I've had Bess now for almost 2 years and my living room which is carpeted is beginning to smell a little of dog.  I really wanted to avoid this as when we first bought the house (before we had Bess) the doggie smell from the previous owners was really bad she did have several dogs and cats though.  I really want to minimise the smell as I hate the thought of visitiors coming and thinking that the house smells.  Does anyone have any useful tips as to how you minimise doggie smells, do you use air fresheners if so which ones, or do you put anything inside vacuum cleaners or maybe use oil burners/candles etc.  Any advice would be appreciated, as I haven't got a great deal of money, I am going to borrow a carpet cleaner from a friend and hopefully this will help.

I find a squirt of fabreeze helps on soft furnishings, I'm also a big fan of scented candles, see thread in idle chat about yankee candles.

I'd rather clean the carpets than cover the smell.  :)  After regularly shampooing with a Bissell for many years, I've now replaced downstairs carpets with Karndean and love it. :)

i use fabreeze and shake n vac then shampoo the carpets in the summer but the best way is to make sure you wash the dogs bedding on a regular basis and bath the dog every few weeks. always wash dog and bed the same day then their not picking the smell back up on them when they go to bed.
Hoover every day as this gets rid of the dog hair and helps stop the smell as well.
i've got tree dogs and apart from an odd occasion the house smells ok and i do check with people who come to the house asking them to be honest as i'd hate for people to be thinking my house is smelly. 

> i've got tree dogs

Affenpinschers (Monkey Terriers!) :) :)  :)

Brush a little bicarbonate of soda into the carpet (much safer than commercial Shake-and-vac), then put a couple of drops of lavender oil ona small piece of cotton wool and put it into your vacuum cleaner bag (or drum if it's a bagless type). Vacuum up the bicarb which will have deodorised the carpet and the oil will delicately scent the room. :-)

don't tell me you've never heard of tree dogs? lol
the sun must be affecting my spelling. 

I clean my carpets regular, you will not get ride of the smell if it is in the carpet without cleaning them. I have a disinfectant watered down, in a spray and give the carpet a little spray before I clean every day.
Bath the dog, clean the carpets, this weather is the best time windows open to dry. The smell will go, I have 5dogs in the home and NO smell. Argo's and Asda have special offers on carpet shampooers at the moment, I think my daughter said today, they have one at asda for 30 pounds summer sale.

Denese

When I had carpets downstairs I used to shampoo them with...

Diluted BIOLOGICAL LAUNDRY LIQUID in the VAX   :-D :-D

It was better than anything I'd ever tried and really cheap, really got the carpets clean too :-D  (use warm water)

Now I have laminate flooring (carpet was ancient! LOL ) and use the same laundry liquid in a Flash power mop - floor gets clean and stays fresh smelling :-D

Agree on natural alternatives.  Lots of people and dogs are allergic to Fabreze and Shake-and-Vac and similar stuff.   For a spray you can put five or six drops of essential oil (whatever strikes your fancy) along with a bit of alcohol (plain Vodka will do in a pinch) in a spray bottle of water.

In terms of carpet odours - shampoo them to get all the odour out.  And then as Jeangenie suggests sprinkle with bicarb, leave on for twenty minutes to 30 mins .. and then hoover.   You can also scent the bicarb by decanting it and putting some paper sprinkled with an essential oil in the container, leave it for a few days, shake it around every day or so - and you have your own version of Shake and Vac.

The commercial air freshener from croemmesol is extremely good at elminating odours.