By Every dog owner deals with accidents from time to time. Whether you’re house-training a new puppy, caring for an elderly dog, or giving a rescue dog a refresher course, learning how to get stubborn dog pee smell out of carpets comes with the territory.
Your dog can’t always help going in an inappropriate place or at an inappropriate time. You’ve gotten used to it and learned not to blame your doggo when it happens. But one thing you’ll never get used to is the smell that lingers on even after you’ve cleaned up the mess; depending on what surface your dog goes on and how long the pee sits before you find it, that stubborn smell can really stick around.
Fortunately for you, we’ve compiled tips and tricks to clean up after your pup and get rid of that lingering pee smell. We’ve also put together a list of recommended products to help you keep your home clean and odor-free.
A Step-by-Step Plan for Dog Pee Accidents
You’ve tried it all before, and maybe you’ve even found a pet urine remover that gets the job done well enough. But there’s always room for improvement. If you’re wondering whether there’s a foolproof plan for how to get dog pee smell out of carpet, there is!
Here is a simple step-by-step plan of attack:
- Clean up all the liquid you can.
- Search and destroy: use a UV light to find any dried urine you may have missed.
- Use the right cleaning products to combat the urine smell.
- Get a deeper clean on fabric stains with a wet vac.
- Repeat as necessary to prevent future stains.
Now, let’s see these steps in action!
Get Rid of the Liquid
To avoid urine odors and stains from affecting your subfloor, time is of the essence! For fresh messes, you’ll first need to work on soaking up as much of the liquid as you can.
Carpet or Upholstery? Soak it up!
Cover the carpeted area with paper towels or other absorbent cloth, and use your hands or feet to gently press down. This will help draw out and soak up as much liquid as possible. You may need to use several paper towels, so you don’t get pee on yourself.
Repeat the process until the area is almost completely dry
Shine a Light on Stains to Find the Dog Pee Smell Source
You can’t get a smell out of the house if you don’t know where it’s coming from. An old pee stain may be obvious to your dog’s nose, but not to your eyes, and many dogs can’t pass up the opportunity to re-mark a spot once it has the scent of urine.
But how do you find these secret spots? If you can smell dog pee but can’t find the source, try a UV flashlight, which illuminates set-in dog pee stains for easy cleaning.
Using a UV light to seek out your dog’s secret spots is easy:
- First, vacuum up all that you can from the area you’ll be sleuthing. The UV will also highlight particles such as lint and fur.
- Turn off the overhead lights and darken the room as much as possible.
- Turn on your UV flashlight, and get searching.
- Urine stains will be dull, yellowish or greenish, in color. Mark the spot(s) in some way so you can find them when the lights are back on.
- If you’re unsure whether the stain is urine, use the tried and true smell test.
Make Your Own Cleaner to Remove Dog Pee Smell
Pet owners with a bit of know-how can make a cleaning solution tailored to their home. First, combine one cup of white vinegar with two cups of hot water in a spray bottle. To improve the vinegar solution’s pet odor-fighting capabilities, add 10 drops of your preferred essential oil, such as tea tree, lavender, lemongrass, or rosemary. Then, follow these steps.
- Generously sprinkle baking soda over the urine spot, allowing the baking soda about five minutes to neutralize the dog pee smell.
- Vacuum up the baking soda.
- Then, liberally spray the spot with your vinegar solution (always test the fabric or carpet in a hidden spot for color retention). As a bonus, the essential oil will also serve as an air freshener.
If you’re concerned about stains on the fabric or carpet, you can follow this cleaning regimen up by scrubbing the spot with warm water and dish soap, but only after you’ve neutralized the dog pee smell using the baking soda and vinegar steps above first.
Finish with a Carpet Cleaner (NOT a Steam Cleaner)
For set-in pet stains on carpeting or rugs, simple spray cleaners may not suffice. You can rent a carpet cleaner from your local grocery or hardware store, or hire professional carpet cleaners to attack the stains for you.
If pet accidents are a regular part of your life, consider investing in an at-home carpet cleaning machine. The sooner you clean up the urine, the easier it will be to avoid that stubborn dog pee smell.
