How to Get Rid of Dog Smells in Your House

Dog Smells in the House

We've all visited a house and known that the owners have dogs the moment we step over the threshold. Not because a dog greets us but because their smell assaults us. If you are a dog owner yourself, you may not even be aware that your dog is making your house smell; you just get used to it.

Don't let yourself be embarrassed by your dog's odour. Often our friends are too polite to mention the problem; they either stay away or accept that dog smells are an inevitable part of dog ownership. They aren't!

A few simple steps will have your house smelling fresh. You may even find you end up with a few more visitors!

Eliminating Dog Smells: Clean House and Clean Dog

Getting rid of dog smells is a bit like getting rid of fleas; you need to treat your dog and your house. Treating just one isn't going to work. You can have the sweetest-smelling dog in the world, but if you don't wash his bed or tackle old stains, your house will still smell. Likewise, if you scrub the floors and shampoo the carpet, the effect will be short-lived if your dog is wandering around the house with a smelly coat.

Get Rid of Dog Urine Smells

Rule number one: never use bleach! The ammonia in it smells like urine to a dog, and he will simply use the spot again.

• On a rug or bedding, try using cider apple vinegar in the wash (about a quarter cup).
• On a carpet, soak up as much urine as you can with paper towels or newspaper, sprinkle the area with baking soda, leave for at least 30 minutes, then hoover or brush up. Repeat.
• On hard floors, try mopping with a 3:1 solution of warm water and white vinegar.

Top Tips to Keep Your House Free of Dog Smells

Ideally, you will have hard floors and mop them every day. If you can keep carpets for upstairs or areas where your dog doesn't go, you will save a lot of time fighting dog smells. Likewise, keeping your dog off the furniture will cut down on work.

Realistically though, many of us have carpets and like letting the dog on the sofa. Here are some suggestions for keeping the house smelling fresh.

• Open the windows daily and air the house.
• Vacuum carpets and mop hard floors every day. This will remove hair and skin debris and is also a very valuable tool in keeping fleas at bay. Empty the vacuum bag and put it outside.
• If the weather is dry, hang your dog's bedding outside to air while you take him out for a walk.
• Wash pet bedding every week.
• If you allow your dog onto the sofa, put a blanket down first. Wash this with the dog's bedding each week.
• Shampoo or steam clean the carpet every month. A good steam cleaner can be very effective at shifting dog smells.
• If your dog urinates on the carpet, deal with it immediately (see below for how to deal with dog urine smells).
• If you are out when the dog urinates and can't locate the spot, try a "black light" to reveal the spot.

Dogs, Diabetes and Smelly Breath

If your dog's breath has a smell of acetone (like nail polish remover), ask your vet to check him over, particularly if he has other symptoms such as rapid breathing, vomiting or lethargy. This could be an indication of diabetes ketoacidosis, a potentially lethal condition.

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Why Is Your Dog Smelling?

Dogs don't have to smell unacceptably bad. A certain amount of odour is natural, but if your dog is smelling strongly, you should ask yourself why.

• Do you bathe him regularly?

Once a month, at least, is recommended. If he likes to roll in muck, do it more often.

Groom him daily to remove old hairs and dander. This will help stop a build-up that can contribute to smelliness.

• Does his breath smell?

Smelly breath can arise if you don't clean your dog's teeth. Tooth decay will cause bad breath, and if the dog is also drooling, the saliva will get on the coat around the mouth and smell. Changes in the smell of the breath can indicate diabetes or kidney disease.

• Are his ears smelly?

Sometimes a dog can get an ear infection, and this will cause an extremely unpleasant smell. Take the dog to the vet. Don't try to treat it by cleaning the ears yourself; you can create a worse problem, particularly if you put water in the ears.

• Full anal glands can cause bad smells.

There are two glands on either side of your dog's anus. In most cases, the secretions from these glands are drained naturally when your dog defecates. However, sometimes this doesn't happen, and the glands become full, impacted and smelly. If not dealt with, the glands can become infected and very smelly. Your vet can express the glands and show you how to do it too. This will eliminate the smell.

• Is your dog flatulent?

It's normal for your dog to have some gas, but if it happens all the time, his diet may need to be adjusted. Ask your vet's advice.

The Buck Stops With You, Not Your Dog!

Remember that the responsibility for your dog and your home lies with you; the dog may make the house smell, but only you can deal with the problem. So what are you waiting for? Get rid of that dog smell from your house!

This article is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge. It is not meant to substitute for diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, prescription, or formal and individualized advice from a veterinary medical professional. Animals exhibiting signs and symptoms of distress should be seen by a veterinarian immediately.

Comments

Judi Brown (author) from UK on July 10, 2012:

Hi DrMark - hope you find this useful next time you deal with the problem! Thanks for taking the time to comment, I appreciate it.

Mark dos Anjos, DVM from The Atlantic Rain Forest, Brazil on July 10, 2012:

I just addressed this problem yesterday; too bad I did not know the link to this hub! I will bookmark it for next time.

Judi Brown (author) from UK on May 22, 2012:

Hi eric-carter - glad you found this hub useful, thanks very much for taking the time to comment :-)

eric-carter from Fulham, UK on May 22, 2012:

Thanks, Judi! Those are some great tips you've shared, voting up!

Judi Brown (author) from UK on May 17, 2012:

Hi Lisa - delighted that you found this hub useful. I am lucky to have hard floors downstairs, which makes cleaning easier - it would be a drag if I had carpets.

Thanks so much for commenting, I do appreciate it :-)

Lisas-thoughts101 from Northeast Texas on May 17, 2012:

judi, nice hub. I appreciate the health tips with the dogs teeth, ears, breath, etc.. I don't know that I have time to vacuum daily but the thought is nice. I will be more aware of all the ideas in your hub, however. Thanks for all the information.

Take care,

Lisa

Judi Brown (author) from UK on May 06, 2012:

Hi bayoulady - my dog is now going through a phase of licking my furniture, which I am trying to nip in the bud, or we are going to have a house that smells like dog slobber.

Thanks for your comments, much appreciated :-)

bayoulady from Northern Louisiana,USA on May 05, 2012:

Wow. I never though about a dog's bad breath exuding an odor in the house. It makes sense,of course. I have three little dogs,and when they play together,they slobber on each other. It IS stinky,ha!

Judi Brown (author) from UK on April 24, 2012:

Hi avantitexan - I haven't heard about pumpkin before, I shall remember that next time we have a problem! Glad you enjoyed the hub!

Thanks very much for taking the time to comment, I appreciate it :-)

avantitexan on April 24, 2012:

One of my dogs has some gland problems as well, especially after we travel (poor doggy has a nervous stomach), a few days of raw organic pumpkin gives him the fiber he needs, bulks up his stool and expresses his glands. Works well for him.

Great suggestions in the article! Thanks for sharing!

Judi Brown (author) from UK on April 05, 2012:

Hi PetCollars - absolutely right! It's just common sense, really, but sometimes we forget.

Thanks for taking the time to comment, much appreciated :-)

PetCollars from Saint Augustine, Florida on April 04, 2012:

Proper hygiene cleaning and grooming could help maintain ten good smell of your pet. Thanks for sharing.

Judi Brown (author) from UK on April 04, 2012:

Hi Linda - good point about allergies. I think a lot of people don't realise that dogs, as well as humans, suffer from a range of allergies.

Thanks for your comments, always appreciated :-)

Linda Liebrand from San Francisco on April 04, 2012:

Hi Judi - these are some great tips for keeping your house dog smell free. I keep forgetting to clean my dogs bedding and blankets, but I will get onto that straight away now that I've had some inspiration from you :o)

Worth adding as well is that keeping a dog's bedding and the floors clean and dust free will help both humans and dogs who have allergies...

Judi Brown (author) from UK on March 22, 2012:

Hi Tenkay - no dog smells for you then! We don't have carpet downstairs either, which helps. Luckily our dog has never been one for toileting indoors.

Thanks for taking the time to comment, I appreciate it :-)

TENKAY from Philippines on March 22, 2012:

I am so lucky to live in a country where carpet is not mandatory and tiled or marble floors are the 'in' thing.

I got 4 dogs, a cat, a husband, and a small apartment. I wash the dogs once a week, the cat once a month. I walk the dogs almost everyday, and sometimes let them run around the park nearby to let out excess energy. I never have problems with emptying dog's anal glands, I guess it's because of their daily exercise. I got one male dog, who loves to water/urinate all the furniture inside the house. I solve this, by letting him stay in the garage area during the day and put him in a cage during the night, and give him vigorous exercise every other day. I have two types of blankets for the sofa, one for the dogs, and the other for visitors. Pets are added responsibility but the joy we get out of them is payment enough.

Judi Brown (author) from UK on March 17, 2012:

No worries dailygirl - hope all goes well.

dailygirl from Texas on March 17, 2012:

Awesome!! Thanks for the info!! We'll definitely get him to the vet.

Judi Brown (author) from UK on March 17, 2012: