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Getting Rid of that Dog Smell in your House and Car

December 1st, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed

Here’s an interesting thread I pulled from our discussions, a few days ago:

SonjaHelga asks: Does anyone have a good odor control for the house and car?

I have a small house, and 3 dogs. And Christmas around the corner:)

I did find one article about the car, but it talks about “cleaning” center that it won’t mention, and a product to search for that isn’t sold in retail stores. So, that doesn’t help me much.

Any and all help will be deeply appreciated

AIKI replies: Not to sound offensive, but the key to odor control with any number of pets (provided they are all housebroken or litterbox trained) is just to keep the areas clean, which may mean daily things: sweeping all floors, wiping down counters and display
surfaces, keeping all dogs brushed and bathed on a regular basis to control excess fur and dander, to name a few of the obvious things. And again I’m going to sound really mean, but those shouldn’t be too hard with a small house…we have friends with 2 dogs (used to have 3, went down to 1 and are now at 2) and if it weren’t for the dog toys and beds on the floor as well as the barking, you’d never know they had dogs. It’s not about just masking the smell, it’s eliminating and preventing it entirely.

If you can get your hands on a powdered carpet deodorizer, start with that unless you can get a professional carpet cleaner scheduled in time for Christmas. Launder any pet beds/blankets and any furniture covers on which they’ve been with plenty of ammonia (it works the best, I’ve found, to remove really hideous odors)…Oxy-Clean also works well, despite the annoying LOOK AT THIS! commercials. Mop hardwood surfaces with a cleaner like Lysol (beware, Pine-Sol can make a floor a bit sticky). Dust (either wet or dry, I use both) to get all the shite off there. And make sure the dogs all get brushed and bathed as well.

Just a few ideas to get you started.

SonjaHelga responds: Thanks, No offense taken. But, at the end of the day, doing all the above mentioned, there is still a lingering doggy odor.

It is not a dirty doggy odor. Just doggy odor. None of my dogs ever make accidents in the house. And they are groomed regularly. And, I do vacuum every single day.

I read on the net that if you place a small container of PLAIN WHITE VINEGAR in a few rooms in the house that this will absorb the excess oder.

I am giving that a shot. I hate the “fake” smells of some of the products available.

Thanks for your tips, though.

lnorwood replies: Hi SonjaHelga: I have a Yellow Lab and A cockapoo. They both live in the house play outside and ride in my car. I use a product called quick bath. it is a soft towelet that you wipe your dogs down with and it smells good. Also you can find deoderants for them that actually makes your house and car smell good when they run around. So I beleive with so many products for pet hygene you should be able to find something that you like to combat the oder problem.

cherie adds: Baking soda also works quite well especially if you buy the ones that are made to go in the fridge. They have some kind of paper or film over the baking soda so that they don’t spill.

We used baking soda at a hotel I managed and it was very effective at eliminating odors including pet and smoking odors. hexen adds: In between baths you can also dust your pooch down with Baking soda then brush it in real well to help rid doggy body oder.

Baking soda can also help if your pet gets oil or some other yucky substance on its coat. Dust the baking soda over the spot let it sit for an hour or so then brush out the yucky spot.

Here is a product we found at Hershey PA. Groom Expo last September. We were given an 8 oz bottle sample to try as we have ferrets. Wow I love it! They sell many other smell removers also. This product we sampled can be used on both animals and their living quarters.

www.thornell.com/AllProducts.aspx

AIKI replies: You can also try an ionizer in the car, it’s really small and plugs into the cigarette lighter. I don’t know exactly what it does, but our Suburban has a smell about it that just about nauseates me and whenever we plug it in there, I actually do feel better.

Another thing, do you use an artificial or a real Christmas tree? We’ve used real ones for as long as I can remember and the natural pine scent from them can really fill the room and make it seem that much more “Christmas-y.” Even though we place the tree in a dog-free room, we can still smell it out in the entrance hallway. I like the suggestions here…we use Air-Wick/Wallflower plugins here at school but we don’t have any pets to worry about, and when I get my own place, I’ll not be using those. They’re strong enough as it is (especially the Wallflowers) and I think it’d insult the noses of pets.

Thanks, by the way, for not taking offense at my comments…I guess you’re just as much as a clean freak as I am!

Agkatz adds: A lot also depends on what type of coat your dog has, what type of carpet and fabric furniture you own, and also your independent dog’s “smell.”

I find that a lot of English Bulldog breeds smell. When I had Gizmo (a bulldog-mix) … that dog had a vinegar-like odor about him, and it didn’t matter what food or shampoo we used. The dog just smelled!

Having owned a lot of rental properties in the past, sometimes the hair will get mashed into the weave of the carpet, and no amount of vacuuming or carpet shampoo will help. You need to pull the carpet and the pad up and put something else done.

If I’m living in a house that I own, I try to (over time) dog-smell-proof the house. This usually starts with replacing carpet with either tile or laminate flooring. (Light colored laminate is better than dark colored laminate… which tends to show foot prints and hair more easily).

Upolstered furniture is always sprayed with Scotch-Gard. But leather or material that doesn’t attract hair is always preferred. We also try to put heavy rubber mats outside the back door, so when the dogs come in, they have to walk over something that pulls the dirt off their feet before tracking it into the house. It’s an imperfect solution, but it helps.
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