That furry family member of yours probably has an accident on your carpet from time to time. Older dogs suffer from failing bladder control, new puppies are still learning, and then, you have those teenage dogs that can be challenging to housetrain or that get excited and squirt here and there. No matter why your dog is doing it, you'll be able to undo the damage to your carpet with the help of your iron. Here's how to eliminate those tough urine and feces stains using your clothes iron.

Remove stain

Step 1: Turn the iron on to the medium heat setting and allow it to warm up. Gather up some old absorbent towels that you don't mind losing. Cut the towels into 1-foot squares.

Step 2: Spray the area with a 1:1 white vinegar and water mixture. Allow the mixture to sit for a little while so that it can naturally begin breaking down the stain.

Step 3: Place the towel over the spot, making sure to cover the entire stain.

Step 4: Place the warm iron on the towel and press lightly. You don't want to use too much force or you could cause damage to the carpeting. Slide the iron side to side, back and forth and in circles. Continue moving the iron for about thirty seconds and lift the towel. Did the spot disappear? If not, replace the towel and continue ironing for another thirty seconds.

Step 5: Apply carpet stain preventative treatments to the area in which you've just removed the spots. The heat from the iron not only removed the stain, but may have removed the stain protective coating from the carpet fibers. As long as you reapply a stain protective treatment, the carpet will be able to hold up against the next stain as well as it did the first.

Prevent further stains

Now that you've removed those spots, you'll want to do what you can to prevent them from happening again in the future. Make yourself a small fast-action cleaning kit to use whenever you find those accidents around the house. The kit should include:

• Roll of super-absorbent paper towels
• Bottle of white vinegar and water mixture
• Plastic grocery bags

The next time you see a spot, you can quickly grab your kit and get it cleaned up before it has a chance to set and require the use of an iron.

Talk with your local carpet cleaning experts, such as those found at John Wecker Carpet Cleaning, to learn more about keeping your carpets looking great and smelling fresh even with your furry family member having accidents.