How often do you wash your curtains ...

[TheStudioWasFilled]

and other soft furnishings if you have dogs? We have three dogs and no carpet or soft furnishings e.g. rugs or cushions. Also, no fabric settees. But we have curtains in most rooms. We air the whole house every day for an hour or two (yes, it does get freezing this time of year!) because we try to avoid having dog smell.

Anyone who visits says they can't smell our dogs (even very 'honest' friends) which I can believe because we are constantly cleaning and airing. But we only wash our curtains every 8 - 10 weeks. The dogs are not allowed in the bedrooms.

If you have dogs, how often do you wash your curtains?

It's not the same as smoking at all, smokers are actively emitting thick clouds of particles, dogs just smell a bit which rubs off onto the things they touch.

I'm another who didn't know you could get pet hair dissolver, off to investigate. We don't have curtains in the living room now, switched to blinds but when we used to we did always have that cat-level band of dark fur. They don't tend to go on the bedroom windowsills so no bother there.

Smoking inside a home and having a pet in a home are really different OP. As PPs have said, smoke gets everywhere and into all furnishings. The smell from dogs is not a gas that can permeate everything. The smell is just on and around the dog itself. If it leaves hair on furnishings, those might smell, but otherwise that smell is not going to permeate fabrics.

I just washed mine this weekend actually. But probably once every year or so.

I should add, not because of my dog just because normally a kids thrown dip or yogurt or something ends up on them that I cant just rub out

So why do you hear some people say that they could tell a dog lives in a particular home just by the way the house smells?

I have a dog. I wash curtains when I decorate so not very often! My also honest friend tells me me house doesn’t smell. I believe her.

presumably it's because they don't wash their dog beds and things in direct contact such as rugs often enough but it's nowhere near as strong as cigarette smoke and I'm sure doesn't infect curtains unless they are long and the dog leans or sits on them.

My curtains are dry clean only and in 8 years they have been dry cleaned once and febrezed a few times. T
his feels like one of those "how often do you bleach the ceiling" questions where way OTT and unnecessary cleaning is held up as reasonable. Curtains never need that much washing even the disposable hospital curtains probably aren't changed so frequently. If you are worried about the dog smell, wash its bedding. Or the dog (although too much washing isn't great for dogs either).

If you have the time and money and don't mind paying for the heating and washing, suit yourself of course.