Now we have the two dogs,  I'm beginning to smell a bit of a doggy odour when entering the house.  I wash beds and floors often so it's not really a dirty smell, just a bit doggy!

I can't use artificial air freshners like Glade, Oust and all the rest because OH cannot abide the artificial smell and he says they all get in his throat and make his nose itch!!

I was wondering about using essential oils as they may not be too overpowering or too girly sweet, but I wouldn't know were to start really. 

Can anybody help with how to make homemade air fresheners and how to best use the different oils.  I'm not to keen on burning candles from a safety point of view.

Thanks
(Sorry if this question is in wrong section)

do you have carpets? as these could be hanging on to any smells

you could try diluted oil in a burner they come in a range of natural fragrances and really help to freshen the air and mask unwanted smells.

Like you OH I cannot tollerate artificial scents. I use a mix of hydrosols as air freshner and have bowls of lavender and rose petals around the place which I 'top up' with essential oils. Also Bicarb of soda is excelent to take smells out of soft furnishings, carpets and can even be brushed through your dogs coat.

If you want details of hydrosols I use etc PM me. Being natrual they dont leave an overly sweet smell and do not linger in such a noticable way.   

Oil burners usually require candle heat to work or can you get them electrically powered now? :-)

Try adding some dried lavender or essential oil to the bicarb and sprinkling over carpets etc... leaves a nicer smell behind.

I dont use candles as Im a bit worried about one of the animals knocking them over.

However you can get defusers like the ones that you can now get with commercial room fragrancers, but empty so that you can put in your own smellies.

Yes essential oil added to the bicarb gives it a good smell, you can over do it though a little essential oil goes a long way :)

It was belinda1 that mentioned oil burners.... I know mrs mop didnt want to use candles ( sensible really ) thats why i wondered about electric you see... as ive only had/seen the candle powered ones :D

I have a couple of the plug in ones myself ( not seen the empty ones ) but i just wait til the commercial smelly is empty and then put my scent in :D

Empty ones are only available from aromatherapy suppliers :) You can also get the rings that sit on a light bulb in a standard lamp.

You can get oil burners that go over a lightbulb, and use the heat from that. It'd need to be a table lamp, though, not dangling from the ceiling!

A saucer of vinegar will absorb odours.  Not sure how often it needs to be changed.

If you can find an electric oil burner you should treat yourself to Yankee Candle's wax tarts, they come in lots of different smells and smell wonderful, they cost about 85p each.   http://www.yankeecandle.co.uk/  they should be able to give you local stockists.

I use the Yankee Candle wax tarts too, they are brilliant.  An oil burner on a surface out of reach from the dogs should be fine, they only use a night light.  The kitchen windowsil is a good place.

i use frebreaze in our house,gets rid of the smells withought choking you lol :)
also wen you bath the dogs ,bath them in johnsons baby shampoo and then wen dry rub in a little johnsons talk into there fur. i use it on meg and have a had no problems. :)
also wat about joss sticks,there safe and smell nice! :)

I never use fabreze - it is an irritant for dogs, my own dog developed chronic bronchitis (almost died on us) when we used to use the fabreze and carpet freshners etc - I know use one of those plug in diffusers by glade, the ones with the oil bottle, lavender one is gorgeous and with three different settings you can always put it on the top setting for a quick boost when needed.

Jeesh, just re-read that and I sound like a walking advert for glade ;)

HTH Tara x

ive always though fabreze was ok around dogs,as its used around the dog in the advert.maybe only certain dogs are sencetive to the ingredients
ive personnally had no problems spraying megs bed with it. :)
plug ins are nice but stay away from the floral bouquet by glade lol.its stinks :)
well its not my favorate 1 anyway.

There was a report on watchdog once with regards to Fabreze - it's a known irritant and they did recommend that the dog on the advert was removed (thought it had been but then we don't watch much tele :) )

We had problems with a dog that had skin allergies so we stopped using it but for some strange reason I started using it again when we lost her (RIP) but it then caused our springer cross (with no allergies before hand) problems so we have banned it from our house and actually do the 'evil eye' sign when we see it on the shelves in supermarkets , we get a few funny looks but it brightens our day to be a bit strange when doing the weekly shop :D

My freinds young male ended up looking like a Shar Pei when it was used by one of her freinds on hiliday because one of the dogs had been sick.  He ended up down the vets needing antihistamines and an inhection, as his throat had seollen up and he had trouble breathing.

We are the same with fabreeze - makes us all sneeze, although we also have trouble with glade defusers - I dont know if they let out too much fragrence or if it is made with artificial chemicals rather than propper lavender. By my reconing the hydrosols are actually cheeper as well :D

I know what you mean - I got one of those Crystal Air things the other week. I think it was Lotus flower and something and no, I don't know what posessed me! The smell was so overpowering and sickly, I had to put it in the bin... I've actually tied it in a carrier bag and it makes a great bin freshener.

By far the nicest commercial sprays I've come across are Marks & Spencers ones - they're a world away from Glade etc... Even your hubby probably won't object to the linen or spiced wood ones. I've loads of allergies and they don't bother me - however M&S pot pourri makes my face puff up and go red spectacularly!

For natural stuff, I'd recommend using an air purifier/ioniser with a little fan in it. You can get one for about £40 (I need a new one as the one I had for years broke about 6 months back). The good thing about them is you can leave it on all the time and if you want to perfume the air, just get a piece of kitchen towel and put a few drops of essential oil on it (I love lavander as it's so clean and relaxing). Then if you fold it a few times so it doesnt totall block the outlet, you can poke the top and bottom through the grille and it will fragrance the whole room in no time.

Home made room spray :)

1 plant sprayer,
1/2 pint water
small glass vodka (helps emulsify the essential oil)
essential oils of choice  - lavender and eucalyptus is good for doggy odour ;)  but any of your favourites will do ;)

Add about a half teaspoon (total) of the essential oil/s to the vodka and shake vigorously, add to the water in the plant sprayer and shake vigorously again.

ALWAYS shake the mixture before spraying :)  and spray into the air to freshen rooms.  Curtains, cushions and other fabrics can also be sprayed :)

>>small glass vodka (helps emulsify the essential oil

how small is small?? are we talking like a pub shot measure or one of my slightly more generous measures :D

Thanks for that Dill,  Is the lavender and eucalyptus mixed together to make the freshener?   What other oils work well?

LOL

a small pub measure (or pup measure? :D ) will be plenty - any alcohol will do (I've even used surgical spirit, hate to waste good alcohol ;) ) but clear alcohols with no smell are best :)

In this mixture the Lavender and Eucalyptus are mixed ;)

other nice mixtures are

Lavender and orange oil - very soothing and gets rid of smells  (you can also add eucalyptus here to increase the freshening effect)
Lemon and mandarin - very fresh smelling but can be too citrussy for some ;)
Lavender and geranium (only one 1 or 2 drops of geranium or it'll be overpoweringly sweet)

You can also add any of these mixtures to a sheet of kitchen roll (I just put a drop or two of each) and hang it on a radiator to warm up, but it takes longer to work and doesn't seem as 'freshening'
at christmas
Orange/mandarine and clove/ cinnamon (careful with cinnamon as some people are allergic to it) again only 1 or 2 drops of clove/cinnamon to the mix as they are very powerful smells :) :)

Thanks Dill
think i will go get some surgical spirit, dont think i can trust myself to tip a measure of vodka into a spray bottle and get it all in :D :D

LOL LOL :D :D :D :D

I have exactly  the same problem :D

Dill,

I've just made up a batch as per your instructions and wow!!  it really smells nice.  I've sprayed it about a bit and it's lovely.  I think I might try a few more different oils, buy one every week or so and experiement a bit.     One more question, is this safe to spray on the dogs beds and even on the dogs?? 

Thanks ever so much for your recipe, it was just what I was needing.

Glad to help :D

I wouldn't spray it on the dogs ;) but you could spray it on their bedding, just make sure you allow it to dry first.  Some oils are safer than others for this, I would stick to lavender or lemon or orange, to avoid unexpected allergies etc.  Basically I treat my dogs as babies and don't use anything on them I wouldn't use on a young baby ;)

hi have you tried check odour neutraliser. its made from natural ingredients and you dilute it so it can be sprayed in the car, on bedding and used to mop floors. It has a great cherry smell. A bottle for £4.95 makes 12 and a half litres. I got mine off e-bay. wiz x