In my perfect world, neither my dogs or I would be exposed to, or live in a toxic environment. But it’s not a perfect world and unfortunately we are exposed to hundreds of toxins/chemicals every day of our lives.

When we bought our house almost eleven years ago, we didn’t really give any thought to the wall to wall carpeting in the living room, master bedroom and den. I had been tired of chasing dog hair bunnies on the hardwood floors of our previous home, so I welcomed the idea of carpet, not really considering what a pain in the ass it could be.

I don’t want to burst your bubble or anything, but here’s a hard truth.

Dogs ruin carpets.

Do I LOOK like I’m ruining the carpet? NO, No I LOOK like I’m taking a nap.

If you have carpet and dogs, here are some guarantees.

• When your dog has to vomit, they won’t go into the bathroom to puke on the tile, so it’s easy to clean up. Oh no. They will ALWAYS make for the carpet, and I’m not talking about the throw rugs, I mean the wall to wall carpet, or the area rug that’s just too damn big to wash.
• At some point in your dog’s (and your carpet’s) life, there will be ass juice. Yeah, you know what I’m saying. Fido did not just do the latest dog dance on your carpet, no. No, Fido did the Boot Scootin’ Boogie and in the process released those anal glands and all that nasty stuff that went with it. If Fido was good at what he did, he may have left a little bit of poop with it.
• A dirty or wet dog will head right for the rug. Because really, when they’re dirty and wet, they only want to roll around, and only a carpet will do.
• No matter how well you train your dog to eat their treat on their bed or mat, odds are at some point, that Kong and all the stuffing that was in it, are going to be bounced around. On your carpet.
• On that same line of thought, a dog that loves to steal food, will run with their stolen goodies and eat them on your carpet. My carpet has seen chicken necks, Bisquick, and so many other things, I’ve actually lost count.

Chicken necks. On the carpet. What a lovely surprise.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say, “If carpets could talk, the stories they’d tell.”

I would love to get rid of that carpet, and get down to the hard wood below, but having Senior dogs with mobility issues means it’s not in the cards at the moment.

And yes, I could put Stanley Steamer on speed dial, but my pocket book doesn’t allow, and I cannot realistically shampoo my carpet every week.

With the snows of winter and the rains of spring, come wet dogs.

I’m not sure about your dogs, but even if we’ve toweled them off, they still run straight to, and roll around on my rugs. Now I don’t typically mind the smell of a wet dog, but when I walk in the door and say, “My house smells like wet dog,” I gotta take action.

My dogs also like to ‘swim’ on the carpet, and they naturally do this on the seam, so not only do I have a stained, stinky carpet, I also have a carpet that is fraying in certain areas.

I told you dogs ruin carpet.

I’ve given up on the stained carpet. I talked to my carpet guy and he said, “Jodi, if you replace it now, the dogs will just ruin it again.”

He’s got a point. So I do the best I can to prevent and treat stains when they happen, but what do you do about that smell?

Carpet fresh is nice, but I worry about the chemicals and toxins in it. Luckily for us, making our own carpet fresh is pretty simple.  All you need is baking soda, essential oil, and a shaker can.  I use an old parsley container, but you can pick up a really pretty glass one at your local department or dollar store. (If you do this, use some plastic wrap or aluminum foil between the container and the lid, to help keep the baking soda from losing it’s smell.)

I like to make this in bulk, so I go to my warehouse club and buy a large box of baking soda. I also buy my coffee in bulk, so I save a the container, and I’m able to make a large batch. (NOTE: Make sure to wash that coffee canister out good, or guess what? Yup, you’ll have coffee smelling carpet freshener)

It’s important to choose an essential oil that is 1) Non toxic to dogs and 2) Has a smell you can tolerate.

I say, non-toxic because if you choose a smell that say, your dog finds interesting, you could have a dog licking the baking soda up from the rug, and then you have a totally different mess.

The other important thing to note, is to make this in advance and let it sit at least over night, so the baking soda really absorbs the smell of the oil. If you are in a pinch, you can let it sit four hours, but I wouldn’t do any less, and I really think 24 hours is the best.

I use Lavender essential oil, because I like the smell, and it also has some calming benefits.

I usually make the freshener in layers. A bit of baking soda then a drop or two of oil. Once it’s all in the container, I’ll give it a small upside down shake, careful to keep my hand on the top and bottom of the container so there are no mishaps.

Then, after your dogs have eaten and been walked, (really, you don’t want those assholes walking through this stuff) sprinkle it all over the carpet. I like to let this sit on the carpet for a half an hour to an hour, so while your waiting, pour yourself a glass of wine and sit down with a good book.

You deserve it.

NOTE: Wine also has calming benefits, but they don’t make an essential oil that smells like wine, and if they did, it wouldn’t be safe for dogs!

This is part 2, in a series designed to help you make simple changes, that will help reduce toxin exposures for both you and your pets. If you missed part 1, you can read about it HERE.