How do you keep carpets clean when you have a dog?

[SamPoodle123]

Our carpets are starting to look quite dirty (especially the steps). I hate this. I have young children as well as a dog. I am curious what other dog owns do, besides get rid of carpets! Do you get your carpets professionally cleaned a few times a year?

Our dog attracts dirt and wiping her feet does not get rid of it all. I would like to ban her from coming upstairs, but the rest of the family does not want this. Of course I love having her upstairs, but I just hate having dirty looking carpets (mainly the stairs, but it looks so bad when you enter the house as its the first thing you see).

Another one with waterproof laminate downstairs and dog not allowed upstairs. We have a 'nice' room downstairs with cream carpet but dog isn't allowed in there. She has plenty of space, access to the garden constantly and I don't get stressed. I think we need to bath her every couple of weeks to keep the doggy aroma at bay even with hard floors.

I think we need to bath her every couple of weeks to keep the doggy aroma at bay even with hard floors
I can’t remember the last time I bathed mine!
She’s very difficult to bath as she likes to pull the plug out...
I find that vacuuming and brushing her regularly stops any doggy odour.

Carpet cleaner all the way. there really good, you can get them pretty cheap now too

I have tiles all downstairs they end up so dirty and fluffy with the dog and she isn't allowed upstairs unless she's been groomed an she's allowed that day whilst she's fresh!! She gets groomed once a month so once a month we pretend to camp in the bedrooms with the dog ?

Hard floors downstairs. Dog can’t go upstairs.

She goes to groomers every 6 weeks but when she’s very smelly I wipe her down with dog wipes. Helps a bit.

I've given up caring.

Hard floors aren't great if you have a large dog, they and slip and really damage themselves

OP I have always had dogs and it seems like I have always had children since I have grandchildren living with me.

I don't want to sound smug but my son bought me a rug doctor with attachments so I can clean carpets, rugs, chairs and mattresses. I use it a lot.

I have hard floors in general areas but a really nice carpet in my lounge which I try to keep separate by closing the door. This is inevitably left open and the dogs love going in there. The rug doctor brings it up like new. Only drawback is drying time so i try to use it when people are not going to be here for time.

You can hire these things easily, but there are other carpet cleaners on the market that you can buy. Before I got the rug doctor I had a vax cleaner and it was ok for a while but did not last long.

I can’t remember the last time I bathed mine!

Same here. They go swimming or out in the rain and get a good towelling afterwards. I do have a bottle of dog shampoo for occasions where one of them has rolled in something unpleasant but I tend to just focus on the offending areas. They also get regular brushing.
They have the run of the house and sleep where they want (usually wrapped round me and dh).

Not sure it's good to wash dogs too often or use carpet cleaners regularly. Healthier for kids to roll around on a grubby carpet covered with dog hair than a pristine one full of chemicals.

I have 3 cats and have a carpet cleaner which I use regularly.. the water is always black although my carpets look clean !!

We have hard floors and avoid bathing unless absolutely necessary. It strips their coats of the waterproof qualities and can cause skin irritations. In fact ours hated the one time we bathed her but loves water when outside!

I hate hard floors with a dog - the tap tap tapping noise of them walking about drives me crazy, and the dog skids if it runs indoors, which is funny but irritating too. So I just put up with having manky carpets, and the lockdown means nobody is allowed in my house to visit anyway.

I don't have carpets. My dogs are out twice a day all weathers. I have hard wood floors and tiles. I just mop. I have a rug near fire which I vax once a week.

Hard floors all the way, so much easier to mop. I have runners randomly placed to the dog isn't slipping and sliding everywhere!