Keep Your Carpet Clean Even If You Have Dogs: Here's How

Your dogs may be loved members of your family, but they can cause your house to smell and look bad if you're not careful. Sometimes the carpets in particular can be unsightly sources of bad scents related to your dogs because they walk on them, lay on them and might have accidents on them. You may not be sure how to care for your carpets other than frequent vacuuming, but here are more ideas that may help.

Spritz the Carpet with Vinegar

If your dogs still have accidents on your carpets, you already know that's why your carpets can start to look and smell bad. While you can try various training methods to get them to stop going on the carpets, when they do have a urine accident, it's important to treat it properly so there is no lingering affect.

One helpful item is one you might already have inside your house: vinegar. After blotting the trouble spot with napkin or disposable paper towels and then using soap and water to address the staining, spray some vinegar directly on the area to deal with the smell. Vinegar is a natural substance that kills most bacteria; it is likely that scent-causing bacteria from the urine will be taken care of as a result. Vinegar is not poisonous to your dogs, so you don't have to worry that it will affect them. You just have to let the vinegar dry--the strong odor of the vinegar itself will fade away--and smell the area again to see if it could use another spritzing.

Purchase a Carpet Rake

Dog hair and other debris can be culprits that contribute to bad carpet odor and a not-quite-clean look. Vacuuming takes care of some of these substances, but short and long dog hairs can easily settle into the carpet fibers, in some cases getting tangled around individual fibers. One way to take care of this is to purchase a rake for our carpet.

Carpet rakes look similar to outdoor rakes, but typically have nylon tines. A carpet rake is used similarly to the way an outdoor rake is used; by digging deeper into the carpet fibers as you pull the rake across the carpet, the more likely you are to dislodge debris and collect dog hair. Once all the debris is on the surface of the carpet, pick up the larger pieces with gloved hands and vacuum the rest.

Use a Few Area Rugs on the Carpet

An easy way to care for your carpet even when you own dogs is to get a few area rugs and arrange them on top of the carpet. These area rugs can prevent too much wear on the carpet underneath, but more than that, the rugs can act as a barrier between your dogs' hair and the carpet. The rugs can also add an additional layer of protection if a dog urinates. Best of all, the area rugs can just be collected and thrown into the washer to freshen them up.

With all these suggestions, you can keep your carpet smelling and looking better even if you've got dogs. Consult an expert carpet cleaning company for more help.

Click here for a commercial or industrial cleaning service NA, or do an online search.