I Love my dog, but I do not want my house to smell of you know …”dog”

Becoming a expert in getting rid of that embarrassing dog smell in my house – time I won the battle one cleaning product at a time.

1. OK, I am trying to get my 2 babies – Dinky and Grace, to toilet in the garden and on walks – Grace loves to go for walks and hold it in so she can wee and poo in the lounge for me – I’m sure she prides herself on it, sees it as an accomplishment. Alright, maybe a bit paranoid on my part, but come on…its not that hard to wee on the grass outside. Anyway, I have gone off track – as an owner of a dog who is finding it hard to grasp the concept I have tried and tested everything to get rid of the wee and more importantly the smell. For any puppy owners or ‘leaky dog’ owners I have been doing my own research on the web – this is what I have discovered, hope you find it useful too
   

   Grace the puppy who is finding it hard to grasp weeing outside x

   1. Before we get going here are a few don’ts…

When cleaning urine up in your home I would strongly suggest that you do not use Bleach, reading around, some people use it diluted 1:10 parts water, but they do this after they have cleaned the urine up. The reason Bleach is a no is that the urine contains ammonia that reacts with the bleach to form a toxic gas; it does NOT get rid of the urine smell. On the no, nos’ you don’t want to use anything with ammonia, as urine contains ammonia, it you will end up making the smell worse.

You might be surprised how many cleaning products have ammonia in, always check on the list of ingredients – included are  Multipurpose Cleaners, some wax, glass cleaner, toilet cleaners to name a few

 

 The site Popsugar explains it well

 

“…you should never clean up your dog’s pee with ammonia-based products. Similarly to how dogs love to mark and revisit old spots, the scent of ammonia can trick him into thinking it’s an OK, previously peed-upon place when potty time comes again. It’s probably best to not use ammonia in a pet-filled home anyway as to not confuse a dog into using the freshly mopped kitchen floor as a prime bathroom break destination.”

To read the rest of this very useful article visit :

Click to visit article on Popsugar.com

2. So now we have covered the don’ts let’s look at the different types of products
you could try …

 My first advice is to clear it up fast; I always have a big roll of kitchen roll handy
to soak up as much of the urine as possible before it has time to soak into anything, blot it, use a bit of washing up liquid and stamp on the paper until no more urine is soaking into the paper. This saves you so much time when you move onto the next steps. 

3.  THE POWER OF STEAM

Many dog owners have steam mops, they are safe and powerful
there are so many out on the market and they do not have to cost loads
get one that has a least 2 pads so that 1 can go in the washing machine whilst you have the other pad to hand.

4. Making your own – The Green Option

The author Annie B. Bond, green living expert suggests that you sprinkle Baking soda on the urine patch and leave overnight, once it has dried spray it with distilled white vinegar and watch it work its magic.

If you would like to find out more about cleaning the Green way try the  following book

Click to take a look at Green Cleaning Book

4. A great product I always go back to is Zoflora

“Zoflora is an easy to use concentrated disinfectant that needs diluting in water. Add the disinfectant to water in a trigger spray or bucket. It can also be used neat for effective odour elimination and bug busting down drains, plug holes and toilet bowls.”

It is also great for using on Dog urine, even on carpets and rugs, try the grapefruit or linen fresh – the website has some great advice on how to use in their pet hub

Click to visit Zoflora pet hub page

5. If you are using a classic mop and bucket, my advice is to have 2 mop heads and soak one overnight in bleach and then bio-washing powder.

6. Fake Grass

There is the option to have a fake grass pad indoors– There are pros and cons in purchasing one for your dog – I love the arguments that are made on that mutt.com

Click to visit that mutt.com

Read both the reasons not to buy and reasons to buy so you can make up your mind if it is something you really want to purchase.

My Conclusion

After my research the most important thing I need to do is make sure that I train my bulldog to wee outside, I will take her for more walks and praise when she does go…I know we may have accidents but training is the key here. I will keep you posted

If you have any tips on cleaning up dog urine or training methods please feel free to leave a comment.

I am not endorsing any of the above products and all the views are my own or referenced and linked to the relevant site – always read the packaging advice on any cleaning product you are going to use.