How to Get Rid of Dog Smell from Laundry

Quick Answer

Dog smell on clothes after washing is usually caused by oil, dander, and hair build-up inside your washing machine drum and seals — not your detergent. The fix: wash pet items separately, use the hottest safe cycle, and clean your machine monthly with an enzyme-based cleaner designed for pet residue.

Further reading: Which? — washing machine temperature guide · Which? — how to clean a smelly washing machine

Why Dog Smell Is Different from Other Laundry Smells

Food stains and sweat are relatively simple for modern detergents to handle. Dog smell is not. It's a cocktail of sebum (the oily secretion from your dog's skin), apocrine gland secretions, saliva proteins, traces of urea from urine, and the bacterial breakdown products that form when any of these sit damp for more than a few hours. Each component needs a different chemical approach, which is why a basic non-bio liquid on a 30°C cycle barely touches it.

Sebum is a fatty, waxy residue that clings to fibres the way candle wax clings to a tablecloth. Saliva and dander are protein-based. Urine compounds lean alkaline once bacteria start to work on them. The Kennel Club notes that regular grooming reduces the amount of this material your dog sheds onto fabric in the first place — but no amount of brushing stops it entirely, especially with double-coated breeds.

This is also why dog smell has that distinctive damp, slightly sweet note. It's not one odour; it's several overlapping ones, each needing to be broken down rather than simply rinsed away.

Why Clothes Still Smell of Dog After Washing

Your nose isn't wrong. Clothes that smell of dog after washing are usually contaminated by the machine itself, not by the wash that just finished.

With every load of pet bedding, towels, and blankets, dog oils, dander proteins, and hair fibres accumulate on the drum walls, inside rubber seals, and along the drain paths. Over time this residue builds up into a layer that warm water activates — releasing odour back onto your "clean" clothes.

Standard detergents are formulated for food stains, sweat, and dirt. They don't contain the enzymes needed to break down the specific proteins in pet dander or the fatty acids in dog skin oils.

Pre-Treating Dog-Specific Stains

Pre-treatment does most of the heavy lifting. Once a stain goes through a full wash untreated, heat and agitation can set it — and then you're fighting a much harder battle on the next cycle.

Muddy paw prints: Let the mud dry completely, then brush off the loose crust before anything gets wet. Water and wet mud turn a flake into a smear. Once brushed, dab with cool water and a little enzyme detergent for ten minutes before washing.

Drool and lick patches: Saliva is protein-heavy, so reach for a detergent containing protease. Work a small amount directly into the patch, leave for fifteen minutes, then wash at the highest safe temperature.

Accidents and urine: Rinse with cold water first — hot water can set the urea and make the smell permanent. Follow with a 30-minute soak in a bucket of cool water, 100ml white vinegar, and a scoop of enzyme detergent before the machine wash.

Best Detergents for Pet Households

Label-reading helps here. Look for "bio" or "biological" detergents that explicitly list enzymes — protease and lipase are the two that matter most for pet residue. Amylase is a bonus for food-related stains on bedding.

Avoid anything billing itself as heavily perfumed. Fragrance doesn't remove odour molecules; it sits on top of them, and the two combined often smell worse than either alone. A lightly scented or fragrance-free enzyme detergent gives you a clean baseline rather than a masked one. Which? reviews are a useful UK reference point for independent detergent testing.

For a wider routine covering everything from fur control to cycle choice, our guide to the best laundry tips for pet owners is worth bookmarking.

Step-by-Step: Removing Dog Smell from Laundry

Step 1: Shake out pet items before loading

Shake blankets, dog beds, and towels outside or over a bin before putting them in the machine. This removes loose hair before it can block the drum or filter. Hair that makes it through the wash can deposit on other items and clog the pump over time. For heavier items, our walkthrough on how to wash dog beds without clogging your washing machine covers the machine-safe approach in detail.

Step 2: Wash pet items separately

Don't mix heavily contaminated pet items with regular laundry. Wash dog beds, towels, and blankets on their own cycle so the hair and residue can be flushed out without coating your clothes.

Step 3: Use the correct temperature

Cooler washes (30°C) save energy but don't break down protein-based odours effectively. Wash pet items at 60°C where the care label allows. Higher temperatures denature the proteins in dander and kill odour-causing bacteria more effectively.

Step 4: Add white vinegar to the rinse

White vinegar (distilled, not malt) is a mild acid that neutralises alkaline odour residue. Add 100–150ml to the fabric softener drawer. It rinses out completely and leaves no vinegar smell on clothes. Do not use with bleach. A scoop of baking soda added with the detergent handles acid-side odours from the other direction — the two work on different ends of the pH scale.

Step 5: Clean your washing machine monthly

This is the step most people miss. A clean drum doesn't transfer odour to clean clothes. An enzyme-based machine cleaner — one that contains protease to break down pet proteins and lipase to dissolve skin oils — removes the build-up that regular washing leaves behind.

The Dryer Matters Too

If dog smell survives the wash, a tumble dryer will bake it in. Dryer heat sets any residual protein and oil into the fibres, and once that happens no amount of re-washing fully reverses it. Always check a pet item with your nose before it goes in the dryer — if it still smells damp-doggy out of the machine, wash it again rather than drying it. Line-drying in fresh air is gentler and gives UV light a chance to break down lingering odour compounds on the way.

The same logic applies to the dryer drum itself. Lint traps catch pet hair, but fine dander still coats the interior. Wipe the drum with a damp cloth every few weeks if you dry pet items regularly — otherwise the dryer becomes the second source of transferred smell after the washer.

What Doesn't Work (and Why)

• Baking soda in the drum — mildly effective at neutralising odour mid-wash, but doesn't remove the underlying residue inside your machine
• More detergent — makes the problem worse by adding to the residue layer inside the drum
• Fabric softener — coats fibres with a scent layer but doesn't remove odour molecules
• Generic machine cleaners — most contain basic descalers and bleach, not the enzymes needed for pet-specific build-up

Related Reading

• Best Laundry Tips for Pet Owners
• How to Wash Dog Beds
• Why Does My WM Smell Bad?

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does dog smell last on clothes?

If the source of contamination (the machine drum and seals) isn't cleaned, dog smell will return within 1–2 washes. Once the machine is clean, clothes washed in it should stay fresh.

Does washing at 90°C remove dog smell?

High-temperature washing helps denature the proteins causing odour, but if your machine drum is coated in residue, it will re-contaminate the load. Clean the machine first, then wash at the highest temperature the fabric allows.

Why does my machine smell of dog even though I don't have a dog?

If you're washing items that have been in contact with a dog — blankets, children's clothes, shared laundry — residue still accumulates. The machine doesn't distinguish between sources of organic residue.

How often should I clean my washing machine if I have dogs?

Monthly is the minimum for pet-owning households. If you're washing dog bedding weekly, twice a month is more effective.

Will fabric conditioner help remove dog smell?

No — fabric conditioner coats fibres with a waxy layer that can actually trap odour molecules instead of releasing them. If clothes come out still smelling of dog, the problem is residue in the machine itself or under-washing at too low a temperature, not a lack of fragrance. Skip the softener and re-wash at a higher temperature with an enzyme detergent.