I'm gonna wash that dog right outta my car!

So last week I paid the hard earned monies to have a person come and clean my car. Before I had a big ol' dog if someone told me they did this I would have thought this was a colossal waste of money, and also though they were lazy. I mean it's a car, not a palace, how long could it take to pick up a few old french fries from under the seat, wipe out the cup holders and vacuum up some dirt. Big whoop!

Then I got a dog. A fluffy, furry, 70lb ball of shedding and often stinky damp fur.

Do not let the pretty face fool you. Holly here is no pretty little lady. No. She swims in the river, or is content to roll in any puddle that is slightly damp, in other words... mud. When we take her to have her cleaned (or tackle it ourselves) her first instinct is to run directly to the nearest pile of dirt and roll in it. For real. Little boys dream...  that's for sure.

So after one long winter hauling around my girl holly in the back of the SUV that thing was starting to smell like a kennel. A kennel full of damp muddy dogs. So I threw my hands in the air and said "that's it! I'm calling someone! This car is disgusting!" - A few hours later, I got back an SUV with nearly zero dog fur in it.... and it smelled like strawberry Pez... bonus! I am never letting that dog in here again!!

Poor Holly... she would be so sad. So, plan B - get a cargo cover to keep the hair manageable and the stink washable!
But some of these things go for over $50. It's a freaking blanket secured to the car!!

HOLY CRAP. It's a blanket secured to the car!!!

SO I went and got a blanket for $5 that is ugly as ugly can be... because I really wasn't sure it would work... and draped it across the back of the seat and over the flooring of the cargo. Taking note of the spots where I could secure the blanket, and marking it in the spots I planned to add a scrap piece of ribbon.

 

Then I sewed the ribbons scraps on... I mean no one is going to see the underside of this thing... and it's for the dog to rub it's dirty feet on. Let's keep things real here, old shoelaces would be acceptable here.

I also marked on either side of the headrests because I figured I could either attach a long piece of ribbon, or a Velcro loop, or elastic to loop over the top of it and keep the back of the blanket fully covering the upholstery in the back...  Because... miss manners also drools all over the side of the seat. Yuck.

In the end, after about an hour or marking tie placement, running around finding scraps of ribbon, and sewing the ribbon and elastic in place I had this:

Gotta love that vote of confidence right? This is why I do this people... this is why I blog...  you guys might actually care! ha! Stinker...

Anyhow you can see that there are about 6 ties on there, and you can't see- but two elastic loops at the top to hold the blanket up around the headrests. The only thing left to do was tie in the back of the SUV and see what the critics thought.

Seems to do the trick... in fact....

This could keep my back seat cleaner too... heh heh... bugger. Note how UNIMPRESSED the dog is?  When he got in she knew her chances of a car ride were over. Or, she is also wondering what is up with the... cow? camouflage? whatever that is print going on back there. Maybe she felt all ninja... like we can't see her back there now. *snicker*.

But I digress - $5 cargo cover! Yay!