Cary's exactly right on the order of what your options are: clean the carpet, either professionally or with a rent-a steamer, check the lease, talk to the landlord/management, and keep in mind that you might be spending an extra chunk or replacing the carpet. It's not the end of the world.

If you still feel all bad and embarrassed, keep this in mind: the management is letting you have 3 dogs in the apartment. They expect the carpet to get trashed. It's unavoidable.

Fix the carpet, get a good vacuum and maybe your own carpet steamer, and get on with life!

I have never personally seen a major improvement in a carpet that was brought about by cleaning. Stains are stains - no amount of soap and machine scrubbing will change that. Most professional carpet cleaning is a scam anyway - it just doesn't work.

However, if you tell your landlord that you are willing to pay for new carpet, and give him/her the right to approve your selection, I am sure s/he will be thrilled to have you pay for that expense. Saves LL a pretty penny.

Ten dollars says you get no resitance whatsoever.

Clean a carpet with "shaving cream"... (?) huh. Don't worry. huh.

"virtuous cycle" and "squared circle"... I'd just rip out the carpet.

How can a person continue walk on a carpet that dogs did what?

I am afraid to ask. I conjure up in my mind, with a giggle, mutts!

Dogs having sex on the rug, thereby, it's not amusing. Throw it!

Burn the carpet and replace it with real green grass turf and sod.

The 'stable job' may be the reason? Take the galoshes off outside.

Don't track the "stable" droppings onto the carpet after working.

Cary's comments are all just right for this situation. I'd only like to add that becoming a grown-up means you figure out how to deal with these messes, and that you stop blaming yourself or others. Just deal with what you have to do and move on. The "20s-transition" into real adulthood is no easy thing. Do what you can, accept where you are, and enjoy your life as you move to the next stage. Life might be all stages and transitions, but it's also a lot of fun.

You can worry about replacing the carpet when you actually move, which hopefully won't be until you're in a better financial position. Until then, as long as there's no odor, a dirty carpet is livable.

Get a rent-a-steamer to push it up to peak condition, even if that won't be fantastic. If there's anything that just won't be scrubbed out, get a little throw and/or move your furniture. And then stay on top of things better, both in terms of maintenance and in terms of dog training. (I'd look for hardwood or linoleum in my next apartment if I were you--pets and carpet just don't mix.)

Its sort of too late to wonder about this now, I guess, but why do you have three dogs in an apartment?

Look, you can keep buying carpets till kingdom come. Certainly, don't bother spending a dime or a moment on attempting to clean this current one. Your dogs think it's their bathroom, and I had a neighbor with this problem so I know firsthand this current carpet is beyond hope.

Level with your landlord, though I'd be concerned that he'll want you OUT once he realizes your dogs have probably ruined the floor underneath, as well. (Don't your neighbors pitch a bitch about the smell?)

If your landlord will still have you, yes, pop for new carpeting.

BUT you are going to ruin this next carpet, and ruin the next place you live, unless you start to realize how dogs function. Your dogs think your apartment is their bathroom-- they are returning to that smell instinct over and over.

You have GOT to get to a dog training expert to rewire your dogs' interpretation of the indoors as their outdoors. All else is futile and you may have to give them up if this can't be corrected.

One thought: If these are little chihuahua-type guys, use those Pee Pads people buy for apartment living. But you'll still have to train the dogs to use them correctly.

LW, I feel for you. You're repeating my life from depression to mess.

I also left home without knowing how to take care of possessions. I'm still cleaning resistant and I'm 60 years old. I look at other people's houses & wonder what I'm doing wrong, what I don't know, what I'm missing.

To start, get the carpet cleaned. Hopefully, it will be livable after that, and you'll have time to negotiate with your landlord on replacement. Cary is right, the big box stores will be the least expensive. But you have to start now, or at 60 you'll still be wondering if your home is up to par.

Hello,

If you do not like this column or the columnist, howz about you skip SYA visit some of the other venues in SALON which are more to your liking?

Peace.

Moderate to severe depression really does make it impossible to cope with day-to-day responsibilities, so you should stop blaming yourself for having been unable to deal with the dog/housework situation.

A useful thing to remember when dealing with the practical details of life is that whatever the problem or screw up, you almost certainly aren't the first one to do it. Your apartment complex allows pets, so they have dealt with tenants who ruined the carpet before. All they're concerned about is that they get paid for fixing the damage.

About not being able to have people over, you could just briefly explain that your dogs were sick and had housebreaking issues that you were unable to deal with because you were also ill, and that you can't entertain at home until the carpet is replaced. You could repay any hospitality they have shown you by taking them out for dinner or to the movies.

Practical situations that you have never dealt with before can be puzzling, but don't be afraid to ask questions. Workers and business people of all types are used to answering questions by people who have never used their service before, and they don't look down on anyone for not knowing.