Dog urine and if left to sit for long- its smell can become a menace in your home leaving you frustrated and helpless. The longer dog urine is left unattended the deeper it gets soaked into your rug, affecting both the smell of your home and your pocket. Some of the remedies you have read about may give you a sparkly rug, yet leave that annoying smell behind. So here are 8 proven ways to clean dog urine off your rug as well as eliminate that smell.

1. Dish Detergent
This method works well for both new and old stains. If the dog urine has been on your rug for long, you will need to first of all locate those stains and you can do this at night using a black light. Simply switch off the lights in the room and turn on the black light or ultraviolet light. It will highlight the stains which you can mark out using chalk. 

Once you have known where the stains are, get some dish detergent and mix it with some water. Saturate the spot with the solution and let it sit for up to 2 hours. After this, place a damp towel on top of the spot at least 3 times, squeezing out the towel after each time. 

2. Wet towels
This method works best when the dog urine is still fresh on the rug (10 minutes or less). You may use either cloth or paper towels. Make sure that the towels are damp and not dripping wet. Layer them one on top of the other on the area where the dog has peed. Place a weighty object on top of them to help them sit properly so that they can absorb the urine better.

You may use a heavy book or even a light metal you have around the house (if you are using a book make sure that you cover it with aluminum foil or plastic wrap to avoid wetting it). Leave the weight on for 10 minutes. The moisture in the towels will pull up the dog urine as the weight presses them down.

3. Club soda
To use club soda in rug cleaning, you still need to mark out the urine spots using the black light method. Once you have located them, use chalk or post-it notes to mark them so that you do not miss a spot while cleaning. Apply some club soda on the stains and let it sit for up to 10 minutes. 

Get a clean towel and soak it in clean plain water, rinse out the water and place the damp towel on top of the club soda to soak it up. Place a heavy object on top of the towel and leave it that way overnight. In the morning spray some enzymatic cleaner onto the spot and wipe clean.

4. Vinegar and baking soda
Vinegar and baking soda are everyday home remedies that you have probably used elsewhere- they are a must have in every home. Well, you can also use them to wipe out that dog urine. All you have to do is spray the area with vinegar and then coat the spray with some baking soda. 

Take some towels- cloth or paper (either works fine) and cover the coated area for up to 24 hours. After the 24 hours have elapsed simply wipe away the coating with clean water. This method can be used for both new and old stains.

5. Dish soap and Hydrogen Peroxide
First apply a thin coating of baking soda on the dog urine area and leave it for a short while. Then fill a cup with hydrogen peroxide and pour it in a spray bottle. Add a tablespoon of dish soap and gently mix them together. Spray the solution onto the baking soda coating until it is saturated. 

Massage the mixture gently into the rug using your fingers or an old toothbrush. Leave it to dry. Once it has dried, vacuum the rug and wipe with cold water and your rug cleaning is done! Note: Hydrogen peroxide causes damage to certain types of rugs. It’s therefore advisable that you test it on an out of the way area before applying it to the stain.

6. Enzymatic Cleaner
This method involves spraying the area with an enzyme cleaner. Enzymes basically break down particles, and in this case an effective and non-toxic enzymatic cleaner will break down the proteins in the dog urine which eliminates smell as well as the desire for your dog to pee in that spot again since it’s the smell that draws it in the first place. 

You may make your own enzymatic cleaner at home using items that you probably already have in your kitchen cabinet (brown sugar, and orange peels mixed with water). You can also get one from any nearby pet store. NOTE: Certain enzymatic cleaners are harmful to some kinds of rugs like wool, therefore read the labels on those that you buy from the store to check if they are safe for your rug.

7. Extractor or wet-vac
Rug cleaning as a whole has never been simpler especially for dog owners. An extractor will give you both a sparkly rug as well as a smell free one. You can easily rent one from your nearby hardware store or ask a professional to come and do the cleaning for you. The rule for this vacuum, however, is that you do not add a chemical of any kind to it. 

What it does is that it sinks water into your rug while drawing out the dirty one at the same time. It therefore helps to suck out all the urine that has been sitting at the bottom of your rug causing awful smells.

8. Padding Replacement
There are times when rug cleaning alone will not do and your rug padding requires replacement. This usually is the case when dog urine has been left to sit for a very long time, and is difficult to clean out. It is usually a last resort to especially deal with the persistent bad odor and it requires replacing your padding as well as the rug entirely. 

After the padding has been removed, thoroughly clean the floor and replace with new padding and carpeting.

Conclusion

Never use ammonia in cleaning rugs because it smells like dog urine, and will instead attract the dog to continue peeing in the same place. 

Also be sure to keep your dog away while cleaning since it draws in the smell and will come back to pee there- defeating the purpose.