Does it smell like dog urine or feces, or just wet dog? I think replacing the carpet is a good idea. If urine has leaked through the carpets and padding you'll need to use Kilz. Actually, I'd do Nature's Miracle then Kilz. If the floors were so bad the plywood had to be replaced I think you'd be able to tell, so I assume that's not the case.

If urine stains aren't an issue, I'd still replace all carpet and have the vents cleaned. She could also rent an ozone machine.

If it's carpeted, I bet once the carpet is gone, the smell will go too. We bought our first house from a woman who apparently just let her dog pee all over the house. Ripping out the carpet was a disgusting job (we were young and did it ourselves) but once it was gone, so was the smell.

I agree. Remove carpets. Hopefully, there is nice hardwood that you can refinish.

If not, that would be my first investment.

That said, is this house so unique that you really don't want to look further?

I agree, it's probably just the flooring that is holding the smell, but I would also repaint everything to help freshen it up. If there is a urine smell, though, just make sure the sub floor isn't saturated with urine. If it is, it will need to be replaced before you replace the carpet.

We had to rip out carpet, the pad and get the wood floors redone. Plus, there was a layer of dog grime on all the baseboards. We scrubbed them and repainted.

Never again. Well, I'd pay someone to do it the next time.

Yep, it's always in the carpeting!

Oh, it's always in the carpeting, but it can be in other places as well. I looked at a house I liked very much a few months ago, but there it was also in the wallpaper, etc. (They had no wall-to-wall, only a small amount of sisal matting.) You would have had to remove or redo every surface in the house to get rid of it, but most places won't be that bad.

However, if they painted while the dogs were still there, you may need to paint again, or possibly prime, too..

ETA I would have bought the house despite the wet dog smell, but I thought it was overpriced.

Wet dog smell can and will go away after new carpet is laid and the house has had a good cleaning, so I wouldn't let that stop me from buying a home I liked. On the other hand, if it were cigarette smoke, that would definitely be a deal breaker. That smell permeates everything from the drywall to the ventilation system and NEVER goes away.

They should also change the heating filter.

What I know is the only way to get rid of the smell on hotter humid days will be to remove the carpeting, and hope they cleaned up accidents before they seeped into the underfloor.

At least it's not cat pee! It's probably fixable.

It's a 50 yo house that has been respectfully updated. We didn't think to see if there was hardwood under the carpet. Not sure if that would be bad or good? It's the right size, the right price and a good neighborhood and location. DD needs to adult up and just make an offer. While we have been looking, this is now very real for her.

I don't think anyone who fosters dogs is going to be letting them pee all over--they're usually trying to train the dogs and while there are probably accidents, I bet they get cleaned. Wet (or dry) dog odor isn't something that will soak into floors like urine.

Does the place generally look nice and well-maintained? Then it's probably okay. (I've been in places in the south where the AC smelled a little doggy...)

If you really think it might be an issue with the flooring underneath, make a note to have the inspector pull the carpet up to check the flooring. If it's subfloor, it's an easy enough fix, but if there is hardwood, that can be a bit more involved. The guy who lived in our place before us had several dogs and wouldn't let them out enough. The poor things pee'd by the door so much that it literally rotted the wood out in one of the corners of the subfloor.

Get a gallon of Nature's Miracle or other enzyme cleaner, too. It's really amazing for urine odor.

If the stain is in the plywood subfloor you can scrub it with soap & water. Let dry, then apply a sealer before new carpet. It worked for me.

We renovated a foreclosure which had previously housed a pet pig. Yes, PIG. It stank, and yet the carpets had been replaced. We took out (ourselves, eeew) all the carpet, and loa and behold, they had not cleaned the subfloor, and the radiator covers were disgusting.. On a hot dry week, we scrubbed the subfloor of the affected rooms, once with Pine Sol and then with bleach and water. Turned on fans, left the windows open, and came back after a well deserved 3 days off. No real smell, but we sealed each subfloor before re-flooring. There was absolutely no scent other than the smell of the flooring when we were done. Freaking hard work, but we doubled our investment.

My senile neighbor let her 57 year old son move into her home for 3 months while his new one was under construction. The jerk had 3 Havanese adult dogs and he knowingly left them alone for hours on end and they did their business all over the rugs, ceramic floor and garage too.

When he left the stench was overwhelming. My neighbor moved in with her son and put her house on the market. The realtor paid to have everything cleaned but on a humid day you can still smell it. I think it was in the subfloor and seeped into the grout.