchen as her potty. You need to get an enzyme cleaner like Nature's Miracle.

 

[Lib E]

DW and I adopted a dog that is 3 years old and we are trying our best to potty train her, but she is having a VERY hard time with it. We're tired of going through paper towel and toilet paper like crazy so we're looking at getting a Swiffer Wet Jet to clean up her messes whenever she makes them in our kitchen. She always goes into the kitchen to do it and despite us setting up "pee pads" she uses them like 25% of the time.

Has anyone used the swiffer wet jet and do you think it'd be a good invest me for us or is it not worth it?

You'll have to use a new swiffer pad with each accident though, which will be A LOT more expensive than paper towels.

 

[hoosll]

Is the dog having accidents because he is home alone and needs to go, or because he is not being let out often enough .... first you need to clean the area very well with a urine cleaner which with enzymes which will help remove the odor.

I recommend puppy pads with the plastic backing .... they give the dog a place you can agree that he should go and they are easy to clean up - positive reinforcement that the dog knows where he is allowed to pee. We moved the soiled pad outside to give the dog the idea that outside is good, too.

Keep using pads until the dog is old enough or has learned where to go.

Currently there is a letter flying around the internet about Swiffer wet Jet being very dangerous for dogs as it contains an anti-freeze-like ingredient that can cause kidney damage.

I feel your pain, but our lives have been so much better with pee pads. We can praise the dog when they use it and praise the dogs when they go outside. Positive, positive ....
we wanted to avoid having them crated which I think is cruel for puppies until they have 8 hour bladder control.

 

[mrsv98]

Is the dog having accidents because he is home alone and needs to go, or because he is not being let out often enough .... first you need to clean the area very well with a urine cleaner which with enzymes which will help remove the odor.

I recommend puppy pads with the plastic backing .... they give the dog a place you can agree that he should go and they are easy to clean up - positive reinforcement that the dog knows where he is allowed to pee. We moved the soiled pad outside to give the dog the idea that outside is good, too.

Keep using pads until the dog is old enough or has learned where to go.

Currently there is a letter flying around the internet about Swiffer wet Jet being very dangerous for dogs as it contains an anti-freeze-like ingredient that can cause kidney damage.

I feel your pain, but our lives have been so much better with pee pads. We can praise the dog when they use it and praise the dogs when they go outside. Positive, positive ....
we wanted to avoid having them crated which I think is cruel for puppies until they have 8 hour bladder control.

Urban Myth
http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/swiffer.asp

 

[TheBigBadWolf]

Is your dog a Yorkie (looks like a yorkie in your avatar)? If so, they are notorious for being hard to potty train. I am an excellent dog trainer but it took me several months to totally potty train my yorkie. Most of my other puppies were trained within a week or two. I think it's going to be harder to house break your dog when you use potty pads in the house. I would ditch the pee pads and teach your dog to potty outside. If you don't have a fenced yard, buy an X pen on eBay (cheaper there than pet stores) and use it as a potty pen. Consistency is key. If the dog isn't under complete supervision at all times, put her in a crate. Some people consider crates to be cruel but they are a wonderful training aid, and most dogs learn to love their crate. My yorkie sleeps with us at night, but sometimes he'll go in his crate to sleep during the day, I think because he misses it. Good luck. You can train the dog if you are consistent.

 

[LadyZolt]

The way to housebreak a dog is to never let the dog out of your sight. LOL! But seriously -- if you're not watching her (some people recommend putting the dog on a leash to keep her very close, like an "umbilical cord"), then she should be in a crate (like The Big Bad Wolf posted previously, and surely a Big Bad Wolf knows about dog training. LOL!).

A small dog should be in a small crate, not one that a German Shepherd would fit in. This is because a dog, by nature, will not soil its den unless it absolutely must. So if you have a puppy who is too young to housebreak, putting them in a crate at night means they will soil it because they can't help it, but it's easier to clean and you know where the mess will be. When they are old enough to "hold it" overnight, the crate will no longer be messed in.

If she is an adult dog and she's going in her crate all the time, there is likely an underlying medical problem that her vet should address.

Hope this helps and enjoy the new doggie!

-Dorothy (LadyZolt)

 

[DisneyDayTripper]

We have 2 yorkies....the one in the picture we got from a breeder and the dog is amazing. He'd probably have done better on my ACTs than I did. He learned to potty outside within a month or so and rarely has accidents now. He also does a ton of tricks and it's AMAZINGLY cute to watch him do it. I'll have to post a video.

Our other dog is a totally different story...we adopted her and only know that she had a rough background. She is 3 years old and isn't the most active dog in the world. She sleeps and eats...and then sleeps some more. Whenever we take her outside she will not pee just once, but several times (sometimes 3-4 small ones). Most of the time it is only because we neglected taking her out, but she won't give us any warning that she needs to go...she gets up and goes and gets a drink and then disappears until we see her prancing into the front room.

I guess it's just a lot more work training her than it was our other yorkie...he's gotten so adjusted to going outside that he'll start whining and barking at us until we take him out. The little one....well she's still got a ways to go. DW is so frustrated she's contemplating crating her unless we are giving her our full attention.

 

[heartsy77]

Heads up all animal owners! I was just at a conference on childcare in which they announced that the cleaning solution, in swiffer wets jets, contains antifreeze. Apparently it has lead to the death of several cats! We were advised not to use them around children.

 

[Tantor]

Heads up all animal owners! I was just at a conference on childcare in which they announced that the cleaning solution, in swiffer wets jets, contains antifreeze. Apparently it has lead to the death of several cats! We were advised not to use them around children.

Check out Snopes on that.

 

[LadyZolt]

DW is so frustrated she's contemplating crating her unless we are giving her our full attention.

This is *the* solution. Not contemplating it -- doing it. LOL! Watch the dog when she's not in a crate and she will be trained soon because she will squat to relieve herself and you can see that and pick her up real quick, deposit her outside and praise her.

Could have sworn I posted that already.

Heads up all animal owners! I was just at a conference on childcare in which they announced that the cleaning solution, in swiffer wets jets, contains antifreeze. Apparently it has lead to the death of several cats! We were advised not to use them around children.

This is still an urban myth. Google it and you will see.

-Dorothy (LadyZolt)

 

[Goofyzgurl]

You could always buy some cheap towels and wash it with bleach and reuse it. I just bought the Haan steamer mop and I really like how I just wash the pads instead of buying new ones. I think the swifter mop would be more expensive than the paper towels b/c you would have to replace the pads each time you used it. After I mopped once I forgot to change it and when I went to mop a week later I reused it. Omg....after it dried, the whole floor stank sooo bad b/c the pad had gotten stinky.

 

[Erin1700]

I hate my swiffer wet jet. My kids never had dirty feet from running around the house until I started using that thing! I swear it just wets the dirt and pushes it around so that would be gross if it was pushing around dog pee!

 

[LadyZolt]

I hate my swiffer wet jet. My kids never had dirty feet from running around the house until I started using that thing! I swear it just wets the dirt and pushes it around so that would be gross if it was pushing around dog pee!

Wow, that's really weird! Mine works great! It gets the floor sparkling clean with a nice scent to it. None of us have dirty feet or socks (we often don't wear shoes in the house) after I've used it. I have tile floor (porcelain and ceramic) -- perhaps you have some other type that the Swiffer doesn't work well on? What kind of flooring did you try it on?

The Swiffer works much better than a mop. The floor is dry much faster and in my opinion mops start out cleaning but then as you mop with a bucket, you end up just putting dirty water on the floor and spreading it around, so I always had to mop twice and then rinse in order to feel the floor was clean. (Or, more commonly, I'd get down on my hands and knees and do it with my hands.) I haven't tried a Swiffer on wood floors or Pergo since we don't have any, but was wondering how it worked on those if anyone has tried it. I know, off topic -- sorry!

-Dorothy (LadyZolt)

 

[OctMtnWoods]

Here's what I do to save money and don't want to waste a Swiffer pad for certain quick cleanups. No pet accidents here though.

I've taken old face clothes and cut them in half. They are about the correct size that way. I just wet the faceclothe under the faucet, drop it on the floor, and plop the Swiffer down on it & do a quick mop around to pick up whatever. Toss faceclothe in laundry. No bending over either.

You could certainly add a bit of cleaner if you needed it.