Archive for August, 2009
Dog Urine on Wood
This is a basic outline for dog urine on or in the wood of your subfloor. Usually this is when the urine has gone through the carpet, pad and into the wood. Wood subfloor is under carpet, tile, vinyl, hardwood etc. The subfloor in the picture is under hardwood. The urine can get to the subfloor through any of these surfaces but in my experience it is usually the carpeted area's that have a problem first. Subfloor is either plywood, particle board, chip board or a similar product. Sometimes you will have carpet tack strip baseboard and even Sheetrock that is contaminated with dog urine. When this is the case you will need to address these items to get complete odor removal.
You need to remove or take up the flooring material (carpet, tile, vinyl, hardwood etc) that is in the area of the damage so you can get to the subfloor to repair it.
If the subfloor is lightly contaminated with dog urine you can give it a light cleaning and a light treatment of odor neutralizer. Take care not to over wet it and cause additional damage. Let it dry and seal it with a good varnish, shellac or an acrylic sealer. Many times it is not possible to completely clean these porous wooden materials. Thus the need to seal them. This will seal in any remaining odor or contaminate.
If the subfloor has started to buckle and warp from the moisture you can use a skill saw. Set the blade to the depth of the thickness of the floor (3/4 inch usually) and cut an x through the middle of the warped area. The thickness of the blade will remove enough wood material so you can then fasten the subfloor wood back down flat to the floor and support beams underneath. Use flooring screws for this. You may need to make two cuts depending on how warped the wood is. You just need to remove enough wood so the subfloor will lay flat again.
If the wood is too damaged and warped to repair it this way, then again set the blade to the thickness of the wood and cut the damaged area completely out. Cut a new piece of subfloor material to fit, and replace the bad piece. If there is any urine residue left in it anywhere clean and seal that area with the before mentioned sealing products. Then you will need to replace the section of pad and reinstall or replace the carpet. If you reinstall the carpet you will obviously need to clean and treat it (front and back) first.
Or replace whatever flooring material the damage is under. (Tile hardwood vinyl etc.) If you have questions post them below and I will respond.
Dog Urine in Wood
I am going to give a very basic outline about dog urine in or on wood. Two situations that you might have are:
1. Dog urine in or on hardwood flooring and 2. Dog urine in or on wood subfloor (plywood, particle board, chipboard). In this article I am going to address hardwood flooring such as oak. If your nice oak or similar hardwood flooring is installed well and sealed well, with a quality sealer then the urine will be on and not in the wood. In this case you can use a mild cleaner and wipe the spot up with no damage to the wood. If the urine is fresh use a neutral or alkaline spotter that is safe for hardwood. If the urine is dry and there are alkaline salt crystals present use an acid base spotter that is safe for hardwoods. You can then apply an odor neutralizing spotter to eliminate any possible odor.
If the dog urine has started to penetrate into the wood then you will need to sand the surface of the wood to remove the urine. You need to sand until the stain is gone and reseal the floor.
If the urine has buckled the floor to the point it can not be sanded enough to correct the problem then you need to replace or hire a floor repair company to replace those pieces of wood that are damaged. Replacing individual boards is fairly common for professional hardwood companies. You will need to match the wood as close as you can so it blends in. This can be a challenge. You may need to re-stain the floor slightly darker to make the new wood match in sufficiently with the existing floor. Contact your local fire and flood restoration contractor, he will probably know a good hardwood contractor for this purpose.
Dog Potty Training
Potty training your dog can be one of the slowest and hardest behaviors you will teach your dog. It can also be the most damaging and expensive to you, if you don't get your dog taught to urinate in the area you decide is his/her area. I know of cases where the repairs from dog urine damage alone has been over $20,000.00. This in not normal thank goodness but it happens. The single biggest factor in how effectively it gets taught and long it takes to teach is directly related to how focused and devoted the teacher is willing to be. Different animals will learn it in their own time frame. But the teacher has to be patience and stay right with this training. It can be a time for you and your pet to really bond. The big benefit is when you are done you will have a dog that is housetrained. The problems you will avoid with a well housetrained pet are huge. This single thing can make your life with your dog miserable or a pleasure. To train your dog fast and get great results take a look at The Complete Guide to Potty Training in 7 Days by Sharda Baker.
Dog Urine Solutions August 14, 2009
- Dan Cirucci: Dogs' Noses Know Secrets
- West Seattle Blog… » Dog-walking rage? West Seattleite reports attack
August 11, 2009
August 11, 2009
- You might want to become familiar with the laws in your own area regarding animals relieving themselves on public or private property.
Dog Urine Training
If you are looking for dog urine training this guide is the answer. It is the complete 7 day potty training. Quick and easy foolproof potty training dog guide. This blog was created to bring you complete and effective solutions for dog urine issues. This testimonial says it perfectly.
"Until I found Sharda Baker's Potty training web site, I had bought 3 dog training guides that each were reasonable in what they contained, but none that taught potty training in the same detail that Sharda's does.
The other difference is that Sharda's Potty Training guide is so easy to follow. It is clearly explained and most importantly it works! Don't waste your time with other training guides. I recommend you look at Sharda Baker's Complete Guide to Potty Training Within 7 Days.
It worked wonders for my doggie.
Thank you.
Cheri Taylor"
Plus she offers a money back guarantee. Go take a look! It is the solution to dog urine training.
What Causes Urine Odor
Posted by Dog Urine in Urine Odor on August 12th, 2009
What causes urine Odor? There are over 75 compounds that have been found in animal waste that cause odor. Understanding these compounds helps us know what we can do to eliminate it. Urine is decomposed by anaerobic bacteria. Some of the groups of compounds that smell, and are a result of this breakdown are sulfides, phenols, ketones, volatile organic acids and more. Carbohydrates in animal waste include sugars, starch, and cellulose. Starch and cellulose are broken into glucose (sugar) units as the first step of decomposition. Under anaerobic conditions, sugars are broken into alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, and organic acids. These intermediate compounds are odorous. They are a part of what causes urine odor. These compounds can be further metabolized and transformed into methane, carbon dioxide, and water (nonodorous end-products)
The odor of ammonia gas is one part of the distinctive odor that helps us to identify and locate urine. The other component of urine’s odor is off-gassing from bacteria that grow abundantly in warm, dark places with a never-ending food supply. The pet feeds the bacteria daily with its urine! There are several types of chemicals that are very affective in eliminating the urine odor. Each of these chemicals has to come in contact with the urine to be affective at neutralizing the odor. Some work immediately on contact and others need time to work. Enzyme products need time to digest the urine. These chemicals also need to be applied in sufficient quantities to be affective.
Female Dog Urine
Female dog urine is generally no different than male dog urine. There are some exceptions to this but basically they are the same. If you want to know more about the makeup of the urine itself read dogs urine. It is commonly thought that female dog urine is more acidic than male. It is also thought that this extra acidity is what causes the damage to grass. This is not the case. What causes the damage to grass is the excess nitrogen in the urine male or female.
The method in which a female dog urinates is different. The female will squat and empty her whole bladder in one spot where the male will more often urinate in smaller amounts spreading it around marking his territory. This will make the concentration of urine and nitrogen much stronger in the area that the female urinates. This is why a female dog often does more damage to grass than a male dog. The same situation will apply in a room. Whether it is carpet, hardwood, concrete, or tile and grout. You find larger more concentrated and deeper areas affected by female dog urine. That is if the dogs are similar in size to each other. The male dog urine will many times be lighter and spread around the edges of the room. He will also do more damage up on furniture and walls. In these cases it is not the excess nitrogen that is causing the problems.
What causes problems in these cases is number one, odor from the urine. What causes the odor from the urine is the bacteria in the urine which creates off gassing and the ammonia that is being formed from the urine. Number two is the stain from the urine. There are several types of products that are effective at eliminating these problems. If you get a good product that has been designed to deal with dog urine odor and stains and use it correctly you can achieve excellent results.
Dogs Urine
Urine leaves the body (either dogs urine or human) as an acid with a pH that is typically between 5 and 6. It is sterile containing no harmful bacteria, pathogens or microorganisms unless the dog has a urinary or bladder infection.
- The principle ingredient in urine (from dogs) is uric acid.
- Urine also contains urochrome (yellow pigment)
- Cholesterol (lipids)(animal fats)
- Urea
- And other ingredients.
The exact make-up of urine will vary depending on the dog's diet, health and other factors. The urine begins to change immediately upon leaving the body. The urine comes in contact with bacteria on the skin along with microorganisms in the carpet and elsewhere. The warm acid conditions offer a perfect breeding ground for bacteria which begin to flourish. Uric acid begins to be broken down into ammonia and carbon dioxide. The ammonia is highly alkaline (base).
A strong concentrated alkaline can damage dyes and create a permanent color loss. Be aware that what appears to be a urine stain may actually be color loss that can not be corrected by cleaning. The urine odor can still be removed and you can sometimes correct the color loss with carpet dying techniques or patching. But cleaning will not restore color that has been removed.
As the dogs acidic urine reacts with the ammonia that is being created it forms alkaline salt crystals (white residue). When dry urine is re-moistened it gives off ammonia gas. The odor of ammonia gas is one part of the distinctive odor that helps us to identify and locate dogs urine. The other component of urine’s odor is off-gassing from bacteria that grow abundantly in warm, dark places with a never-ending food supply. The pet urine feeds the bacteria daily!
The complex composition of urine and the many chemicals formed as the urine is decomposed by bacteria present a challenging situation. With time, some of these complex organic compounds can actually become part of the fiber.
Even if the bacteria are killed the ammonia and other chemicals still produce an odor. This is the reason that more than a sanitizing agent is necessary to neutralize odors from dogs urine.
Urine Sample From Dog
How to get a urine sample from your dog. I just asked my veterinarian and he told me two ways to get a sample of urine from a dog. One is to watch and wait until the dog is just starting to urinate and slip a flat cup or something under the dog and catch the urine in it. It needs to be a clean and sterile container so it does not contaminate the urine sample. I asked him, doesn't that make the dog stop urinating when you slip the cup under there. The answer is yes sometimes. But this is a common way of getting a urine sample from a dog. It is less invasive than the second way.
The second way is that the veterinarian inserts a needle into the dog’s bladder and extracts a sample. They want the dog to come in with its bladder 2/3 full or fuller. They say it does not hurt the dog. The dog does not mind. It is a simple procedure. I don't know. I have a hard time believing my dog would not have a problem with that. But if you need a sample you have to get it somehow. There might be other alternatives but these are the two he told me about.
Dog Urine Killing Grass
Posted by Dog Urine in Grass Dog Urine on August 8th, 2009
There are a number of products available to fix the problem of dog urine killing grass. Two items that are reported to cause the urine to kill grass are the PH of the urine and the nitrogen content in it. Nitrogen is used in fertilizers for grass. It helps the grass green up nicely but too much nitrogen burns and kills it.
There are also several different methods of correcting this problem that don't involve buying any products. Change the protein in your dog’s diet. Get your dog to drink more water or broth. To do this just add a little broth to your dog’s food.
You can give your dog supplements that are made specifically to correct this issue of dog urine killing grass. I will explore each of these items in more detail and recommend the best products to use to correct this problem in future posts. See grass and dog urine for more information.
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