4 Reasons Your Dog May Be Scratching Your Carpet

As most pet owners know, it can be hard to keep pets in a carpeted home. Hair and accidents can lead to a need for carpet odor removal, and some dogs have a bad habit of scratching or digging at carpet. This can lead to frayed, faded, or dirty carpeting. Before you start hunting for Cary carpet cleaning services, it can be helpful to understand your dog’s motives a little more.

Reasons Dogs May Scratch Carpet

There are a few main reasons why dogs may be trying to scratch or dig at carpet.

  • Boredom – Dogs require a lot of mental stimulation, or they may find destructive ways to amuse themselves. Without toys or chew bones, a dog may start using your carpet as an entertaining toy.
  • Physical Discomfort – When a dog is too hot or too cold, it will attempt to dig a den to shelter itself. Physical discomfort tends to cause deep digging in the carpet, lower walls, and even your furniture.
  • Behavioral Issues – As many carpet odor removal experts can confirm, behavioral issues are the main cause of dogs damaging carpet. A dog that is unsure of its place in the home hierarchy may scratch or urinate on carpet to mark its territory. Dogs may also realize that they get attention for this behavior, so they may be doing it because they want more time with their owner.
  • Anxiety – A nervous dog will instinctively try to burrow to get away from something scaring them. This is particularly common among dogs who are scared of fireworks, thunderstorms, or other loud noises.

What Can You Do About It?

 

If your dog is scratching so much that you may end up needing help from a pet stain removal service, you can follow these steps to fix the issue. 

1. Find the underlying cause of the scratching.
2. Take steps to soothe a dog’s anxiety, boredom, or behavioral issues.
3. Distract your dog from scratching.
4. Place down protective rugs or mats.
5. Keep your dog in a carpet free area when you aren’t at home.

Once you’ve solved your dog’s carpet scratching problem, it will be time to fix the damage left behind. Our pet stain removal service experts have plenty of experience dealing with carpet damaged by pets. Contact us today to learn more about our Cary carpet cleaning services.