How to Remove Dog Hair From your Rug

Dogs are definitely our best friends, providing us with comfort, companionship and loyalty. But, as much as we love them, we don’t love the fact our rugs are full of the hair shed during their constant rolling around and playing in the house.

When you have a dog (particularly one with long hair!) the non-stop hoovering is a chore, yet the dog hair remains stubbornly embedded in your rugs. And no matter how much you love your faithful hound, the constant pet hair is an infuriating side of life as a pet owner.

Luckily we have a few rug cleaning tips for homes with pets, to get your house and rugs looking brand new again by removing all that pesky ingrained dog hair…

A Quick, Easy And Simple Way To Remove Pet Hair

One of the quickest methods to get dog hair out of your rugs is to simply use a lint roller. These are specially made to pick up any fluff or pet hair on clothing or furniture, making them perfect for a fast solution. They’re surface cleaners only – so won’t remove ingrained hair – but are useful for a quick spruce up.

Squeaky Clean Rugs

Another method that is very effective, but a little more labour-intensive, is to use a rubber squeegee, This hack is by far the safest and the most effective one of all the hacks. If you’re looking for a DIY fix for dog hair this is the one we recommend. A squeegee will successfully and efficiently reaches pet hair that is ingrained in your rug, and removes a lot more than either fabric softener or baking soda without causing damage!

Ensure you have a rubber squeegee (like you’d used to clean a window or shower screen). They have a strong grip that’s more beneficial when it comes to gathering pet hairs. Gently scrape across your rug in vertical strokes that follow the same direction. This will create a pile of hair gathered into one area which you can then hoover up.

Although it won’t make your rug smell fresher, and it’s both time-consuming and a little uncomfortable to do (particularly if you have a large rug), it will be successful in removing most of the excess pet hair, and is more friendly for keeping your fabrics crisp than adding products that weren’t designed for rug cleaning.

The Softer Way To Remove Dog Hair…

Using fabric softener can effectively remove any ingrained pet hair in rugs and carpets. This is a fast, effective, and cheap DIY method that requires nothing but a bottle of fabric softener, a bowl of warm water, an empty sprayer bottle, and your hoover.

To start, you will need to mix a little fabric softener with the water (make sure it’s well mixed), then pour it into the spray bottle. Spray your rug a few times with the mixed solution, and once it has dried on the rug, use your hoover to remove the mixture – you’ll suck up a good chunk of the dog hair that’s dried into the mixture.

It’s a quick hack that leaves your rug smelling fresh and relatively free from dog hair, but *BE WARNED* although this is a great hack as a one off, If done on several occasions it will leave your rug feeling clogged and sticky, and will cause it to attract dirt more quickly than usual! Another issue with using water and fabric softener is that it can completely ruin a water sensitive rug, for example rugs that are made from cotton or 100% Viscose. This is because it’s a cellulousic fibre, which means that if it gets damp and isn’t dried quickly will stain with ugly brown water marks that can become permanent stains.

A Different Way To Bake…

If you don’t have any fabric softener to hand, you can also use baking soda, which will clean and remove pet hair just as well.

Sprinkle a bit of the baking soda on the rug and leave it for a minimum of 10 minutes. Once you have let it settle, hoover your rug for more effective pet hair removal than vacuuming alone, and a nicely deodorised room! As with fabric softener, this hack also comes with a warning from us: you’ll struggle to completely remove all the baking soda out of the rug when vacuuming, so over time it will start to build up and clog the rug! (and your vacuum)

I would be using these two controversial methods only on very rare occasions, like when the in-laws have announced they’re about to arrive for tea 🙂

Because We Know You’re Busy…
All these methods are a great way to spruce up a very hairy rug, however, they are ineffective in when it comes to really stubborn hairs, and anything that’s been trodden in for a while. They also don’t address other problems that come from having a pup sharing your rug, like issues of hygiene, fleas, urine stains and persistent odour (you know, that ineffable scent of ‘wet dog that’s dried’). They’re also time-consuming, and we know you’re busy.

If you want a more effective solution that removes all the ingrained dog hair, while protecting your rug from harm, and your family from germs and bugs, a professional rug cleaner is more cost-effective and ultimately better than several stop-gap methods that don’t completely work, and can actively damage your rug.

Fortunately for you, all we do, all day long, is take care of the rugs of the denizens of Northwich and the surrounding area. So if you’re looking for a professional rug cleaner in Cheshire, and an end to your dog hair woes, we’re happy to help. We can remove any pet hair, eliminate pet odours, and get your rug looking like new again with one of our specialist rug spa treatments. Get a free quote online, or pop into the shop with your rug…