Dog-Run deoderizers?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Okay, so I’m pretty sure this goes in IMHO because I’m asking for YHO’s or YnsHO’s. Actually, what I’d prefer is your experience with similar situations and/or your expertise with organic chemistry and biological cleaning.

So my wife owns two dogs that she pretty much ignores and they use a dog run at the back of the house that my wife doesn’t clean up very often. Out of sight = out of mind, right? :mad:

The problem is that, with the summer heating up, the ground back there is exuviating some astounding odors. At this point I’m glad my neighbors haven’t complained to the HOA. Getting my wife to pick up after the dogs will be a blessing, but I also realize urine and feces have soaked into the gravel back there.

What have you guys used to get rid of the odors left behind by your dogs? Do any of you have (realistic) suggestions for something I could spray or sprinkle back there that would eat the nitrates and whatever that has trickled through the gravel? I could keep the dogs from going back there for a few hours, but it can’t be something that will damage their feet or eyes or noses or whatever.

My wife is big on ‘organic’ non-poisonous approaches and I understand modern laundry detergents are more about enzymes than ‘soap’. Would that be a more eco-friendly/natural/pet-friendly approach?

–G!

2

Well, I have not used it, but every time I see this sort of question, the most talked-about product is Anti-Icky-Poo.

I’m concerned about the welfare of the dogs from your post, however. Are they getting enough human attention? Please don’t leave them back there for long periods of time.

3

Your wife could not be an awful pet owner and rehome them to someone who will actually care for them. If summer is hot enough to make the crap start to stink up the yard, it’s probably too hot for the dogs to be out there alone and ignored all day, too.

4

This.

5

Daily (minimum) or twice daily (better) cleaning of the yard will do a lot to reduce the odor. Pickup, and rinse.

Lime or Sweet PDZ will help too. Lime can be caustic though, it’s best used if you can keep the dogs out of the area for a day, and then wash off or rake the stuff in, depending on the footing in the run.

How big a yard are they in? What kind of dogs?

Also, if it’s a concrete pad a bleach solution can work, but again rinse it well. You can also get Enzymatic cleaners (Anti-Icky-Poo is great. Silly name, great product) but they work better on man made surfaces rather than dirt.

I agree with the above though, if the dogs really are just living outside with minimal human interaction then it would be better to find them new people.

6

A 35lb Lhasa Apso and a 10lb mini poodle.

They have a kennel cage in the garage with a flappy door to the outside. The outside is behind the house; a 4’ x 16’ run with gravel and dirt.
Very little direct sun gets back there, which is why there’s gravel instead of grass. If I owned instead of rented, I’d lay down cement and a drainage channel, then put fake turf slightly raised above it.

Actually, we pay attention to them on our way in and out of the house as we pass through the garage.
Plus the garage has my workbench and when I’m puttering on nights and weekends I give them attention too.
I wouldn’t suggest that’s ‘enough’ according to them, nor does it seem enough to me, either. They are her dogs and her responsibility (or lack thereof) and they really prefer her attention. I’m just trying to reduce the odor before it causes trouble with the neighbors.

They really spend most of their time in the shade of the garage or on the door stoop.

It ain’t happening, and I’ve nagged enough to jeapordize our marriage. It ain’t gonna happen.

I’ve suggested this in my more aggravated moments (see above). She’s also said, “When these two are gone, we should get you a big German Shepherd.” because she knows I like the breed. As much as I’d love to have a Shepherd again, I won’t put it through this negligence. I tell her we’ll have more freedom to travel more often if we don’t have the added expense of boarding a pet.

I’m gonna look into this one. I think just treating the surface will be insufficient, particularly because it’s gravel and dirt back there.

Same question, I guess, with Lime (Lyme?). I’m assuming we’re talking about the white mineral, not the citrus fruit. Correct?
What happens to the treatment product once odor source is gone? Do they die, go elsewhere, wash away?

–G?
The things out here
They’re just to remind me
Ev’ry Dog will have its day
…–Jon Bon Jovi (solo)
…Santa Fe
…Young Guns II Soundtrack

7

I can’t even begin to tell you how enraged I am by the dog’s situation at your home. They are being neglected and you push it off as your wife’s responsibility. They need to be removed from your “care” and placed with someone who will give them the love and attention they need and desire.

8

Well, at least they’re smallish dogs. But that’s not much room for them - I’m guessing leash walks and obedience work or play times aren’t happening either, right? That’d make it much harder to find them homes, especially if they aren’t truly housebroken.

I don’t mean to berate you, it sounds like you had the dogs foisted on you, but it just bugs me to hear about animals who crave interaction left to themselves. And the unsanitary conditions make it worse… Argh. OK, I’ll stop, sorry.

Anyway, since it’s natural surface out there then yes, whatever you apply will be washed away when it rains and will need to be reapplied every so often. Lime is indeed the white powder used in agriculture/gardening. If the landlord will allow it you might do some good by adding more gravel (fairly fine for their paws) and then giving it a good hosing with a weak bleach solution every so often. It’ll kill the grass, but it should help mitigate the smell. Solids really do need to be scooped though - it draws flies and those flies carry REALLY bad diseases.

Don’t know what sort of disposable income you have, but there are, believe it or not, poop-scoop services in some areas. You might do a search and see if anyone around you has that sort of business, or just possibly you might be able to get a pet-loving kid to come clean for you in exchange for a little cash and some time playing with the dogs. There was a point in my life where I was crazy for animals but couldn’t really have what I wanted at home, so I did pet sitting & dog walking. I got paid a little, which was nice, but the animal-time was what I really wanted :slight_smile:

Good luck. I hope you and your wife can come to an agreement about how to improve the dogs’ lives.

9

The problem with that is that they may well end up in a shelter, and if they are not housebroken and not socialized well they’ll be euthanized. Breed rescues might help though, if they are purebred or nearly so.

10

This, this, a thousand times this!

11

Does anyone ever actually touch these dogs?

12

I agree with you guys, it’s NOT an optimal life. Personally I couldn’t stand by and watch them live in filth…

But they have each other, and they have shade and a roof and they can go in and out as they please. That’s FAR better than many dogs have, and if these dogs go to a shelter than either they or another pair of dogs will die. Finding a new home for these two I bet won’t be easy, and at a guess if they did they’d be going into much the same life - unless a breed rescue will take them.

The OP isn’t going to suddenly decide he loves dogs and take them indoors and cuddle them just because someone on the internet tells him to, or belittles him. Will any of you offer to take the dogs in? No? Well then, come up with some useful solutions for making these dogs’ lives better that the OP and his wife are likely to at least try.

Would you really rather the dogs go somewhere where they are separated, put in clanging metal cages and have strangers walk them on a leash a couple of times a day? And maybe have their lives ended with a needle? Their situation now is not how you or I would keep our dogs, (poop flies and stench are not my idea of fun living!) but they do at least have a home where someone cares enough to keep them out of the weather and feed them.

What they need is a clean run, anyone out there have ideas?

.

13

I think it’s less cruel to euthanize domesticated, social animals than to force them to be outside 24/7 with virtually no human interaction and in relative filth. But it’s not like we have to go right to that-- there are trainers and rescues who help people like this, they don’t have to just rehome to some weirdo off of Craigslist. Of course, this would mean they’d have to show a little interest in the welfare of their dogs beyond that they are making the yard unpleasant scent wise.

If they get rid of the pets they don’t care about and treat exclusively as a nuisance, then they don’t have to worry about the stench any more. Of course, it sounds like they’d just run out and get a new dog-- a bigger, smarter dog that requires more care.

14

How is this different from their current situation? Except that they will get a walk and their kennel will get cleaned? At a shelter, they *may *be euthanized, but it will be more humane than the life they have now and they will have a chance to get people who will love them. If I could take them I certainly would.

15

And that’s my point.

If they can’t be bothered to pick up poop, do you think they’ll put in the effort of finding the right new home? My bet would be taking the easy way out, which is dropping them at the shelter.

According to the OP, they do have the garage so it’s not like they are tied to a tree in the sun. Yes, they ought to have play time out of the run & pen, (maybe they do - that wasn’t really discussed). They ought to have the pen picked daily. In my world they’d only be out there when they couldn’t be with me, but not everyone wants dogs in the house. I say then why have a dog at all, but that’s another discussion.

We don’t really know anything about how these guys are kept, other than the run stinks. The dogs may be happy as clams - they don’t know any different after all. I do feel sorry for them, but not to the point of saying they’d be better off dead. A kind death is a good thing, but not always the best thing.

16

Oops, the above was to Diosa…

Because it’s a tiny cage, alone, with strangers. Again, I don’t think their current situation is good, but being dropped at a shelter should be a very last resort.

Maybe I’m crazy but I hate to see frightened confused animals, taken away from all things that are familiar. We don’t know anything but what the OP has written, there’s an awful lot of jumping to conclusions and calling him names or flinging accusations isn’t going to get the dogs any help. It will only build resentment against them and against his wife.

17

But he hasn’t asked how to make the lives of the dogs better, he’s asked how to make the dogs even less of an inconvenience for him and his day to day life. Sure, reducing the filth might slightly improve the lives of the dogs indirectly, but that’s not at all the motivator for the OP from what’s been written here.

18

Hey, I have this kid chained up in the basement and he pisses and shits in the corner, and it really stinks. My husband stuck him down there, and I mean, I don’t like it, but what are ya gonna do?? :mad: Marriage!

Anyhoo, how can I clean up the smell? I hose the corner out once a year or so, but that isn’t really cutting it, and now that the basement is getting hot, it’s starting to effect me. I told my husband to take better care of it, since it’s his kid chained up down there, but he doesn’t listen, and I hate nagging. :mad: It would be a real shame to jeopardize my marriage just because my spouse is a lazy sociopath, ya know?

And please don’t tell me to call CPS!! Everyone knows how bad foster care is, and at least here he gets scraps thrown at him once a day, and I even talk to him a little when I’m down fiddling with the hot water heater.

Thanks!!

19

Fucking trash.

20

I think this is the best long term solution. Even just a couple days a week would be an immense improvement over what’s happening now. I hope they at least get shave-downs regularly, two breeds that get horribly matted and filthy when not groomed properly. Ugh.