For those selling a house, if you have dogs please open windows before your viewings!!

[Darkandstormynite]

Just come back from viewing another property where the smell of dog really hits you as you walk through the door. Do people not open windows or clean carpets anymore??

Honestly this is the third property we've viewed where it's just been so over powering. I'm desperately trying to look past it to look at potential whilst viewing the house, but honestly it's difficult when you just are fighting down the urge to open windows and doors.

One house tried to mask the smell with air freshners, which just made it worse and more overpowering!

Just open windows, wash dog bedding and shampoo the carpets. Not that difficult really. We've had dogs and this is what I thought people did as standard when trying to sell, it's what we did.

I agree OP! We're house hunting now and it's such a turn off to walk into a smelly house 🤢

But I guess the owners probably can't smell it or surely they'd do something about it.

I viewed a property being sold by an older gentleman that stunk of cannabis and deep heat, that was fun.

Oh I bought a house that smelt musty - like that old people smell. It smelt like my grandparents house and it added to my love for it it obviously doesn't smell like that now!

At least they know what they're getting and whether they want a smelly dog house.

Worse to think a house is fine, only to discover after they've bought it that the flooring and plaster needs replacing because it stinks.

It's not just dogs - cats and other indoor pets like rabbbits/Guinea pigs/gerbils etc can smell worse due to litter trays/damp sawdust/hay etc.

Also hate the smell of last nights dinner lingering be that fish, steak, curry anything strong smelling - just open the windows!

Smokers houses are like that.
I’d never buy one that smelt of smoke, it’s near impossible to remove.

I know a few people with very strong dog smell. I don't think it's your average dog owner.

Anyone who says all dog owners houses stink is just stupid and rude, and they probably stink themselves without realising.

Yes, you can always smell a dog as they are distinctive but it does mean every house stinks of the owners actually clean

The stink is a combination of:
Noseblind
Carpets
Carpets and furnishings not getting cleaned
dog not getting washed
Pet dander etc left around
Dog breath
Windows shut all the time

Oh yes. Those orange ceilings and the tar film all over the woodwork!

The smell really doesn't leave when the dogs do - I've known multiple people, myself included that have found it impossible to get the smell of a dog out of carpet when moving into a house previously occupied by dogs.

Why would you want to live there if it reeks of dog though? The smell will linger.

Oh yes. We bought a smoker's house and the tar dripped off the ceiling when we were removing the (four) layers of wallpaper. To be fair we knew it was a doer upper but I wasn't prepared for the utter awfulness of it. It stank. Plus I was pregnant at the time. Gah! We did make the house lovely though.

But totally agree with dogs. I have walked out of viewings when houses stink. You'd be surprised how little some vendors do. We have a poodle now (she doesn't really smell like dog). But if we were to go on the market I'd remove all dog paraphernalia and clean. But also some people really never open windows. What's that about.

@Youthinkyoureuniqueyourejustastatistic 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 - get a grip.

My thoughts exactly @Hugasauras . Every day, a new way to insult those of us who live with dogs 🙄

Meanwhile we bought a house where the master bed stinks of second hand smoke but it was absolutely fine when we looked around.

It's a terrace so I'm guessing they asked the next door neighbour to only smoke outside whole they had viewings.

We've replaced the carpet, curtains, re plastered and repainted and it still smells but not all the time - so it must be coming from next door

🫢 I just don’t think about Covid anymore. Hay fever is worse, currently.

I viewed a lovely house that stank of dog, by the end of the viewing I could feel my stomach turning and had to hurry along the chatting just to get out! Although I liked the house we did not offer or have another viewing because as PP have pointed out, not all dog owners houses smell therefore I had concerns that the house might not have been looked after and we could uncover other things.

I remember viewing a house where the garden had been used as a dog loo for years. There was hardly any grass, just piles of shit. The house smelled of it too.
I have never been so disgusted.
The agent actually asked if I had any feedback after. ARE YOU JOKING? Hahaa.

I have three dogs and my house doesn’t smell. Because I clean it and my dogs.

If a house smells of pets opening a window isn't going to do much. You have to be meticulous in cleaning. But no matter how clean, a dog smells like a dog - if the pet was recently there and you have a decent sense of smell you will know.

a faint smell of pet is ok and to be expected.
overwhelming stink smell is not.
opening the windows will help a little. but not if pet beds are not washed and carpets and other flooring not clean.

Doomed, I tell ye!

Definitely doomed! 🤣

Personally I would rather see a house at it's worse than its best.

If it stinks horribly of dog when you go round, it's going to stink even more when you are in it 24/7.

Animal hair gets everywhere. If there are carpets shit and piss gets ingrained into them.

I'd rather know in advance that I'm going to have to gut the place and price appropriately rather than turn up into a house thinking it was OK only to find when you close the windows it reeks like a sewer.

I’d rather know about the dog stink so I can choose not to buy the house. It’s hard to eradicate.

I think it’s a lack of basic hygiene generally and I’m sure people become immune to it if they live with it.

Dogs, cats, animals in general, cigarette smoke smells are all unpleasant if they’re ingrained in the fabric of the house and I would be concerned about the level of cleanliness in general in the house and therefore, what had been neglected.

We viewed one house that was brown with years of cigarette smoke and I don’t think it would have been possible ever to rid it completely of the smell.

Ugh dog hair and dog smell in houses is absolutely gross.