“The dogs and I had a bad day”: dog ownership gets messy

Today, getting off work was just the start of my day. While I was teaching Achebe and Shakespeare to unsuspecting high schoolers, my dogs and husband had been having a very bad day.

My husband went to work at 4 am and hit a deer, totaling his truck. Instead of calling me, he let me sleep and go to work relatively stress-free. I know he meant well, but that meant I was totally unprepared for my evening. When I got home, he told me he’d had a bad day. Here’s what I’ve pieced together of my husband’s day, the apparent reasons why my house smelled like dog poop when I got home, and what I did to fix it.

After totaling his truck, my husband dealt with the insurance company most of the morning. Unfortunately, that left Mason and Belle home alone and in a predicament. They both had accidents before he made it home in the rental car.

The dogs are potty trained and rarely have accidents, and Mason has a bad habit of trying to cover up any accidents that occur. Like any self-respecting dog, when he has an accident, he eats it. GROSS. Like most other dogs, eating poop makes him ill. He proceeded to vomit dog poop on the floor. DOUBLE GROSS.

My husband tried valiantly to clean up the mess, but that didn’t stop the smell from assailing my nostrils the moment I opened the door. My husband was in the yard trying to clean out his truck so the insurance company can tow it tomorrow. The dogs were on the dog run under his supervision. After nearly puking myself, I set to work trying to rid the house of the stench. As I worked, I thought that the world needs some tips on this. Hopefully, I’m not the only one who’s ever done this or will ever have to do it. So, without further ado, tips for getting the smell of dog poop/puke out of a home:

Clean all the mess. If you didn’t witness the accident, be aware that your pup may have spread the mess. Following your nose is often more effective than looking with eyes alone, as gross as that may seem (hey, pet parenting is gross stuff.)
For hard floor, mop with Pine-Sol or similar disinfecting floor cleaner.
For anything washable, I recommend spraying with a water hose, followed by Shout stain remover, followed by washing with the detergent of your choice and Lysol laundry disinfectant (bleach works too).
For carpet or upholstery, there are lots of effective cleaning products at Chewy.com. Dab, don’t rub, the stain after applying your chosen cleaner. Rubbing will work the stain and smell further in to the fabric, and may make stains larger. For bad stains, no matter what cleaner you use, multiple treatments will most likely be required.
Light a candle for the smell. This works quickly, and is especially helpful if the smell is so overpowering that you’re having difficulty cleaning.
For a more natural odor solution, boil water with lemon juice, cinnamon, vanilla extract, or a combination thereof.
Make sure your pets are clean, too. Bathe them if needed.
Be patient. Remember that you love your pet, and take deep breaths (outside, if needed).

Of course, as soon as we let the dogs back inside, Mason vomited again and this process had to be repeated. When we let him in the second time–you guessed it–he vomited yet again. I took him outside and had a long talk with him. I’m not sure how much he understood, but either it worked, or his stomach was finally empty. It’s been a few hours and, fingers crossed, we haven’t had another incident.

The house finally smells like normal and my husband’s belongings are out of his truck. I sanitized everything, cooked, and ate supper. It’s been five hours since I got off work, and I’m finally slowing down. Mason is sleeping it off. Belle must not have eaten any poop, because she’s begging me to play. If there’s a lesson I can learn from my dogs today, I think it’s to not let anything ruin your day. A bad morning hasn’t ruined their evening.

(Legal thingy: If you click the link in step 4 and buy something from Chewy, I will earn a commission at no additional cost to you.)

The importance of dog training

One of the most common reasons for giving away a dog is that they’re destructive and/or not house trained. It’s true that living with a poorly-trained dog is a nightmare, but no dog should be given away because of a human’s failure to train them.

I don’t believe there’s any such thing as an untrained dog. Dogs are trained by their humans, whether for the better or worse, whether the human is consciously attempting to train them or not. Dogs react to their surroundings, and they learn from their experiences.

For instance, if a human pets their puppy every time the puppy jumps on them, that pup is being trained that jumping results in a reward. When that puppy grows up, that behavior will be less cute, and will result in scratches. If it’s a large breed, the dog may also knock people over. The owner usually doesn’t understand why the dog won’t stop jumping, failing to realize that the owner is the reason the dog jumps.

In the same way, if a human takes a dog outside after it pees in the house, the dog may think being taken outside is a result of peeing in the house, and may not understand that it should be peeing outside. It is the owner’s responsibility to take the dog out often enough that it won’t need to pee inside, and to praise it when it shows the desired behavior.

It’s important that dogs be trained not only for human convenience, but also for their own safety. A dog that is not trained to stay or come may put itself in dangerous situations in the event it slips out of a collar, house, or yard. When Belle was a puppy, she escaped through the door as I came home, and ran towards a busy road. Thankfully, we had been working on “come” and she ran towards me as soon as I gave the command. (Yes, the next thing we worked on was training her not to run outside.)

Lastly, training is important because without training, dogs get bored. Dogs (especially the more intelligent breeds, in my experience) display destructive behaviors if they’re not being mentally stimulated. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that your dog has mastered basic obedience and is now done. Training is and should be a lifelong process. Reinforce training often, and move on to more advanced training when your dog is ready for it.

Basic obedience may include: no, sit, lay down, shake, roll over, come, heel, and stay.

Advanced obedience may include: fetch, get it, drop it, guard, stay (for longer periods or while in another room), go (name a place), hush, services for owners with disabilities, and silent hand signal commands.

Training should be a positive experience for both dog and owner. Most dogs love to please, and a well-trained dog is much easier to manage and will make the owner’s life easier. There are lots of free websites with training tips, or you could always seek out some in-person help if you’re not comfortable training at first.

P.S. I think the best place to get training supplies like halters, clickers, and treats is Chewy.com. They have free 1-2 day shipping on orders over $49. (If you click this link and buy a product, I will make a commission at no additional cost to you.)

Belle’s Story: When our new pet isn’t what we expected

Many pets are adopted each year with the expectation that they’ve found their “furever” home. Sometimes, the story has a happy ending. All too often, however, animals are returned to the shelter or given away because the new owner wasn’t prepared to care for them.

This is Belle’s story. Belle started out life as an unwanted puppy and was given to me because her owner couldn’t provide for her. Nothing about her story went the way I expected it to go, but I decided that no matter what, I wouldn’t give up on her.

I adopted Belle when she was about 4 months old. Her previous owner had lots of dogs. He couldn’t afford lots of dogs. He didn’t have time for lots of dogs. Thankfully, he reached out for help before he got into a hoarding situation.

When we arrived, it was raining.

My best friend went with me because, well, meeting strange men alone because they promised you a puppy isn’t the wisest decision in the world. The yard smelled bad. It wasn’t hard to tell why. The dog pen was out back. The baby of the bunch had no name, although I was told that this was her second owner. She didn’t really stand a chance against the bigger dogs when they had to fight for food. She was skinny and her fur was thin. They all had fleas but most of the dogs seemed fed, at least.

The man told me she was pit/rottweiler. I could immediately tell that was false but didn’t argue. He got her out of the pen. I put a collar on her and tried to lead her around. The puppy was too afraid to move. I knew I would have my work cut out for me.

My best friend carried her to my (almost brand-new) truck and we let that muddy, shaking, flea bitten mutt ride shotgun all the way home. We were in love with her.

I often joke that my house is “White’s Flea Bath and Pet Rescue.” I should really have a sign made. A flea bath will do wonders for a pet.

I’m not sure Belle looked any better after her bath, but she sure smelled better. She had the short fur and build of a pit, but she had the ears of a hound. I’ll never know for sure what breed she is, but that’s something I decided was unimportant. At the time, she was less than 20 pounds and I could nearly count her ribs.

She wasn’t pretty or even healthy. She had constant diarrhea. I assumed the hair loss was from the fleas. I was also fairly certain she was anemic. There were lots of fleas. Luckily, I had just bought a house and removed all the carpet. I didn’t even have couches. I barely had furniture. This all helped make the flea problem a short-lived one.

I named her Belle (Beauty) out of hope that she would one day be beautiful. At the time I named her, she was a half-bald, itchy, skinny pup. I like to think she grew into her name.

I got rid of her fleas and fed her well for a couple of weeks before bringing her to the vet (what are they gonna do, tell me she has fleas and is underweight?) Even though she had gained some weight and her ribs weren’t quite so visible, her condition raised some eyebrows. She was examined, weighed, wormed, and brought up to date on her shots. After taking her history, the vet told me I was doing the right things and that he could spay her at 6 months old.

Things did not go as smoothly as planned. Even though her worms had been treated, she still had watery stools. Even though she had been flea-free for a while, her fur just wasn’t growing in right. And she scratched all the time.

The next vet trip ruled the scratching and thin fur a flea allergy. Since she was now on flea and heart worm prevention, we thought it would sort itself out. It didn’t. Since a Google search is considerably less money than a vet visit, I decided to try to eliminate grains from her diet. She had her first solid poop a few days later.

By the time she was old enough to be spayed, her fur was growing in. She almost looked healthy when she went in for surgery.

On her first birthday (a guesstimate of St. Patrick’s Day-ish), she was a healthy, happy puppy. I was so proud of her progress. Visitors to my house, on the other hand, were not. She still wasn’t completely potty trained, and no matter what I did, she always jumped on and scratched people.

Looking back, I’m sure the transition from yard dog to beloved pet set her potty training back significantly. Her previous owner told me she had never been in a house before. At first, I was a patient potty trainer. After 8 months, I was growing more frustrated after every accident. There were days I completely understood why people give away dogs who are difficult to potty train. But I wouldn’t give up. By this time, I was also dating my now-husband, and he gave me lots of advice because his dog had been difficult as a puppy, too.

Whatever breed she’s mixed with (some kind of bird dog maybe?) must be very high-energy. Belle hasn’t calmed down since she got healthy. It’s like she’s powered by a motor that never stops. She even runs in her sleep. She learned basic commands in a heartbeat (wayyy before she was potty trained), but still, the jumping persisted.

It wasn’t until recently that I could confidently open my door to a visitor. While Belle no longer jumps full-force onto everyone she sees, she still likes to raise herself up on her back legs and will place her paws on someone to greet them. She has stopped jumping on my husband and I, for the most part. It’s refreshing to only really have to worry about her under unusual circumstances.

There are two issues that persist, but my husband and I are tackling them each day. We put pet gates up on the bedrooms because we couldn’t stop her from eating cat litter and peeing on the bed. I feel guilty for not letting her sleep on the bed like she used to, but hopefully this will give her time to mature and we can someday allow her on the bed again.

Naturally, I thought Belle peeing on the bed was a potty training issue at first. Given her history of trouble in that area, I thought peeing on the bed was the last step in potty training. Eventually, we figured out that it was more closely connected to her separation anxiety than it was to her potty training difficulties. Now that we’re working on that more intently, she seems to be a much happier puppy.

Belle was certainly not what I expected. I wanted a pit/rottweiler to be my guard dog, but I got a hyper bird dog with allergies who peed on everything I loved for almost a year. It would have been easy to give her away, like her previous two owners, but persistence and patience paid off. As I type this, Belle is lying to my left: happy, content, with a full coat of fur, with her leg doing the cutest little kick as she chases what I can only presume is a squirrel in her puppy dreams.

I love my sweet Belle girl. I have no doubt about it: she was worth every moment of sweat, blood, and tears. She was worth every vet visit. She was worth the potty training nightmare and the seemingly endless flea baths. She is worth more than her expensive allergen-free food. I have a loyal companion until the end of her days, and she’s even a pretty good guard dog, too.