How Do You Remove Dog Poop from Your Carpet Safely

Whether you're training a brand-new puppy, caring for a senior pooch, discovering that your canine companion is sick, or just stumbling upon an accident, sooner or later, there's a pretty good chance you're going to end up with some dog poo in a carpet.

And, if you've ever had to clean something out of carpet before, you know it can be a huge hassle. Stains, liquids soaking into the subfloor, and lingering scents that encourage repeat behavior tend to stick around, no matter how many rounds of soapy water or baking soda and vinegar scrubs you try to apply.

Worse, if you use harsh chemicals or cleaners, there's a chance you'll stain your carpet in the other direction, leaving permanent blemishes you'll need to replace the carpet to get rid of.

So, how do you remove doggy doo from your carpets safely? I've put together some tips and tricks, what not to do, and a few answers to questions you might have. Plus, a lot of this works for cat (and other pet) droppings as well!

How to Safely Remove Dog Poop from Your Carpet

First, let's go through the process of how to remove these unfortunate accidents from your carpet, ideally without damaging the carpet, leaving a lingering stain or scent, or having to rip up the whole carpet.

Broadly speaking, you have two options. You can use a commercial cleaner meant specifically for cleaning carpets, or you can use household products and cleaners to do the job.

I'll warn you up front: while household products might be more sustainable and will be things you have on hand, they aren't going to be as effective as using a dedicated carpet cleaner. If you just want the spot gone, get the professional stuff. If you don't mind a little elbow grease and want to save a few bucks, the home remedies can work.

I'll cover both in the same set of steps, because the overall process is basically the same, just keep it in mind as you go.

Step 1: Gather Your Supplies for Dog Poop Removal

I recommend putting together a whole kit in a basket or box that you can set aside, so when an accident happens, you can just grab the box instead of having to hunt down a dozen things from around the house.

Here's what you need:

• Gloves. You don't want to be handling this stuff with your bare hands, so rubber gloves are a must.

• Baby wipes. The first step is to clean up any solid waste before you can clean the underlying carpet, so wipes are necessary. If you don't want to buy some, you can make your own.

• Paper towels. You'll have liquids to deal with, so absorbent disposable cloths help a ton.

• Baggies. Technically, you don't need these, but something to toss all the dirty stuff in to throw away is handy.

You'll also want your cleaning chemicals.

• Soap and water.

• Vinegar and baking soda. Use white vinegar, not flavored vinegar, please.

• Club soda and baking soda. This is the Oprah special, though I don't think it has advantages over vinegar.

• A professional chemical. By far the best I've encountered is Folex. Other brands you can try include Nature's Miracle, Totally Awesome, and OdoBan.

• An enzymatic cleaner, to soak in and break down any lingering proteins or scents.

You can do the work by hand, but you can also consider a couple of devices to help. If you don't want to buy them, many hardware stores will allow you to rent a carpet cleaner for a few hours.

• A handheld carpet cleaner. Though once you've spot-cleaned an area, a full-room deep clean might warrant a larger machine.

• An iron. You can do a homemade steam clean with some damp cloths and a clothes iron, though you do risk burning the carpet if you aren't careful.

Once you have all of this stuff on hand, you can get to the actual cleaning.

Step 2: Remove as Much Solid Waste as Possible

Anything you can scoop up, scrape up, wipe up, and pull up with just your gloved hands and some wipes, do so. Try to avoid pressing in or smearing anything if you can. Instead, grab and pull up as much as possible.

Depending on the kind of accident, there may be some liquid involved. The more solid it is, the easier a time you're going to have. Unfortunately, accidents often mean related illness or digestive upset, and that can mean some distinctly liquid messes to handle.

You can blot this up as much as possible, but it's also going to have soaked deeper into the carpet and will be harder to get out. We'll have it all up by the end of this process, but it'll be a bit harder.

Step 3: Get to Cleaning

Now it's time to use the cleaning solution you've prepared. You can use soap and water, or vinegar and baking soda, or Folex, or another chemical cleaner. You might even be able to use bleach, though be VERY careful if you're using bleach or a bleach-based cleaner and anything else. Bleach plus an acid like vinegar makes chlorine gas, and that can be very dangerous.

Spray or pour your cleaner onto the stain and let it soak. For a mild cleaner like soap, you'll want to let it soak for 10 minutes or so. For stronger cleaners, 5 minutes may be fine. Something like Folex can be dabbed up nearly immediately. Follow the instructions on any commercial cleaners you choose to use.

Once your cleaning product has soaked, dab it up with blotting (not rubbing!) using your paper towels. The cleaner will be lifting the poo from the carpet, and your absorbent towels will slurp it up to be discarded.

Repeat this step as many times as necessary to get the bulk of the stain out. With something like Folex, it will probably take just one or two applications; with vinegar or soap, probably a few more.

Step 4: Deodorize and Finalize the Cleaning

The last step is to make sure any lingering scents are removed. You want to remove them thoroughly, not just because you don't want to smell it yourself, but also because if your dog can smell it, they might associate the spot with a place they can go, and might commit a repeat performance.

The easiest option is to pour a layer of baking soda all over the area and let it sit for a few hours to absorb everything, then vacuum it up. You might have to repeat that a couple of times, though.

The better option, in my opinion, is an enzyme cleaner. These cleaners specifically target and break down the enzymes in pet leavings that cause scents, and can destroy them at a chemical level. It's way more effective, faster, and can even soak into the subfloor if you need it to.

Once you've deodorized, you're good to go. All that's left is to figure out why your pup had an accident in the first place, but that's a subject for another post.

Oh, and make sure everything is nice and dry. You don't want a lot of moisture lingering in the carpet, since it can cause mold and mildew to grow over time. That fan idea might be a good one, especially if you live in a humid area.

What Not to Do when Cleaning Dog Poop from Your Carpets

What should you avoid when cleaning up a doggy accident? A lot of it is pretty common sense, but it's worth reiterating; after all, common sense has to be learned somewhere, right?

Don't scrub. Scrubbing just rubs the grossness deeper into the carpet, and that's going to make it harder to get out. Blot and dab up what you can and repeat as necessary to get up everything.

Never mix bleach and other cleaners. Bleach and ammonia or bleach and vinegar will create toxic gases that will irritate your eyes, nose, and throat, and if you're in a small and poorly-ventilated area, it can even be deadly.

Don't just spray a cleaner haphazardly. Anything other than soap can strip colors from carpets if they aren't colorfast carpets. Test in an inconspicuous area before spraying or pouring something in a visible place.

Don't use chemicals in an enclosed space. Ventilation is essential, pretty much no matter what you're using, and if you don't have a convenient window to open, make sure doors are open for a cross-breeze. Get a fan if necessary.

Don't panic if the area you clean looks a little lighter than the surrounding area. It might just be because it's damp, and will fade once it dries. Or, it might just be that the rest of the carpet also needs a good cleaning.

Truthfully, while the vinegar and baking soda method can work, I think it's a lot of work for very little savings, and it ends up being less effective at cutting out scents than an enzyme cleaner. Unless you're really set on using just household items to clean up messes, at least get an enzyme cleaner.

Common Questions on Cleaning Dog Poop from Your Carpets Safely

There are some good questions that are worth answering, so let's cover them here. If you have another I haven't answered, let me know in the comments!

My dog keeps going in the same spot, how do I stop it?

Two things.

The first is training. You'll want to watch your dog and, when they're heading to that spot, use a distraction method to guide them in another direction and take them outside instead. Punishment doesn't work, but incentives to do something else do.

The second is odors. Dogs (and cats) use lingering smells to know where to go, which is why they tend to reuse the same places. That's why an enzyme cleaner is so important, since it can kill those smells at the source, at levels you wouldn't be able to detect but your dog certainly could.

Is there any way I can make clean up easier in the future?

Well, one option is to replace all the carpets with tile or hardwood. But then, that's a pretty significant project, and not one everyone wants to do.

One thing you can try is a stain repellent and carpet protector, something like Scotchgard. This stuff basically puts a super-thin coating on carpet, so that anything that gets spilled or left on it won't soak into the fibers themselves and stain. You might need a lot of it to coat all of your carpets, but it's fairly long-lasting.

I already mentioned keeping your supplies in one place, so they're easy to pull out and get to cleaning. Unfortunately, though, there aren't any miracle solutions, just ways to reduce the elbow grease.

Do I need a professional carpet cleaner to remove pet stains?

Nope! But I will say this: paying a professional to handle it for you can save you a lot of time and effort. If you're particularly weak-stomached and can't handle the cleanup, hiring someone can be a good idea as well.

The truth is, there's nothing a professional does that you couldn't, if you had the equipment and the chemicals. A lot of professionals will just use a commercial cleaner, similar to an enzyme cleaner or Folex, themselves, and the equipment they use is just a more expensive version of the same sorts of steam cleaners you can buy at your local hardware store.

Ideally, your pup won't have so many accidents that you need to invest in the hardware, but keeping the chemicals on hand is usually a good idea. If that many accidents are happening, you should probably talk to a vet and/or a dog trainer to figure out why.

So, there's my guide. Follow it once or twice, and you should be a pro at cleaning up accidents as well. Any other questions, let me know!