Carpets Smell Like Wet Dog?

Last week I received a telephone call from an existing client whose first name is Wendy. Wendy and her mother have been regular clients for the past (4) years. I have cleaned carpets, rugs, upholstery, and tile & grout for both mom and daughter alike. Wendy called because she was moving into a 2,500 square foot rental home that smelled like wet dogs. She wanted me to come over and take a look and determine how much it would cost to clean.

I thanked her for the call and reminded her that it was the home owner's responsibility to clean up the house before renting it to her and that she should speak to him about it. The home owner went out and hired a local carpet cleaner who advertises weekly in the PennySaver. The fee to clean this house was $130.00. Wendy arrived at the home with the carpets still damp and the smell of "wet dog" was even worse. Because Wendy and her oldest son is allergic to dogs this was a major problem. As I inspected the home (3) days later with Wendy you could definitely smell the dogs. According to the neighbours the previous owners had a bulldog and a rottweiler living indoors. You could also see dog hair in the corners and along the baseboards indicating that the carpets were not vacuum before the first cleaning.

I explained to Wendy what was causing the smell and that I could remove the odours for $250.00. This job was going to take me 3 1/2 hours to complete which it did. Removing the wet dog smell requires that you use special chemicals and procedures. A general cleaning will often times not work. Wendy returned at the end of the cleaning with a friend to inspect the home and they both commented that they only thing that they could smell is the lemon flavored deodorizer that I had used. The carpets not only smelled better but looked brighter as well. I also showed Wendy that by using my HEPA filtration vacuum system I was able to extract over (2) quarts of dog hair and dirt particulates, that my competitors had left behind, before the actual steam cleaning process. Needless to say I completely removed the wet dog smell and Wendy is a client for life.

The home owner hired and cheap carpet cleaner and it wound up costing him more in the long run because he agreed to pay for my services as well. It bears repeating, "Cheap things aren't good & good things aren't cheap." If you have a question about wet dog smell please contact me at paddle@frontiernet.net.

Michael Hull