First of all, I highly recommend reading a good potty training book and following through with it. You will be glad you did when you start to notice other peoplesʼ horror stories. You see, the longer the process takes, the longer the process will take. I like “Way to Go! How to Housetrain a Dog of Any Age” by Karen B. London Ph.D. and Patricia B. McConnell Ph.D. The authors give great, simple advice in a book you can read over lunch.
I believe we did a good job training our dogs – they were perfect after a couple of months and less than a handful of accidents total between both dogs. But we were really looking forward to giving them free reign of the house while we were out… so even we rushed a little and had a few accidents.
In either case – urine or poop (yuck!) – make sure to use a special pet cleaner with enzymes so the source of the odor will be removed. Even if you canʼt smell a trace of the mess, your dog will (and your dogʼs instinct is to go back to that spot again next time). It is best to use a product like Natureʼs Miracle, but if you do not have that handy, apply club soda or baking soda to help neutralize the odor. Make sure not to use household cleaners with ammonia or vinegar – they will actually strengthen the odor (again, even if you donʼt detect it, your dog will).
After you have neutralized, and hopefully removed the source of the odor, if there is still a stain, you can use the same method as parents do with their babies during potty training. My family has used hydrogen peroxide successfully on colorfast carpet:
- remove all of the “solid waste”.
- apply peroxide.
- gently dab area with a white cloth.
http://armywifetoddlermom.blogspot.com/2005/09/how-to-clean-poop-off-of-carpet-in-3_16.html
I have heard of some mixed success with OxiClean also, but that seemed to leave a bit of odor.
