Dog stinkin' dirty rug of doom!

[Xadrian]

Ok, so we got this free giant rug from someone off craigslist a couple months back. It's a pretty nice rug from Ikea, I guess it cost them around $200 or so. It's in good shape except there's some issues..like the fact it reeks like dogs! I'm not talking like a little doggy odor..I'm talking like pee-frickin-u! (Just without the pee or poo smell) So, it's doggy smelling..so I put some baking soda setting on it for a week and then vacuumed it up. Still reeks. So during this I have pulled out the carpet cleaner (rug dr, so decent on cleaning/suction) and have gone over this rug 4 times already with the upholstery tool (sigh..takes forever) and the water in the tank is always black/dark brown. It's smelling less doggy..but it still reeks and I can't help but think when will this rug ever be clean?!!? It's like it's pulling filth from another dimension endlessly!

This is my first nice rug I've ever had..any ideas how to take the dog reek out of it and to get it cleaner faster? Is there a certain way to clean rugs? And Febreeze is no match for the royal reek of this rug.

[jdr250]

Have you tried making a rug cleaning solution for your carpet cleaner? I use 1/2 gallon of vinegar, 1/2 gallon of water and 4 tablespoons of borax. It's very cheap to make and the vinegar and borax are both odor fighters. The only thing is that while the rug is wet there is a strong odor of vinegar, but once it dries it dissapates completely.
I have dogs and I don't have a problem with dog odors,but I don't know if it will work for super kennel smell.

[madhen]

I'd just keep cleaning it until the water comes up clean. Even if you mask the smell, if you don't clean it, it means you're bringing a filthy rug into your house.

I have taken to spot cleaning with a mix of borax/baking soda, dissolved in hot water, and just one hand-pump of scented hand soap. Maybe once you get the dirt out, you can go over it one more time with something scented to your liking, but I would definitely do that to a clean carpet. It may be taking you longer than you'd like, but you'll feel better that it is clean, and the carpet will ultimately last longer. (Also, if it reeks of dog, I'd be worried about flea eggs and such, so I'd be cleaning that thing like crazy!)

[PrairieRose]

I'd be tempted to burn it....I seriously doubt that you ever get it out, no matter how many times you clean it. Sorry.

[nvmommyx6]

I agree with the vinegar to clean the total crap out of it!!!...I have a large area rug and when I got it I cleaned it with the vinegar solution, hung it to dry then rolled it up in a black plastic bag with several dryer sheets and let it bake in the sun for a couple days!!!
Good luck.....

[Patty A]

If you can find a place outside to hang the rug, do it. Then use a high pressure nozzel on your hose and spray the rug with the water until the water runs clean (the water dripping from the rug) Do this AFTER you use the cleaning solutions you have put on it. Then it will rinse clean. It works great, I hang my big rugs off the fence and spray them after putting shampoo on them. By rinsing until the water runs clean it really does clean the rug completely clean.

[stinkbug]

I don't think I'd put much more work into a free rug. You may never get the smell out, or think you do, and you've actually just gotten used to it. I don't mind used, but I'm not a big fan of other people's filth.

[Xadrian]

Thanks for the replies. Prairie Rose you crack me up, I have the same sentiments!

I feel bad pitching it, there are no stains etc, it looks like a brand new rug (although with the dirt I'm pulling from it, I'm sure the colors were once more vibrant)

The idea about squirting it with the hose was one I really wanted to do, but I live in an apartment -even though I have a water spigot outside we aren't allowed to allow any water on the pavement =lame (I mean whats the point of having it here, to water the plant corpses outside?) I would think with that I could just try to extract the water with the carpet scrubber and let dry a bit. I may just go out there and do that next week though not like a lot of people are home on the weekend anyway. The vinegar I will probably do as well, maybe the borax (although I'm not really familiar using it) to help get the reek out.

I'll let you know next weekend how it goes.

[zakity]

What about taking it to a friend's house to hose it off?

[Xadrian]

lol I would do that if I had any friends here. I really don't know anyone except for people I work with. We just moved here this summer.