removing urine

Removing Urine 4

Step Four Stop it From Reoccurring

The final step in this “removing urine” series is to stop dog urine from being an ongoing problem for you. We will examine a few ideas. I know not all solutions will work for every circumstance but these ideas will help solve the problem of dog urine once and for all.

Some people have just purchased a home or rent one and they need stains and odor from dog urine removed. In these cases they need a onetime effective remediation process and the problem is solved.

I bet that for the vast majority of us the challenge is different than that. We have our dogs. By the way my wife and I have a dog. Her name is Betty Boop. She is a Pug and there is a picture of her on this post. She lives with us. She is a member of our family. She is one of us. We need a solution that deals with her remaining in the home. This is the scenario many of us are facing.

One solution is to keep your dog isolated to only areas that are easy to clean and maintain. You can do this while you are gone and let the dog move freely about the house with you when you are home. This solution works for many people but it does not work for me with Betty.

Second solution is to keep the dog outside. Don’t make a house dog out of your pet. He /she is an outside dog. Again this is a good solution for many but not for me.

Third solution. The one that does work for me is effective potty training. Potty training is not the easiest behavior to teach a dog. It is most definitely worth doing and doing well. The damage caused by dogs that are not properly potty trained runs into the multi millions. This whole site is addressing how to deal with it. Effective potty training can be accomplished quicker and easier than you might think. You will save frustration, aggravation and the obvious damage to your property. I recommend a guide called ‘The Complete 7 Day Potty Training Guide”. It is very detailed. It is easy to follow and effective. If potty training is the way you are going to go then get it.

The last idea and I hate to even mention it, is not to have a dog. There have been times in my life that I practiced this one but again it does not work for me. I’ll bet you are saying if you were a true dog lover you couldn’t even think such a thing. This also is a great solution for many people.

Removing Urine 3

Removing Urine step Three

Kill the odor

In step one you removed as much fresh urine as possible. In step two you pretreated, cleaned and rinsed to remove any stain and more urine residue. If you still have some visible stains, they can be removed later. In step three you will treat and neutralize the odor.

Note: If the urine has actually removed dye from the fiber/fabric resulting in a spot that is lighter in color than the fabric around it then you have a bigger problem.

In step three we deal with any urine residue that is left and kill the odor.

Recreate the conditions. What is meant by this is two things. One, because the urine is a liquid then you need to use a liquid to counteract it. And two, you need to use enough chemical to counteract the urine. As an example: if your dog urinates 2 ounces of urine twice a day in a year’s time you will have over 11 gallons of urine deposited. The point of this is to emphasize that if you do not get enough chemical in contact with the urine residue you will not kill the smell. . The chemical has to come in contact with the urine residue in sufficient quantities to neutralize it. There are several types of chemicals that work in different ways but this principle applies to each type.

Also you need to give the chemical the time it needs to work and this is where the chemicals differ one from another. Some work immediately on contact but others (example: bacteria enzyme chemicals) need time to digest the urine residue. After the chemical you choose has had the dwell time necessary to work you remove any excess with extraction or absorption. Finally take the necessary steps to insure proper drying of the area. Use fans to accelerate drying. Dehumidifiers if you are in a moist climate or you are working on a very large area. After it has had sufficient time to dry 24-48 hours check it to see your results.

We have just discussed the steps for removing urine from minor or light damage. The process is more involved if you have moderate or severe damage.

An alternatives to this process is an injection method of removing and eliminating urine and its odor.

Step four stop it from reoccurring

Removing Urine 2

Removing Urine Step Two

After you have removed as much urine as possible with absorption or extraction (see step one). Step two is to pretreat, clean and rinse the urine area with a neutral spotter. To pretreat is to apply your spotting chemical, work it into the spot if necessary and let it sit for the needed time (dwell time) to work. With minor or light urine damage that is fresh, you will need very little dwell time. If it is an old spot that has dried then you will need more dwell time. If your dried spot has alkaline salt crystals from the dried urine present then use an acid spotter instead of a neutral spotter. With minor or light damage you should not have the alkaline salts present.

Apply the neutral cleaning spotter with a spray bottle or a bottle with a flip top type lid. This way you can control the amount of spotter you use and where it goes. Gently work it into the spot with a cloth or grooming tool. Do not over agitate (scrub) the area or you can damage the fibers of the fabric you are spotting. Then absorb/extract it back out again. Repeat this process of applying spotter, absorb/extract if necessary. The spotter will help to release and neutralize any urine residue still in the fibers. Hence you will be removing more urine. It does not hurt to have a neutral spotter that has an odor neutralizer in it. This is not necessary because the next step will be to treat the odor. Do not over wet the area. Over wetting can cause additional unnecessary damage. So after you rinse, remove as much moisture as possible to avoid these problems.

Removing Urine Step Three

Step one: If the urine you are removing is fresh and still moist the first step in removing it is to get as much out as possible before it dries. Two ways to do this is blotting / absorption or extraction / wet vacuum.

When blotting take a clean dry absorbent towel or rag and place it on the moist urine spot. Paper towel works well. Put gentle pressure on the towel being careful not to push the urine deeper into the fiber/fabric or spread it out any further. The purpose of this is to absorb the urine into your towel and out of your carpet, or whatever you are getting it out of. Turn your towel over or change the towel if necessary to keep a clean dry area absorbing as much urine as possible. When you have removed the majority of the urine, again using a clean dry area of towel place it on the spot and put a book (like a phone book) on top of it and let it sit. You want a book that covers the size of the spot and is heavy enough to apply pressure so the towel will absorb the last bit of moisture that it can. You can place a piece of plastic between the rag and the book so the book does not get moisture on it.

When removing urine using the extraction method use a wet dry vacuum or a home carpet cleaning machine. Use it to extract (vacuum) the urine out. Use the strongest wet vacuum available to you. Use it to pull the urine out of the fabric/fiber or off the floor. Extract as much as you can working from the outside edges of the spot to the middle. If you have a see through (clear) wand or tool on your vacuum you can see when the urine stops coming out.

If the urine is not fresh but has dried then skip this first step of extraction/absorption

Move onto the next step in removing urine of pretreat and clean.

Removing urine step two.