Accidents do happen regardless of how trained your dog is and how religiously you follow your puppy’s training schedule. Removing dog urine stains from carpets doesn’t have to be a difficult task. Quick intervention is the best way to ensure that dog urine won’t leave a lasting impression (and smell) on the carpet, hardwood floor, or anywhere else.

Additionally, you can take steps to get rid of the smell, even if you come across a dried urine patch or stain. Some stains might even be challenging to locate. Then, to help you determine which areas require cleaning, you might want to use a urine stain detector. We recently used this method on a carpet cleaning Hastings job.

urine showing uv on carpet

Removing fresh dog urine stains on carpet or fabric

So what if your dog just urinated on the carpet just now?  What’s next? Fortunately, you probably already have the necessary cleaning products on hand. Over the wet area, put a thick layer of paper towels. Put a thick layer of newspaper over that.

You can stand on it for a few minutes to help the paper absorb the urine more effectively. Alternatively, you can leave the paper alone until most urine has disappeared. After that, please take out the paper towels and give it a rinse. Use old towels or a wet vac to dry up all the water. You should probably expect the damp towels to stink, but that’s good because you’ve extracted as much of the urine and its smell as possible.

The next step is to get rid of the smell. And your best friend for this is baking soda, a common household item. Avoid using too much; a small amount of baking soda will be acceptable for most stains. Leave the baking soda for a while, then vac it off. To remove all the powder, you might need to vacuum the area several times before it feels clean to the touch.

Another method incorporates vinegar, another common household item. Using a mixture of vinegar and baking soda in a clean spray bottle. Spray the stain after shaking the container to combine the ingredients. After letting it sit briefly, wipe it clean and stand on it with towels.

Removing dog poop on carpets

What if you missed an unfortunate accident and it has dried out? Or perhaps you recently moved into a new home, and now the carpet in the living room smells like dog pee or poop? While getting the smell out of dried stains is more challenging, several successful techniques exist.
Start by thoroughly rinsing the area with plain water. Wet vacuums are great to use on areas by repeatedly soaking and cleaning them thoroughly. Please don’t use heat at this stage; it can permanently set the odour and stain. Blot the area well if you don’t have access to a wet-dry vac.

Use an enzymatic cleaner if this doesn’t eliminate the dog urine stain from the carpet and the smell persists. These enzyme carpet cleaners break down and eliminate odours and stains at the molecular level. Make careful to select a pet stain-specific enzyme-based cleaner.

Fresh Urine on Hardwood

Your hardwood floor recently had urine on it; cover the puddle with a handful of paper towels or cleaning wipes. You might stand on the towels for a few minutes for quicker absorption. To absorb the urine, keep using fresh towels until it’s completely soaked up.

Getting Rid of Hardwood Odour

Some wood can be porous, meaning odours in hardwood floors can be more challenging to eliminate. You can try a few different approaches, though. The first resembles carpet cleaner—white vinegar and water mixed well. Dab the mix onto the stain using a sponge. Give it five to ten minutes to sit before cleaning it with a fresh, dry towel. Try this more diluted vinegar if you’re worried about how it will affect your floors. In either case, try out the solution on a small area first.

If the odour is still present, add baking soda to the damp floor and leave it there for at least a few hours. Then use your vacuum cleaner’s soft brush attachment to vacuum it up. Use an enzyme-based stain remover safe for hardwood floors as a last resort. Follow the product instructions after performing a small test patch. Clean the floor with whatever you typically use once the urine and its smell are gone.

Acting fast is your best solution regardless of what your dog urinated on. The sooner you take action, the more probable you can completely eradicate the dog urine stain from the carpet and odour. You don’t want to leave any lingering signs of the accident for your dog to discover because they might then decide this is their new favourite place to urinate.