How to get old dog urine out of carpet

It’s all fun and games until the dog pees in on your carpet. And then probably keeps peeing on your carpet time after time, because that’s what dogs do.

It seems redundant to us, but doggos sure love to mark their territory. And once they’ve got that designated pee spot, they love to keep peeing on it over and over. Creatures of habit. And acute smell. Anyway, they’re lucky they’re cute.

So if you’re having a dog pee-mergency, follow our guidelines below to clean your carpet and neutralize that stinky dog urine.

For a fresh dog urine stain:

Act quickly to help prevent dog urine from smelling up your carpet.

• Find the pee! First, track down the source of the smell. And do it quickly. Carpets absorb quickly! The longer the dog pee sits there, the worse it’s going to smell.
• Soak up the urine. Once you’ve located the dog pee spot, you’ll want to use paper towels or wet rags to soak up the urine, absorbing as much as possible. If you’ve got an extracting wet vac on hand, feel free to use that.

• Neutralize the smell Then you’re going to want to douse the spot with an enzymatic cleaner or simply make your own cleaning solution by combining (white or apple cider) vinegar and water in a 1:1 ratio. Because the vinegar is acidic, it will neutralize the bacteria in the dog pee, offsetting its odor. Vinegar is pet safe, effective, cheap, and eco friendly. Let the vinegar solution sit for 3-5 minutes or carefully follow the instructions on the cleaning product’s label.
• Try some DIY baking soda cleaning! Sprinkle baking soda over the vinegar mixture. This is the exciting part because the baking soda will react with the vinegar, creating a sort of foam. This will further aid in neutralizing the dog pee smell. Cover the baking soda vinegar spot with a damp towel for 24 hours, then rinse with clean water and vacuum if necessary.

For an old dog urine stain:

We all know that familiar stale dog urine smell coming from the carpet.

• You may need to get on all fours yourself to locate the dog urine smell in your carpet. Your sniffer will know when you’ve found it. Now, assess the stain.
• For a more mild urine stain: Add a pinch of mild dish soap with warm water until sudsy and pour onto the urine stain, then blot the carpet with a rag or paper towel until the stain is gone.
• For a more resilient urine stain:
  1. Step 1 - Soak a rag in a mixture of vinegar and water (1:1 ratio) and blot the stain on your carpet.
  2. Step 2 - If the stain persists, pour a bit of the vinegar and water solution directly on the stain, scrub with a scrub brush and blot dry. Sprinkle a bit of extra baking soda onto the pee stain to neutralize both the pee smell and the vinegar smell.
  3. Step 3 - Mix a pinch of dish soap with ½ cup of hydrogen peroxide, pour onto the carpet stain and continue to scrub with a scrub brush.
  4. Step 4 - Then pat the stained area dry.

Hopefully, this does the trick of getting that dog pee smell out of your carpet, while neutralizing the scents enough that your pup doesn’t want to pee in this spot again. You can also purchase pet odor neutralizers to apply once the stain has dried.

If you can smell dog urine but can’t seem to find it:

If your sniffer’s not working, you’re in luck – try a blacklight to identify where that smelly dog urine in your carpet is coming from.

• Use a blacklight to track down the dog pee spots on your carpet. Turn off all other lights and hold the blacklight a couple of feet from the floor. Dog pee stains will show up under the blacklight as dull green or yellow. To confirm the stain is indeed dog pee, sorry, but you’ll have to use the smell test. Mark stains with tape and follow dog pee stain removal tips above.

If this all sounds like way too much work that’s above your paygrade, hire a carpet cleaning service and take yourself and your pup out for a nice long walk while they’re at your house. It’s a two-fer: You and your doggo get out of the house while the professionals get the dog pee smell out of your carpet.

To remove old dog urine stains, first, mix ½ teaspoon of dish soap with 1 cup of warm water and stir it until the mixture becomes sudsy. Once it’s mixed, pour the liquid directly onto the stain, making sure the area is totally covered. Then, blot the stained area dry with a paper towel until you’ve removed as much of the liquid as possible. Keep repeating the soaking and blotting process until the stain is gone. If you’d rather use vinegar to remove the stain, mix together 1 part white vinegar with 1 part water. Then, dip a rag into the vinegar solution and blot the stain until it’s fully soaked. Just don’t rub the stain, which can work the stain deeper into the upholstery. Finish by using paper towels to soak up as much of the liquid as you can. To learn how to rent a carpet-cleaner to remove dog urine stains, read on!

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