With so many people keeping a pet dog in their household, there is always a risk of dog poop accidentally getting onto your clothing, especially if you have children.
This really can be a problem for some people and we often see people asking if you can clean clothes with dog poop on in a washing machine as well as how you would correctly clean the washing machine once the cleaning is done.
You can clean clothes with dog poop on them in a washing machine but it is usually recommended that you only put those clothes into the washing machine without anything else.
This prevents the dog poop particles from getting onto other clothes that are in the washing machine at the same time and can increase the efficiency of your washing machine for the clothes that do have the dog poop on them.
We have seen some people asking about cleaning various types of shoes with dog poop on them in a washing machine and this tends to not be recommended due to the hot water and chemicals often being able to damage the shoes.
For regular clothes, the washing machine is a great option though but for shoes, we would usually recommend that you just steep the clothes in a larger bowl or bucket with warm soapy water in it.
Should You Clean Cloths With Dog Poop On Them In A Washing Machine?
For the most part, it is perfectly safe to clean clothes in a washing machine as the hot water will kill the bacteria in the dog poop that may cause problems.
Only cleaning the clothes that have the dog poop on them without other clean clothes in the load is always recommended though to prevent any risk of cross contamination.
This is due to the more clothes in the washing machine reducing the water flow during the wash and potentially not allowing the washing machine to fully clean the clothes and remove the dog poop.
This can also cause problems with the draining process of the washing machine potentially leaving some of the water that was used to clean the dog poop off the clothes in the washing machine too.
So only put as few clothes as possible in the washing machine without shoes and set the wash settings on your washing machine to what you would usually use to wash that particular material.
In some cases, you may want to add another washing tablet than usual or even wash the clothes twice but this is usually not required for the most part.
How Do You Get Dog Poop Out Of A Washing Machine?
Once you have cleaned your clothes with dog poop on them in the washing machine, it is important to clean your washing machine to purge any dog poop particles and allow you to safely clean your clothes in there in the future.
The easiest way to clean dog poop out of a washing machine is to simply run a wash cycle with bleach and hot water with this being very effective.
The problem is, after you have used a bleach and hot water cycle to clean the dog poop out of your washing machine, you then usually have to do at least one more washing cycle to remove the bleach from your washing machine with a standard cold wash often doing the trick.
If you don’t do this then the next load of clothes that you put into your washing machine may end up having problems with the bleach in there resulting in your clothes having bleach spots on there.
This is why we usually recommend that everyone just washes any clothes that have dog poop on them in a bucket with warm soapy water rather than in the washing machine.
To fully purge your washing machine of the dog poop and bleach, you usually need three washes and in some cases, you may have to put the machine through four washes resulting in a huge waste of water and energy.
Can You Wach Cloths With Dog Poop On Them Without A Washing Machine?
You can wash dog poop out of clothes without using a washing machine by steeping them in warm soapy water and then hand scrubbing them.
This often works out to be quicker and easier than using a washing machine to wash the dog poop out of your clothes and doesn’t present any risks to your washing machine either.
Some people do prefer to steep their clothes in boiling water first but you are usually able to use warm water and still get the same results.
This will usually mean that you literally put the clothes with the dog poop on them into a bucket with warm and soapy water and just leave the clothes to soak for an hour or so.
This will work out the bulk of the dog poop and then you empty the bucket, re-add warm soapy water to the bucket and then place the cold back into it.
You can wait for another hour or so to let the engrained dog poop at the fiber level loosen up so you can then scrub the remaining dog poop out of the clothes with ease.
There are a number of specialist chemical products on the market that are advertised as being able to wash this for you but for the most part, there’s just no need for them and normal liquid soap with warm water will be able to deliver very similar results.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over if you can wash out dog poop in a washing machine to a close. Although you are able to wash your clothes with dog poop on them in the washing machine if you wish, it is usually not the best option. As we covered above, you usually have to run three wash cycles in your washing machine to fully purge it after washing the dog poop away so we would always recommend that you just use the manual wash method we explained above.
