Does your house smell like your dog ?
By: Darrell Thomas
Founder of Carpet Pros, Inc. Charlotte, NC.
The Common Issue with Pet Odors
Let me paint you this picture… You have a dog or two, and what a wonderful addition they are to the family. They are fun and lovable, but every so often, they have “accidents” in the home. It’s an easy cleanup, so no harm, no foul. But over time, a persistent and lingering odor starts to become an issue. So, what do you do? Naturally, you give the local carpet cleaner a call.
The Hidden Problem: More Than Just Urine
The carpet cleaner seems to know what he’s doing. You point out a few areas where you have cleaned up urine accidents. He pulls out his trusty UV light and discovers additional areas where urine is in the carpet. News flash—there is always more urine in the carpet than you think. A few hundred dollars later, the house smells better, and everyone assumes the problem is solved. But not so fast. As the fragrance from the cleaning dissipates, you realize that your house still smells like your dog.
Why Does Your Carpet Still Smell?
How is this even possible? You just had your carpet cleaned by a professional who carefully examined every area with a powerful ultraviolet light. There’s no way he missed anything, right? But he must have because the house smells worse now than before the carpet was cleaned. So, what do you do? You call the cleaner to come back and re-treat for urine, hoping he will spray down more of that special odor-killing solution. He does, and this kinda, sorta helps… well, maybe.
The Real Culprit Behind Persistent Odors
So, what happened here? You did exactly what you should do in this case by calling a professional carpet cleaner. You paid them a lot of money to do what they do best: make odors go away. You assume the carpet cleaner wasn’t the issue. He did everything he could possibly do, right? Maybe… but not so fast.
This might sound a little odd, but this is what I do. I obsess over difficult-to-solve carpet-related issues and have done so for nearly 30 years. My therapist is on speed dial.
This issue is frustrating for homeowners, and most carpet cleaners just assume everything is fine with their standard approach. In my opinion, this is the root of the problem. When we have pets, or in this case, dogs, we assume their urine or feces accidents are the source of the odor we are experiencing. Though oddly, the urine and feces may not be the major contributors to the odor.
The Importance of Proper Cleaning Techniques
If your house smells like a dog and the dog has had accidents in the home, then what else could be causing the odor? The answer is simple: the dog itself. Many breeds of dogs have oils in their coat, and when the dog lays on the carpet, those oils transfer to the fibers. Over time, these oils build up and begin to turn rancid, creating a very off-putting odor that smells like a wet dog.
When we smell pet or ‘dog’ odor in the home, we are not surprised because we have a dog, and we know the dog has had accidents. We simply do not realize that we are not merely smelling urine; we are smelling the dog. Well, we are also smelling our house, which now smells like a dog.
What You Should Look for in a Carpet Cleaner
This is the actual cause of the odor that many are experiencing in their homes: a combination of urine contamination and a persistent odor caused by the dog itself. At this point, you might wonder why cleaning the carpet wouldn’t take care of removing the odor caused by the oils from the dog’s coat. The short answer is a hard no.
When the carpet is cleaned, the oils from the dog’s coat actually repel the cleaning solution. This means that unless the cleaning process specifically targets the removal of these oils, the carpet isn’t actually being cleaned. It doesn’t matter how many times the carpet is cleaned with a ‘traditional’ process—the carpet will not get any cleaner, and the ‘dog’ odor will only get progressively worse.
A Thorough Inspection is Key
With all of this in mind, what should the homeowner have done differently? It’s simple: Call a carpet cleaner who is aware of this all-too-common issue and understands the chemistry necessary to solve the problem.
The first step for a seasoned and professional carpet cleaner should be to ask questions. These questions should include a discussion about pets within the home and the ‘history’ of the carpet, such as the age of the carpet, how many times it has been professionally cleaned, and whether the carpet protector has been reapplied. Additionally, when was the carpet last cleaned, and what ‘process’ was used? Was the carpet cleaned via hot water extraction, as required by the carpet manufacturer, or was an alternate process used, such as one of the dry-cleaning methods? Have there been any ‘in-home’ cleanings, etc.?
The next step for the cleaner is a very thorough inspection of each carpeted area. This inspection should include using a powerful ultraviolet light to locate all urine accidents within the home, along with a moisture detector to determine if any urine located is limited to the fibers of the carpet or has bled down into the padding and subfloor.
Identifying the True Source of Odors
Sadly, this type of inspection is rarely completed by the vast majority of cleaners, and even this seemingly thorough inspection falls short because the next step is to ‘feel’ and then ‘smell’ the carpet. As simple as it sounds, just running your hand over the carpet will reveal if there is an oily residue on the fibers. When smelling your hand and the carpet, do they smell like a dog? If so, very specific processes must be employed to remove the oily residue, as well as to neutralize any pet urine contamination. This dual-process approach allows the oily residue to be removed, which is, after all, the source of the dog odor within the home.
Note: If ‘dog coat odor’ is present within the carpeting, the home in general will typically have a ‘wet dog’ smell. This is the first and most important clue as to the source of the odor issue in the home. It is simply necessary to identify what we are smelling. In nearly every case, it is assumed that urine is the culprit, and there may certainly be urine that needs to be treated. However, in many cases, there is much more to the problem.
Choosing the Right Carpet Cleaning Professional
If you look at YellowPages.com or “Angi,” you will see that there are about 750 companies within the Charlotte metro area that all clean carpets. Frankly, there is a very small list of those who perform anything other than basic services. Most carpet cleaners rely on the homeowner to tell them what services to perform in the home. This means there is no real inspection process to determine the cause or depth of even the most basic of issues.
What most homeowners want and need is a professional cleaner to act as a ‘consultant’ who can properly diagnose issues, make recommendations, and then implement a proven and guaranteed process to remedy the problem.
Carpet Pros: Your Solution Since 1995
This is what Carpet Pros has done since 1995. We understand the complexities of pet odors and go beyond the standard cleaning practices to ensure your carpets are truly clean and your home smells fresh again.