well, I'm single and live alone so first of all my pets are my family and I am the only one who has to live with the mess BUT
I have yorkies (2) and that is the only kind of dogs I've ever had for 20 years now.
Yorkies and poodles are the only dogs that don't shed. By don't shed I mean their hair is like humans, some does die and fall out but it's not like other dogs that may only grow an inch or so, die, and fall out. My girl yorkie I never find hairs of her around (she gets brushed everyday so it all comes out in the brush). My little boy yorkie doesn't have the right kind of hair though, he is a throw back (according to the breeder) to the original dogs they used to produce the yorkie. His hair only grows to about 4 inches and then breaks off because it is so fragile so I do have dog hair around like I have never had before.
So, with yorkies I don't have to worry about the huge shedding problem. I did go out and buy two steam cleaners, one that is upright and the other is the little green machine from bissel. It has a handheld wand and I use that to scrub spots with. I have white carpet throughout my house, all of it is about 3 years old and you'd never know it. I did get lowpile berber though and I think that really helps.
I use oxyclean in the steam cleaner when necessary (spring and fall are really bad times because of mud) and back when they were not housetrained yet I would put vinegar in to help with the smell but oxyclean is a godsend.
I have white slipcovers on my furniture. The slipcovers get thrown in the wash and bleached to death (if necessary). I wash them at least once a month and usually more like every two weeks but it's simple to wash them as often as I need. If I didn't have slipcovers, I'd get vinyl or leather couches because of my dogs, easy to keep clean.
I sometimes vaccum everyday but I have a small house and with only me to clean up after it frankly stays neat as a pin (and I'm not a neat freak either). During the fall when the leaves fall or now when the mulberry is flowering they track the flowers in all the time but it doesn't take but a few minutes a day to vacuum. I use the hand attachment to vacuum the furniture for my little boy dogs hair.
I don't let my guys free roam though, they'd be dead in a minute since they are tiny (one is 6 lbs and the other 8 lbs) and they have no clue what cars or other dangers are. Plus my house sits very close to the road (only about 30 ft or so, it was built 150 years ago back when there probably wasn't one horse that went by a day). I have a fenced in backyard for them.
One of the things on my shopping list now that spring is here is galoshes. I bring in more dirt and trash than my dogs from mowing or gardening.
My biggest problem is my little boy. He is house trained to pee pads but he just doesn't get it that marking his territory is a no no also and I haven't figured out a way to break him of it since I rarely catch him at it ! I've found though that as long as I don't move the furniture around or set something new on the floor, once he marks something he rarely will mark it again. This little guy is the most wonderful dog (honestly) that I've ever been around and I wouldn't give him up for the world so have just decided to live with that. boys will be boys.
However, I kept my brothers 100+ pound german shepherd while they went to florida and wow, having a big dog that sheds is a much bigger problem than my guys. She stank (yorkies don't have a dog smell again because they have hair that is almost human like) and when her paws got muddy the floor got dirty QUICK because they were so huge! Plus when mine were in the puppy stage, well just how much damage can a 5 pounder do? whereas when this german shepherd was a puppy she chewed up alot of their baseboard trim!
but, just look at these faces, I'd throw every piece of furniture I had out for them if I had to
Mel-