Removing dog odor
April 25, 2022 10:06 AM Subscribe
How do we eliminate dog odors that only seem to show up when it's humid?
We have two greyhounds, and have had them about a year. They have had accidents in the house - frequently when they first arrived, much less frequently now but still on occasion. We have vinyl plank flooring where the male dog has peed, which I have always cleaned up immediately and used nature's miracle and similar stuff to neutralize. The girl dog pees on carpets, and we have just tossed most of them at this point, but, again, have little green machined and nature's miracled and had them professionally cleaned. We vacuum the furniture, and use carpet deodorizer when we vacuum the floors. I wash all the dog beds and blankets every other week.
And that's all well and good, and the smell is mitigated.... until it rains or otherwise gets very humid. Then the I feel like the whole house smells like dog - some combination of dog urine and just.... dog. What is it in? How do I make it stop? Any suggestions welcome!
We have two greyhounds, and have had them about a year. They have had accidents in the house - frequently when they first arrived, much less frequently now but still on occasion. We have vinyl plank flooring where the male dog has peed, which I have always cleaned up immediately and used nature's miracle and similar stuff to neutralize. The girl dog pees on carpets, and we have just tossed most of them at this point, but, again, have little green machined and nature's miracled and had them professionally cleaned. We vacuum the furniture, and use carpet deodorizer when we vacuum the floors. I wash all the dog beds and blankets every other week.
And that's all well and good, and the smell is mitigated.... until it rains or otherwise gets very humid. Then the I feel like the whole house smells like dog - some combination of dog urine and just.... dog. What is it in? How do I make it stop? Any suggestions welcome!
It sounds like you're doing as much as you can to remove the smells themselves, though if it's the dogs themselves who smell in the humidity, you can be more diligent about bathing them I guess? But yeah high humidity is going to bring every last scent molecule out of the literal woodwork. The alternative is to work at keeping the humidity in your house low: run dehumidifiers when it's not hot out and air conditioners when it is, keep the air circulating, open windows, etc.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 10:45 AM on April 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 10:45 AM on April 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
Liquid can leak past the vinyl plank (which is mostly waterproof, but can have installation defects which make it only water-resistant) down to your subfloors, and then humidity brings the moisture to the surface of your subfloor, and you get some odor. I'd recommend fans to circulate air. That should help some.
posted by The_Vegetables at 11:26 AM on April 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by The_Vegetables at 11:26 AM on April 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
Cedar oil is a good, clean masking scent; you can spray it after cleaning. I'm going to test some urine attractant spray on area rugs in the entry area to see if my dog can learn that, if she must, there's a least bad place to pee in the house.
posted by theora55 at 11:46 AM on April 25, 2022
posted by theora55 at 11:46 AM on April 25, 2022
It sounds like the urine may have leaked into your subfloor. I'm sorry to say it but you might need to pull up the vinyl to check, and remediate as needed once you figure out if the subfloor is the source of the odor.
But to test the theory of it being the dogs themselves, I would give them a good bath and see if that make a difference.
I am very averse to dog smell, and washed my (very patient) German Shepherd every other week and anointed him with lavender in between times. I also washed his bedding weekly with vinegar and vacuum steam/shampooed the furniture and rugs every other month. My house did not smell of dog, but I am just that extra and you need not be. But maybe give it a whirl just once before you haul off and rip up the flooring :)
posted by ananci at 7:27 PM on April 25, 2022
But to test the theory of it being the dogs themselves, I would give them a good bath and see if that make a difference.
I am very averse to dog smell, and washed my (very patient) German Shepherd every other week and anointed him with lavender in between times. I also washed his bedding weekly with vinegar and vacuum steam/shampooed the furniture and rugs every other month. My house did not smell of dog, but I am just that extra and you need not be. But maybe give it a whirl just once before you haul off and rip up the flooring :)
posted by ananci at 7:27 PM on April 25, 2022
Oh, geez this question hits hard because we are struggling with the same issue- it's worst in the room without sunlight or windows, and it's been carpet cleaned within an inch of its life which just. Makes. It. Worse. (the area is carpeted, and while it's been cleaned and cleaned and cleaned- no dice. We threw out the area rug, and now block all access to the second level but the stech persists.
We are getting quotes on a new subfloor in the next 6 months, but in the meantime we use baking soda when vacuuming and have put up a dry rid pod or two nearby. It's helped, but ugh, the frustration. I'll. Be watching this one closely.
posted by Torosaurus at 8:17 PM on April 25, 2022
We are getting quotes on a new subfloor in the next 6 months, but in the meantime we use baking soda when vacuuming and have put up a dry rid pod or two nearby. It's helped, but ugh, the frustration. I'll. Be watching this one closely.
posted by Torosaurus at 8:17 PM on April 25, 2022
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I have two small dogs and on humid days they get sweaty just like we do. Add to that the aerosolized pee that gathers around their nethers kind of...reactivates. One of my dogs is fluffy and doesn't get BO too bad, but his hind regions get pee-smelly. The other dog is wiry coated and stinks like a monkey cage when he gets sweaty. Weather cools down and the stink abates with or without a bath.
We went out for a very long walk on Saturday here when we had our first day of very summery weather. They stank all day on Saturday. Then things cooled back down yesterday and they're not nearly as bad.
Your house sounds very clean. So I think it's probably got to be the dogs.
posted by phunniemee at 10:16 AM on April 25, 2022