One of the biggest reasons that people don’t let their dogs on their furniture is because dogs have a tendency to leave their smells behind them. If your dog loves sitting on the couch, though, you might feel like you have to let him or her up there. This, of course, means that you are eventually going to need to figure out how to get the dog smell out of your couch.
Article Summary
How to Get Pet Odor Out of the Couch – Dog Or Otherwise
Getting the dog smell or other pet odors out of your house isn’t tough, but it does take a fair bit of labor. Following these steps will give you the most efficient route to ensuring that your couch smells clean once again.
Remove Everything
The first step you need to take is to completely clear off your couch. Blankets and pillows are especially good at holding onto odors, so you’ll need to remove them and wash them regularly. As a rule, you’ll want to wash anything that goes on your couch at least once a month, which means that you need to stick to using pillows that have a removable cover. If you happen to have pillows that you can’t wash, you’ll really need to consider throwing them away if they are causing your couch to smell.
Take Off the Couch Cover
If your couch happens to have covers on the seats, you’ll want to take them off. Just like the blankets and pillow covers, you’ll want to wash them about once a month. Only wash covers that are machine washable, though, and take those that are not to a dry cleaner in order to get them cleaned out.
Note that you shouldn’t dry a cover that still smells like a dog. If it’s still smelly, it probably needs to go through the wash again. Failure to do this is actually going to make your covers smell worse than they might otherwise smell, so you need to get them completely clean. If you’re afraid of baking in your dogs’ smells, consider hanging the covers up to dry.
Vacuum the Couch
Next up is vacuuming your couch. When your dog gets on the couch, he or she is leaving inside all kinds of interesting debris that he or she might find outside, to say nothing of the hair that he or she might shed. All of these leftovers can trap smells, so vacuuming every day can help you to eliminate odors.
Don’t forget to get into the crevasses and underneath the cushions. Doing so is a great way to get any hair that you might’ve missed and further freshen up your couch.
Break out the Baking Soda
Now that you’ve gotten rid of the hair, it’s time to go back over your couch with the vacuum cleaner and some baking soda. Baking soda is excellent for neutralizing odors, so it can tackle a lot of the problems that simple hair removal cannot do on its own. You’ll want to specifically target any areas where your dog sits regularly in order to get rid of the strongest smells.
If you’ve got a particularly smelly couch, you’ll want to leave the baking soda on overnight and vacuum it up in the morning. This should take care of some of the strongest smells and it won’t harm your dog or your couch.
Consider a Carpet Cleaner
If adding in the baking soda and vacuuming isn’t taking care of the smells, you’ll want to go for a more serious solution. The means renting (or buying) a carpet cleaner that has an upholstery attachment for cleaning up your couch.
The great thing about using one of these machines is that you can use a cleaning formula that’s actually designed to get rid of dog odors. You can also use it in conjunction with a stain remover in order to get those spots that just won’t seem to go away on their own.
Use Febreeze
Yes, Febreeze works to get rid of dog smells. It’s isn’t perfect and some dogs just really don’t like the smell, but it can do a good job of getting rid of some of the strongest dog odors while you’re trying to get your house in order.
Use an Enzyme Deodorizer
Another good way to deal with spots is with an enzyme deodorizer, especially if the spots are part of housebreaking your dog. Enzyme cleaners not only cut through scent, but they get rid of the chemicals that tell your dog that the spot in question is good for marking. You’ll use the cleaner, let it dry, and then vacuum it up to get rid of the odor.
How to Keep Your Couch from Smelling
Once you’ve gotten rid of the dog smell, you probably don’t want it to come back. As such, it’s always a good idea to think of ways to stop the smell from getting into your couch the next time.
Some of the work here will, of course, involve how you groom your dog. Bathe him or her regularly, then take the time to brush your dog every day. You might also want to think about buying slipcovers for your couch so that you can clean them more easily and keep the dog smells that seep into your couch to a minimum. If all else fails, make sure that you grab a good air purifier that will remove all the pet odors from the room in which your couch sits.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How do I get my couch to stop smelling like a dog?
The short answer is that you’ll need to clean your couch. Wash everything that you can remove from your couch and then vacuum everything that cannot be removed. If necessary, use baking powder or an enzymatic cleaner in order to vacuum up tougher odors. If all else fails, you should rent a carpet cleaner that has an upholstery attachment.
2. How do you get dog smell out of fabric?
This is generally a matter of learning how to keep the fabric clean. Make sure that you vacuum any dog debris off the fabric when you can, and throw it in the washing machine if it is possible and safe to do so. If not, you’ll want to use an upholstery cleaner to get the job done.
3. How do you get the smell out of a fabric couch?
Get rid of everything that’s on the couch, then vacuum off all the dog hair and detritus. When this is done, either vacuum again after leaving the baking powder on the couch overnight or make sure that you can use a dog-friendly cleaning product in your carpet cleaner in order to clean the entire couch.
4. How do you get dog smell out of furniture and house?
Constant cleaning is the honest answer here. You’ll want to vacuum as regularly as you can, with the goal of making sure that you get rid of all of the dog hair in your home. Make sure that you wash things like blankets and pillows regularly and that you keep your couches and beds as free from anything that your dog brings into your home as possible.
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