Austin Babies

dog smell. help.

so we've had 3 people say our house smells like dog.  this is no bueno for selling the house.  we've had the carpets cleaned.

do i febreeze on a daily basis?  do i get the sprinkle stuff for carpets?

 

i'm not going to be betty crocker and bake cookies every day while we try to sell this place.  lol.

 

and in other news, my apologies to any of you who have been to my house since apparently i was unwittingly exposing you to nasty A dog smell.  oy.

Re: dog smell. help.

  • Again, i don't think it smells like dog, but maybe I got used to the Casey smell. I have only ever noticed it when he has been damp.

    Maybe wash Casey on a regular (weekly?) basis. Febreeze the stairs and living room, since he lays there all the time. Cover him in potpourri, so he can spread good smells. Kidding Smile Candles? Baking soda?

  • For the love of everything don't febreeze daily- that crap is toxic and nasty.

    Most smells give me a migraine, and I'm realizing that I'm not so much a freak after all- lots of people respond the same.  Can you get a diffuser and some oils without preservatives?  You could do citricy to smell clean, or lavender for calming.

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  • I honestly cannot figure out the best way to get rid of a dog smell other than getting rid of the dog.  There is nothing worse than when someone tries to cover it up with air freshener.  Yuck.

    We had the unfortunate situation when we were selling our house of not only dog and cats, but a squirrel trapped in the wall and decaying (yes, disgusting).  My FIL had the brilliant idea of what he saw flight attendants do when a smelly person gets on board the plane; they very discreetly have slipped a coffee filter with coffee grounds in it under their seat.  Amazingly, it worked for our squirrel issue, so it's worth a shot.

    The ABC guy also gave us charcoal to use, which helped as well.

    Good luck!  We ended up selling to 'dog people' so we were covered.

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  • When we had our house on the market I had the Scentsy plug in by the door with fresh cotton so the smell was fresh. Then I had on upstairs too with the same scent. We never had a smell comment (which is surprising because we have 2 dogs). I also would febreeze carpets/rugs,cages, and any bedspreads weekly. I definitely don't think it is possible to have a dog or pet outside the home while your house is on the market that is ridiculous especially when it took us 6 months to sell our house. Then adding multiple kids on top of that and having to clean/declutter toys before each showing oyyy.Having your house on the market with dogs and kids is noooo fun.
  • I usually put plain baking soda down and let it set for about 15 minutes before vacuuming. It helps with the dog smell IMO. I also regularly clean the dog bed - but we have a chihuahua so his bed is tiny and fits in the washer/dryer..
  • The blue Volcano candle from Anthropologie covers all dog smell at our place. We have 3.

    We also have wood floors. But one's a Golden and quite fuzzy.

  • Can someone take your dog while it's on the market?  What kind of dog do you have?  We could probably take him/her for a little bit....

    As for the smell...I would try airing out your house as much as possible.  Keep the windows open as much as you can to get the house smelling like "outside" instead of "inside."  I'm all for using a Scentsy/candles, but I can.not.stand the smell of cookie/food candles.  Maybe a milder scent?

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  • imageNikison:
    I usually put plain baking soda down and let it set for about 15 minutes before vacuuming. It helps with the dog smell IMO.

    Ditto.

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  • imageFireChiefsBride:

    For the love of everything don't febreeze daily- that crap is toxic and nasty.

    This.  Febreeze is bad!  I have three dogs and one rabbit and I'm obsesively paranoid that my house will smell like animals.  So much so that I pretty much am constantly asking people that come over.  I clean all floring surfaces with vinegar (carpets, tile, etc.) and I have no idea if that is the trick but we've had 27 showings over the last three weekends and not one person has said anything about the house smelling like dog.  So maybe try vinegar, just a thought.

    ETA: I have a Boxer/St. Bernard mix; a Rhodesian Ridgeback mix; and a blue heeler so they are big dogs and no smell. 

  • My dogs lived with my patents for 2 months while our house was on the market. It helped but I was miserable. I was 5 hours away at the time
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  • Have you changed all of the air filters in the house?  That can make the smell worse.  Depending on the size of your house, cleaning the air ducts can also help, but the price will vary depending on the size/number of vents.  On our rental houses I've had to do this a few times to get the smell out of the house.

    Does it smell more like stinky dog, or more like dog pee?  Any idea? 

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  • FWIW, I've noticed that my house smells like dog this week and I think it's just cause it's been foggy and humid. The air is just still and gross. Maybe set ceiling fans on low if you have them?

    I also remember in college when doing bad bad things that we would put dryer sheets in the a/c vents.... my dorm room smelled fabulous. And ditto not using febreeze - it's nasty and if I smelled it I'd wonder what you were trying to cover up.

  • FWIW I have never thought your house smelled like dog. I would just put in some Glade plug-ins all over the house in a neutral scent.
  • I'd take dog smell over artificial smell any day. If you febreezed, I'd not even make it past the entrance of your house :

    I'd wash the dog, change the house filters and maybe try essential oils they kind that hang on the counter with sticks in them to draw up the smell. We had one of those in a vanilla upstairs and it scented the entire house just enough. 

     

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  • I'm afraid to ask, what's the deal with febreeze = the devil?

    Our house is relatively open so, when I cook, the entire upstairs smells like dinner. Ugh. I put a small saucepan on the stove with a quartered orange, whole cloves, whole cranberries, cinnamon sticks and water. Simmer for awhile and that seems to take the dinner smell away.
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  • imagefjaril:

     change the house filters  

    This does make a huge difference, especially if you let the circulation fan run constantly. 

  • I would change the filters and light a candle but I would also get rid of all the evidence that you have a dog when you do the showing (dogbowls, dog bed, leash, etc)-like throw it in the laundry basket with the last minute clutter (maybe this is unrealistic).  If you can quickly grab it and throw in your car, then that might help.  I swear non-pet owners make up pet smells sometimes, at least I've noticed it with cats. If the dog stuff isn't in there and it just barely smells of *something* then they might not attribute it to 'dog' if there isn't something obvious looking at them telling them there is a dog living there.  And it might not make an impression strong enough for them to really process it and comment.  I'm assuming you take the dog with you out of the house when you show it.
  • When we start getting the dog smell in the house, I use the carpet powder for pet odors. I get it at HEB, and I think it's like $1.50 or so. Pretty cheap. Refreshes the house for a couple of weeks.
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  • This is one of my top 3 favorite posts ever. My dogs are exceptionally stinky this week. 
  • imageespana21:
    I would change the filters and light a candle but I would also get rid of all the evidence that you have a dog when you do the showing (dogbowls, dog bed, leash, etc)-like throw it in the laundry basket with the last minute clutter (maybe this is unrealistic).  If you can quickly grab it and throw in your car, then that might help.  I swear non-pet owners make up pet smells sometimes, at least I've noticed it with cats.

    Our realtor said something similar about our cats. Sometimes seeing evidence of the animal makes people think they can smell it.

    But when it does get uber-stinky I use the Arm & Hammer Pet Fresh powder on my carpets and rugs. The smell of the powder can be kind of intense for me (I'm also sensitive to perfumes and stuff) so I would only use it on one room at a time and at night or on a day when there weren't going to be showings. After a couple of hours the perfume fades. 

     

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