Spot cleaning dog kennels
Last updated: 2022-05-05
Author: Dr. Denae Wagner
Document type: Information Sheet
Topics: Shelter Design and Housing, Infectious Disease
Species: Canine
Spot cleaning done right can be healthier for dogs and more efficient for shelter staff than daily full cleaning and disinfection.
Why spot clean?
- Many double compartment kennels housing healthy adult dogs do not need deep cleaning daily when the dog is staying through to the next day or longer
Benefits
- Less stress for the dog
- Less time spent cleaning
- Less disinfectant product used needlessly
- Saves water
- More time for folks to do other desired/needed/important tasks
- If daily monitoring is desired but not being done I often suggest using some of the time that is saved by doing spot cleaning to do daily monitoring prior to the start of cleaning
When to spot clean kennels
- Healthy adult dogs (over about 5 months of age) – all have been vaccinated at intake for DHPP (Distemper, hepatitis, parvo, parainfluenza)
- If vaccination at intake is not consistently happening – work on making that happen prior to taking on spot cleaning
- Housed in double compartment kennels – front to back or side to side
- Or is single compartment kennels, where dogs are removed from kennel room during cleaning time
- When dogs are staying through to the next day in the same housing unit
- If a kennel is empty and dirty – that one needs deep cleaning
How to spot clean dog kennels
- All dogs in the room should be viewed for wellbeing prior to cleaning start
- Fill in daily monitoring sheet (shown above) for each dog
- Start spot cleaning process
- Move dogs to side with bed/food/water
- Close guillotine doors
- If a kennel is clean (clean kennels don’t have feces or urine or any other thing that would need to be cleaned with water) - skip it
- For kennels with urine or feces in them:
- Pick up feces and properly discard in garbage can (these should not remain in the kennel room during the day)
- Spray kennel floor with RescueTM (hose end foamer preferred)
- Scrub areas that need scrubbing
- Squeegee to dry
- Walls do not need to be cleaned if they are not dirty
- The kennel floor should be as dry as possible upon completion (if squeegeeing isn’t enough, use a towel too)
- Clean and disinfect the aisle behind/in front of kennels prior to leaving this side of kennels
- Open guillotine door and move dogs from bed/food/water side to the other side
- Tidy up kennels if needed
- Save clean towels/bed/toys for reuse in that kennel
- Dirty items should be removed and cleaned/laundered
- If the dog has soiled this side, do step 4 again
- Open guillotine door so the dog can use both sides
- Done😊
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