sick of mud

I am going to pull my hair out over the amount of mud that scout (our 5 month old dog) is bringing into the house!! Because of the wonderful weather everyone is enjoying this winter..warm 50 degrees alternating with cold, rain and snow the garden area in the back yard is extra mushy! The dog being the social thing that she is wants to go outside and visit with the neighbors dogs, and me not knowing if she has to go out and do her business or just wants to visit, lets her out.....only to find out 99 percent of the time she just wants to run through the mushy garden mud to try and get a whiff of the other dogs. But as I look out the window I seem to catch a glimps of scout looking up at me and stomping her huge paws into the mud with a slight smile on her face, enjoying grinding her paws in the mud just as much as sniffing the other dogs. She seems to be thinking of the excitment she will experience when she will trick me and stand by the back door whimpering and shivering like she is freezing I will open the door and she will run past me into the house as fast as she can barking wildly and tracking mud all over the house while I am screaming stop scout come here. But not today I won the battle of the muddy floor! Today I say to her as she wimpers by the back door.... " Oh poor puppy " with a slight smile on my face, catching her quickly (breaking a nail as I did it) and shoving her gianourmous paws into a bucket of water scrubbing all the mud out from inbetween her dog toes.