How to Clean Dog Urine

Dogs have accidents, it’s a fact of life. They sell special dog urine removal solutions at the pet store, or even in the grocery story pet food department. The solutions work like any other carpet spot cleaner, but they’re specially formulated to kill the urine smell so the dog won’t come back to that spot.

Soak up as much of the urine as you can, then pour table salt all over the wet spot, lay down a good thick layer of it. The salt will soak up the rest of the urine, then you can pick up the crusted salt - use gloves - and vacuum up the rest.

We found out the hard way that using an ammonia-based cleaner is an open invitation to our dogs to return to the scene of the crime. Make sure that anything you use to clean up dog urine doesn’t also smell like dog urine.

You can teach a small dog, like a chihuahua, to use a litter box just like a cat. It takes a little more work, but since dogs like to go in a place they’ve gone before they catch on pretty quickly. And once the dog is used to the box, you won’t have to run for the door first thing in the morning to head off a wet spot on the rug.

Get the kind that foams and has a carpet brush attached to the can. Blot up the urine, spray on the foam and wait however long it says to wait on the can before vacuuming up the dried foam. Repeat if the spot still smells.

Be sure to check the baseboard next to an accident site, and clean down between the carpet and the wall as much as you can. Leftover urine isn’t just nasty, it will draw your dog back to that place to do the deed again.

Mop up the urine until the area is as near to dry as possible. Spray white vinegar all over the area and allow to dry. The vinegar breaks down the crystals that form. If the accident spot is on carpet, then after the vinegar has dried (once dried you cannot smell the urine or the vinegar) sprinkle Bicarbonate of Soda over the area, brush it into the carpet, leave it for a few hours then vacuum up.

A professional carpet cleaner told me to use vinegar for the 3 “p’s” pee, poop and puke. After picking up or blotting up as much of the offending material as possible, saturate the area with white vinegar, blot and then rub north and south and east and west to make sure that you are getting all sides of the fibers. Vinegar does not leave a residue like some cleaning products do, and it eliminates the odors too.

I read on one site that Listerine works well to clean up after dog (and cat) urine. Our Lab/Chow used to be an outside dog and had trouble making the transition to living inside; consequently, we had lakes, not puddles to clean up. We also had to deal with the long-lasting smell. After mopping the floor, I poured Listerine over the scene of the crime, let it soak in a bit, and then dried the area. The anti-bacterial forces in the mouthwash killed the smell. I’m cheap, so I bought the store-brand or generic versions of Listerine, and they worked the same.
For really bad messes, I recommend a steam mop. I bought a Shark steam mop and have noticed that the areas where she left her mark smell better and she is less likely to return to the scene of the crime.