Dogs can be wonderful, their stains, less so. This guide helps you through the difficulty of cleaning up after your four legged companion. Picture: Travel and Roll (flickr)
Being a dog owner can be one of the best experiences of your life, however, in the world of carpet cleaning, they can also be a bit of a problem. Man’s best friend will be your loyal companion through life and will be there for you no matter what your day has been like, unfortunately, if they aren’t house trained, a urine stain may also be waiting for you as well. If this is the case, don’t worry! There are a host of dog owners who have had to go and get their carpet cleaning equipment to sort out the mess that dog urine has left on their carpet who would feel sympathy for you, PLUS we have a how-to guide that will help you clean your carpet in no time!
1. Paper towels to the rescue again!
There are many times in this blog that we have used paper towels to help us sort out a stain and this time is no exception! By damping them slightly and laying them over a stain, they can quickly absorb quite a bit of a new stain without much messy business. To help speed up carpet cleaning process, place something heavy and flat on top of them to make sure they are evenly spread out over the stain so they can absorb as much of it as possible. As a tip, if you value this heavy object and don’t want it to smell, it’s always worth putting a sheet of plastic between it and the paper towels.
If the stain has been there longer than ten minutes, place the paper towels in a wider area, use more water and heavier weights. This will be needed because the urine has probably soaked into the carpet by then.
2. Water your stain
After removing (and disposing of!) the paper towels, pour cool water over the offending area. You will need to start from the outside of the stain and work inwards so as to not spread the urine any further into the carpet. Leave the stain for about a minute to let it soak.
3. Spray and Pray
After letting the water soak for a minute, spray enzyme cleaner over the stain. This should help to brake down the stain into it’s basic elements which will break the compounds that are creating the the stain and smell. On top of the carpet cleaning elements that this brings, removing the stain and smell will mean that your pet will be less likely to urinate on that spot again.
Because some enzyme cleaners are different from others, it’s always good to check the instructions before using.
4. Eat, sleep, carpet cleaning, repeat.
When the enzyme cleaner has been left to work for the time recommended in the instructions that come with it. Follow the steps that we took on step 1. This will help to soak up the enzyme cleaner and should leave your carpet looking reasonably back to normal. This time leave the towel overnight and remove in the morning. During this time, your pet might feel the need to add to the problem, so it’s important to keep them away during this time.
5. The backup plan
As with everything in life, it’s always good to have a backup plan. If this method hasn’t quite met your carpet cleaning expectations, it may be worth applying something a little more industrial to the problem. Consider buying or renting out a steam cleaner or getting in professional help to remove the stain. This may be a better option if the stain is considerably large and/or on expensive carpet!