Puppy Has Pee-peed on Carpet

Of all doggy accidents on flooring accidents, the most difficult to clean up must be doggy pee on carpeting. At least for me, it was. And with half of my home's flooring in carpeting, it was an inevitable cleanup task during doggy housetraining. Having an effective, practical cleanup strategy helped lessen the anxiety of encountering surprise wet spots in the carpet.

If you've ever researched professional steam cleaning, the most popular method of cleaning is called "hot water extraction" (HWE) or equivalently "steam cleaning" (although steam is rarely used.) Hot water extraction carpet cleaning sprays a solution of hot water and detergent on the carpet and then extracts (vacuums) the dirty water leaving clean carpeting. The tricky part is not using excessive water (long drying times) or excessive detergent strength (can actually attract dirt if too much detergent is left on carpet).

Through experience, I discovered that I clean pee from carpet with my own hot water extraction method with stuff I already had: (1) hot water from my hot water kettle and (2) my wet/dry shop vacuum. Further, I didn't have to use detergent (just plain good old hot water) if i cleaned up the doggy urine from the carpet within 24 hours!

Pour Hot Water over Accident Area

Hot water extraction (HWE) cleaning of carpet uses hot water as solvent to carry away the offending "dirt" (in this case urine). Using my electric kettle (see sidebar), I pour a nice amount of hot (boiling) water on the carpet containing the doggy pee pee (pet urine) accident area. One one hand, using really hot water has a few nice benefits:

1. Heat kills any smell-causing bacteria and yucky germs that might be in the doggy pee-pee (pet urine) spill area.
2. Heat helps the carpet dry faster after clean-up.
3. Heat, in general, helps clean faster and more efficiently. (It is the reason you use hot water when washing your hands, clothes, dishes, etc.)

On the other hand, heat entails hazards to keep in mind:

1. Excessive heat can damage carpeting materials, fade dyes, etc. However, by testing in an inconspicuous area, I found that I could use boiling water on my carpet safely.
2. Heat can burn yourself. Be careful.

The amount of clean hot water I pour onto the carpet depends usually depends on how quick I catch the accident. If the doggy pee "circle" is tight and well defined, usually a few cups of water are enough to soak the accident area entirely. Overall, I prefer to make more, smaller soak/vacuum steps rather than one big soak/vacuum step.