Carpet spray to prevent peeing
Can’t get the dog pee smell out of the carpet? If it’s not too late, or if you want to prevent future messes, you can avoid the situation altogether by spraying something on your flooring that will stop your dog from peeing on it. Laying down a thin layer of commercial enzymatic spray is a good, proactive solution to a dog who urinates in the house and can be found in most pet stores.
If you’re worried about having to spray your entire living room carpet with spray every day to keep the pee away, don’t stress that point too much — many dogs tend to pee on or around the same areas, so you should be able to spray just one localized spot that your dog prefers.
If you’d rather go the natural, do-it-yourself route, you can look to the same solution used to remove skunk smell from dog fur to keep your dog from peeing on your carpet — vinegar. Why does vinegar work to stop dogs from urinating on things? The acetic acid in it has a smell dogs don’t like, which can work as a deterrent. Carpet Gurus suggests mixing equal parts white vinegar and water in a spray bottle, giving the solution a good shake and then spraying it onto the area of carpeting where your dog tends to pee.
Natural dog deterrents
The acetic acid that gives vinegar its ability to prevent and remove urine stains on carpeting certainly works, but it also comes with its own odor that not many people prefer their flooring to smell like all the time. In this case, you can add essential oils that not only smell great, but further act to repel dogs from lingering around a certain area.
Garden and Happy suggests adding a few drops of any citrus-scented essential oil, like citronella, orange, eucalyptus, or lime to your vinegar and water spray solution. When using essential oils on any surface that a dog can possibly lick, however, it’s recommended that you take care to use very small amounts and dilute it well — some essential oils can be toxic to dogs when ingested.
How to clean old messes
If you didn’t hit that spot of carpet in time and you have a mess to clean, or you have an old mess that still needs tending to, it’s best to tackle the problem right away as lingering urine odors can draw a dog back when he needs to pee again. To combat the ammonia in urine that gives it that off-putting odor, spraying a liquid solution of equal parts isopropyl alcohol and water onto the affected area once a week will not only eliminate the smell but also will keep your dog from returning to the area. To get rid of stains that smell and are discolored, a paste made from odor-fighting baking soda and water can lift the stain after it’s been rubbed into the carpet with a small brush. If that doesn’t work you can always hire a professional carpet cleaner.
