Wipe Your Feet

by Bob Livingston | Jun 7, 2024 | Cool Gadgets, RVEXPERT

a woman holds a leash fastened to a full size blonde standard poodle as they both go up the entry steps of an RV parked on grass

Photos by author

Wet weather makes it easy to track water and dirt from paws and people into the RV. Microfiber towels are great for drying your dog and even work as a temporary inside door mat.

Traveling with dogs in wet weather — especially where the RV park ground can be dirty and maybe even muddy if the site is on dirt or lacking enough gravel — can be challenging. Throw in areas where the dew point makes the grass wet in the mornings and you’ll be fighting wet paws, not to mention soaked people shoes. It’s a constant battle to wipe feet at the door to keep your RV clean.

That’s where microfiber towels will come to the rescue.

Make no mistake: We always have a soft inside doormat in place. But while it does clean paws and feet, it takes a long time to dry. As a temporary fix, we spread out an old bath towel at the door, but it, too, collects water and seems to take forever to dry — especially in humid weather. Other possible solutions we looked at included absorbent interior door mats (and there are dozens on the market), but most are big and bulky, requiring more storage space. When you live fulltime in a fifth wheel, storage space is at a premium.

a red damp looking bath towel laid out like a mat on the floor in front of an RV entryway

Keeping the inside clean after walking your dog in the rain or on wet grass and/or dirt can be frustrating. You know the scenario: The dog only shakes the water off when inside and muddy paws create an unsightly mess. Although an interior door mat is always in place, it gets soaked when drying off our dog or from our own shoes. Throwing down an old bath towel helps, but it seemingly took forever to dry.

close view of a hand holding a rolled 21inch by 41 inc Top Paw Microfiber Towel still in its packaging

We decided to try microfiber towels to dry the dog and place at the doorway. These Top Paw towels, which are available at pet stores like PetSmart, are 21 x 41 inches in size and absorb lots of water. As you can see, they fold down into a tiny package.

A solution is to use microfiber drying towels designed specifically for dogs. Not sure what that means, but the size and texture seem to be just right for drying dogs and are the towels of choice among dog groomers. We found Top Paw Microfiber Towels at PetSmart for $11.99 each, which are 21 x 41 inches in size. They are very absorbent, something microfiber material is known for, and even though they can load up with lots of water, they dry quickly — something cotton towels can’t do. And, according to the product pitch, microfiber towels are naturally anti-bacterial. Our dog loves being coddled with these towels and her hair dries quickly after the wipe-down. Better yet, the mud from her feet that collects on the towels can be cleaned by machine washing.

As drying towels, they work great, but what about the floor? We constantly battled a wet door mat and floor, not to mention the dirt. So, we placed one of these Top Paw towels on the floor immediately next to the door threshold, which did the job, but could have been a little bigger. There are larger microfiber towels all over the Internet and Chewy, a major online pet store, sells a three pack of Top Performance Microfiber Pet Towels that are a little larger (28 x 48 inches) for $22.99 — cheaper than the Top Paw brand we purchased in the brick-and-mortar store (but it was convenient).

Admittedly, I’m infatuated with doggy piddle pads (training pads) and use them for all kinds of dirty jobs, so placing one under the microfiber towel seemed like a natural addition. Since these pads, which are available online and at just about any pet store, can hold up to a gallon of water, they make a great liner to capture excess moisture that makes its way through the microfiber towel.

downward view at the microfiber towel, placed on the floor over the existing mat next to the door threshold

downward view at the microfiber towel and a doggy piddle pad beneath it, placed on the floor over the existing mat next to the door threshold

The microfiber towel was placed on the floor over the existing mat next to the door threshold. While it did the job, we decided later that a larger towel would work better. Placing a doggy piddle pad (aka: training pad) under the microfiber towel collected all the water that seeped through the towel. These pads are capable of holding as much as a gallon of water without leaking. Yes, it does increase the expense on an ongoing basis, but it doesn’t rain all the time.

zoomed in view of the microfiber towel's material

Microfiber material is soft, absorbent, fast drying and naturally anti-bacterial. Maybe it’s the texture, but these drying towels seem to work better at extracting dirt and moisture than those smaller, yellow versions used for cleaning purposes (my totally unscientific observation).

downward view of a blonde standard poodle with a microfiber towel on its head looking up at the camera with big brown eyes

Our Standard Poodle (Reba) thrives on attention, even it means having to stand still for drying. Hey, if she likes it, maybe we need to try microfiber bath towels.

My little experiment worked well and keeps dirt and moisture outdoors, where they belong. We’ll likely buy larger towels in the near future, and since they work so well, maybe we need to buy microfiber towels for us humans — without the piddle pads, of course.

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