Man’s best friend—cat lovers may disagree, but dogs have a reputation for being humankind’s closest companion. Part of owning a pet is cleaning the mess they make, and seasoned pet owners know it is a task you just have to take care of. Sometimes, though, events can surprise us, and the pooch who’s been housebroken for years has an accident, or the proper poodle who won’t walk through mud suddenly decides to roll in something—ahem—not so proper. We’ve got the guide for how to remove dog poop.
Let’s start with the simplest scenario—you’re a new dog owner, or taking care of a pup while its “pawrents” are out of town, and wondering what the best way to clean up is? The good news is that housebroken dogs are generally quite clean, all things considered. You might spot your pup going potty in the yard, in which case it’s best to clean it up right away to avoid someone naively walking out into the yard and getting some on their shoe. The same rules apply as in a park: poop bag, scoop and trash can. You’ll want to wash your hands after, too.
Puppies might not know better, or older dogs might not be able to control their bodies as well anymore—in any case, sometimes we just have to face the situation where there’s dog poop inside and we want to get rid of it. The best thing to do is to act fast. Oh, and don’t scold your pup—if you didn’t catch them in the act, they won’t remember and will just feel upset that you’re angry. Just keep up the hard work in housebreaking them.
This is the better scenario—the best thing to do is grab your poop bag, scoop the mess up, and throw it away safely. Make sure to wash your hands after. Now, get a powerful cleaning product and spray only the area the poop was in, and leave it to work. You don’t want to be spreading these particles around. Make sure to keep the dog away from this area. Once the cleaner has done its work, you can mop it up. You might want to mop the floors with a cleaner, but that’s up to you.
This is going to be trickier. Carpet is harder to clean, regardless of whether it’s dog poop, oil stains or coffee stains (but we know which stains we’d rather be working with!). As above, scoop up what you can from the floor with the poop bags, and dispose of them safely. If you can stand it, allow the feces to dry overnight. Fence off the area and crack open a window. Having done this, scrape off any excess and then apply carpet cleaner, following the package instructions.
Inexplicably, dogs will sometimes roll in their own or other dogs’ mess. Yes, that cute little Pomeranian will do it just the same as a street dog—dogs will be dogs! Once you notice that they’ve got something unsavory on their coat, you’ll have to get rid of it as quickly as possible. This is a little different from the other methods.
First, put on some gloves to protect your hands. Then get out as much as you can from their fur. Once you’ve done this, hose down your pup outside, focusing on the area with the poop. The water from your hose will likely be cold so you don’t want to give them a bath just yet. Just make sure to get out as much as you can outside. You can apply a bit of pet shampoo to that area, and then rinse. Once you’ve done this, you can bathe your dog as you usually would, and dry them off so they don’t stay cold.
It can be hard not to feel mad at your dog for making you deal with dog poop, but they don’t do it intentionally. It’s just part of looking after another living being, and all the other aspects of dog ownership more than make up for it!
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