A dog is one of the most popular pets in the Netherlands. Not surprising in itself, because as an owner or owner you can have a lot of fun having a dog. You can also build a close bond with dogs. But of course there are less pleasant sides, and one of them is the smell that arises when your dog pees in your room, hallway or garden. What can you do against the stubborn smell of dog pee?
Many people who decide to bring a dog into their home prefer to buy a puppy. Understandable of course, because a puppy is very sweet and endearing. But if you don’t want to live in the stink of dog pee for years to come, you will need to start potty training. That starts the day you come home with your puppy. In the beginning, take the animal out every two hours, so that your dog can do his business there. Every time he urinates or poops outside, reward him with a pat, a word of praise or a treat. You will also have to believe it at night: a puppy is not yet ready to hold its pee all night long. So set an alarm to go out on time, but also expect that you will have to deal with accidents at night or during the day.
Your puppy urinated in the house
If you discover that your pup has urinated in your room or kitchen, don’t punish him. Your pup doesn’t see a connection between his pee and your anger unless you catch him in the act and then say ‘shit’. You also have to put him outside on his pee spot during a red-act, so that he learns that that is the place to go to the bathroom.
The smell of dog pee
When you smell dog urine, you are actually smelling all sorts of chemicals coming off the urine. Think of ketones, phosphates and nitrates. If it is just a small puddle, you can often clean it easily without taking all kinds of precautions. You will have to be careful though, because if your dog smells the tiniest trace of urine, he’ll think, “Hey, a pee spot!” and then happily urinates one more time.
Incidentally, this also applies to faeces, but with a small comment. When cleaning the area where a dog has pooped, you need to be even more careful and make sure that you absolutely do not touch the dirt. Dog poo can contain many parasites, including giarda, salmonella, whipworms and pinworms. These are also contagious to humans!
Mask dog urine: does not work
By spraying an air freshener in the room, you no longer smell the dog’s pee smell, but this solution only works for a very short time. Spraying perfume, air freshener or other nice smelling remedies on the spot of the disaster will therefore not help you to get rid of the smell of dog pee. After all, the chemicals that cause the stench just continue to exist.
Neutralization is a better option
What (often) does help is to neutralize the smell. You do this by using special cleaning products intended against urine odor. The great thing about these cleaning products is that they are designed in such a way that they ‘eat’ the urine and convert it into inorganic substances. This removes the stench causing chemicals, so that the stench of dog pee also disappears.
In order to do their job properly, these cleaning products must be able to come into direct contact with the place (s) where the urine lies. For porous surfaces (such as concrete, cement tiles, floor covering, wood) this may mean that you have to repeat the treatment several times to achieve a good result.
Source: Pexels, Pixabay
My couch stinks, but the dog hasn’t peed on it!
Sometimes soft surfaces, such as furniture, can also smell a lot like dog urine without the dog having urinated on it. That’s because the fabrics can absorb scent chemicals that float around elsewhere in the room. If this is the case, an odor neutralizing agent is the best choice for you. After all, if a piece of furniture is porous enough to absorb the chemicals in the dog’s urine, then you will be fine with the inclusion of an odor neutralizer.
Dog pee in your artificial grass?
If your garden has artificial grass, keep in mind that this can become very smelly if your dog accidentally pees on it. Especially in the summer, the stubborn smell of dog urine can suddenly resurface. See that your dog is peeing on the artificial grass, always start by rinsing off the scene of the accident. A garden hose is a handy tool for this, but a few buckets of water will work just as well.
Has the urine already been absorbed into the artificial grass? Then you can try to combat the smell with a good splash of cleaning vinegar.
