Whether your dog spends all day going up and down the staircase or spends most of his time on one level of the home, carpeted stairs seem to accumulate fur faster than you can remove it. Fortunately, it's not hard to clean dog hair from carpeted steps with minimal cleaning efforts if you know what you're doing.
Vacuum
Dogs might be man's best friend, but a good-quality vacuum cleaner is quite the comrade to the pet owner. Several manufacturers make vacuums with attachments specifically designed to suck up pet fur. Vacuum the carpet vigorously with the pet attachment or with a deep-bristle brush attachment. Clean the fur from the attachment frequently. Get into the nooks and crannies of your staircase using your vacuum's crevice attachment.
Sponge Mop
For low-pile carpeting, a sponge mop can help pick up dog hair your vacuum left behind. Fill a spray bottle with clean water and lightly spray the sponge mop before cleaning each stair. Gently rub the dampened mop back and forth across the carpet and remove the fur that clings to the sponge. Be sure that you keep your fur-removing mop separate from your floor-cleaning mop. You don't want to transfer floor cleaning products to your carpeting, or dog fur onto your kitchen tiles.
Fabric Softener
Fabric softener can loosen up dog hair deeply embedded in the stairs' carpet fibers. Before vacuuming, run a fabric softener sheet over the carpet. These sheets act like a magnet to the fur. Another option is to combine 1 part liquid fabric softener with 3 parts water in a spray bottle and lightly mist the stairs with the solution. Avoid saturating your carpet. Allow the mixture to sit for two or three hours, then vacuum up the loosened fur with the pet or brush attachment.
Sponges
Remove dog hair from the hard-to-reach area where a stair step and a riser join by running a dry pet sponge or a dampened household sponge into the crease. Pull the sponge toward you to make the hair ball up. Although simple, this cleaning process is a little more time-consuming than the other cleaning options.
Rubber Gloves
Old rubber gloves are a suitable tool for cleaning dog fur out of carpet. Fill a small bucket with water and put on the gloves. Dip your gloved hand into the water and shake off the excess moisture. Using slight pressure, sweep the palm of the dampened glove over the stair with short strokes. Start on the part of the stair farthest away from you and scrape your hand toward you for the best results. Then dip your hand back into the water to remove the fur from the glove. Replace the water in the bucket with clean water as needed. Vacuum your stairs with the brush attachment once the carpet dries.