Real Estate Tips: How to keep the puppy love, but avoid the puppy smells

Meet the Ryders’ new puppy, Sherman Mayfield Ryder. The family hasn’t had a puppy for several years so while they all welcomed the puppy love, mom and Realtor Esta Ryder wants to avoid the smells. She offers tips for new and seasoned pet owners alike.

PHOTO SUBMITTED BY ESTA RYDER

The Ryder boys got a puppy for Christmas.

It is something our 13-year-old has been asking us to do for years. Finally, we did it.

He came in a box that Andy’s parents brought over on Christmas Eve. Grandma said that the box said Timothy Ryder (Andy’s dad’s name and Andy’s given name) so they must have sent it to the wrong house. She sets the box down and asks the boys to open it. Nobody moves. I am watching the box move a bit as the puppy was active but the boys didn’t notice.

Finally, my youngest son goes over. He says, “It’s a puppy.” The boys are in shock. Not like excited shock because none of them were expecting a dog. More like: “What is it doing here” shock. One of them even asked if it was for us! Then when they realized that this was for real, they got excited.

Andy told them that he needed a name. I wanted to name him Rocco, the name that I had my heart set on when Gavin was born. So much so that I could have been a little tempted to have baby No. 5 just in hopes of getting to use that name. Andy said no when Gavin was born and they all said no for the puppy. So we settled for Sherman (since our Beabull looks like a tank) Mayfield (we needed some Browns representation) Ryder. And we are in love with the dog. Not his smells.

So how do you avoid pet smells? I don’t know. I haven’t had a dog in 12 years. But I do know that animal smells can detract from the sale of a house. After cleaning up pee a few times on my floor, I desperately sought out the advice of friends and the vet and I can now offer you a few suggestions, none of which I can take credit for as the originator.

• If your dog is going to sit on your furniture, put a blanket down and wash the blanket once a week.
• Bathe the dog once a week. If you feel like the dog smells, there is a special product that you can use to clean up the underside of the dog in particular that can smell.
• Find a good product that helps get rid of pet smells from pee or poo (lots of friends offered different product suggestions).
• Burn candles.
• Vacuum. Vacuum. Vacuum.
• Have carpets cleaned either by buying a product that you use regularly or by a professional company.

Sometimes when we don’t know the answer, the best thing we can do is to seek advice from someone who does. That is why we sought advice from people who know much more about dogs than we do. For the new puppy parents like u,s or the seasoned pros who might be looking for some tips that they hadn’t thought of, this is for you. Have a blessed week and I hope that you get lots of puppy snuggles and kisses.