My dog is stinky.. help!

[KineGirl]

We have a large mixed breed dog - Sasha. Such a sweetheart! She is mostly an indoor doggie so it makes it extra confusing as to how she gets sooooo smelly! :ack: Im a total neat freak not to mention I have a lung disorder that her dander/smell irritates badly. I have tried alot of things on her including sulfer based shampoos, doggie perfumes, vinegar baths, professional groomers (one had a great shampoo but hes no longer in the area) - nothing really seems to work longer than a day or 2 and then pewwweee! Obviously we cant bath her as often as she starts stinking because its awful for her skin which just worsens her smelliness. I have to find a way to live with our sweet girl without bathing her every other day. Has anybody else had this dilemma and found something that works?? Please help!!

[Jeff G]

A couple of ideas.

1. It could be the food you are feeding her. We have a pug who was really stinky when we got him and by switching to a different food it helped.

2. Brush often. I've been told that a bath alone dosen't help with dog smells.

Coupling quality foods with a lot of brushing can help keep the coat fresh and may help you avoid the smell.

Good luck!

[KineGirl]

A couple of ideas.

1. It could be the food you are feeding her. We have a pug who was really stinky when we got him and by switching to a different food it helped.

2. Brush often. I've been told that a bath alone dosen't help with dog smells.

Coupling quality foods with a lot of brushing can help keep the coat fresh and may help you avoid the smell.

Good luck!

Hmmm could be.. she gets fed that Science Diet stuff that we buy from the vets but we also add a little lean meat & veggies to her dry food. The vet said this was a good & healthy idea.. :confused: I would hate to find out that this expensive dog food is stinking her up LOL but would change it in a heartbeat for something just as healthy and less stinky.

I'll have to try brushing her more. I usually do about once a week but again am willing to do it everyday if it would help! She loves to get vaccuumed too with the Power Paw attachment ;)

Thanks for the suggestions.. I hadnt thought of either one!

[sagessa]

Does she have stinky breath? Sometimes dogs' coats will start to smell bad if they have bad breath. What happens is they lick and chew and the saliva gets into the fur. You might check to see if she needs her teeth cleaned.

Rachel R.

[RenDuran]

Does your dog have really thick hair or a double coat? She may not be getting rinsed well enough. I have a German Shepherd Dog and it takes forever to really make sure she's rinsed well. I agree with Jeff G. about brushing more too. Try a shed blade. You have to do it outside because fur will just blow everywhere!

Also make sure that you're washing all her bedding and hanging out spots while she's being groomed!

[KineGirl]

Does your dog have really thick hair or a double coat? She may not be getting rinsed well enough. I have a German Shepherd Dog and it takes forever to really make sure she's rinsed well. I agree with Jeff G. about brushing more too. Try a shed blade. You have to do it outside because fur will just blow everywhere!

Also make sure that you're washing all her bedding and hanging out spots while she's being groomed!


She is a very hairy doggie :chewy: .. I do make sure she is rinsed well and bedding gets cleaned but Im going to have to try the whole brushing more often thing. I called my vet yesterday and he said to try that first before switching her food. He also suggested that shed blade. I know she wont mind the extra attention and what girl doesnt want to get her hair done on a regular basis? ;) She is such a sweet dog and whatever I can do to make both our lives more agreeable, I will.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

[drhama]

Try Burt's Bees deoderant. All natural. Made for humans but works amazingly well on dogs. Even gets rid of that wet dog smell. Just a few pumps and no more stink. Really.

[MsMin]

Some breeds are more fragrant than others. My Yorkies can get smelly when they are in the sun for a while but the odor goes away (or I get used to it) after they cool down. I too use Science diet and don't have any problems. When I had a Llasa Apso when the kids were little she too got very smelly when going outside and it stayed. My vet said it was just doggie b.o. and recommended a doggie deodorant. It helped, but wasn't perfect, but we got more fresh air between baths.
I'd look into the burts bee's stuff since it is natural. Doggie deodorants can be fragrant too and w/ my dd w/ asthma I know how that can be an irritant in itself. :puppy:

[Disneyatic]

We bought some doggie wipes at PetSmart, they work good for just freshening up our dogs when they come in for the yard and are smellier than usual :secret: Our chocolate lab can get smelly and it take a few wipes sometimes but they do help.

[KineGirl]

I just wanted to thank everyone again for all the help! I KNEW there was a reason ppl ask all kinds of questions around here!! :thumbsup:

Well I bought one of those shed blades this morning along with a new antibacterial/deodorizing shampoo. I came home and used the shed blade first and WOW! There was an immediate difference not only in the look and feel of her coat but the odor was substantially less "fragrant". Way better than brushing alone! I actually feel kind of bad that I hadnt tried this on her earlier. She loved it too! The hair went flying and you could tell she was more comfy. I washed her after but time will tell if the shampoo is a winner. Thanks again everyone

One question for those who know - how often should I use the shed blade on her? Daily? Every other day? Weekly?

:rocks:

[Stitchahula]

what kind of dog do you have? A shedding blade is a great tool but you need to use care when using it you can easily brush burn your dog if you use too much pressure or go over the same area to often, also don't use it on the legs or the head/face area. There are alot of great shampoos out there that help with dog odor and some grooming supply companies that will sell to the public. That way you can try a couple of different shampoos and maybe some cologne that might help. They do make some shampoo for dogs that have strong odor issues. I could help better if I knew what kind of dog you had. You never want to use human shampoos or deodorants on dogs. Human shampoos have too many chemicals that can cause irritation and strip out the oils dogs need on their fur. You can actually use most dog shampoo on humans but not the other way around. Have you had the dog checked by a vet to make sure there isn't any medical/dental reason for the odor? Let me know if you want the web site for a supply company I use for my grooming needs. Oh also alot of shampoos are also supposed to be diluted other wise you end up rinsing the dog forever. They never put it on the bottles that pet stores sell though so if your shampoo is really thick then you can most likely diluted up to 8-1 so you don't have to rinse your pup for a week. Some shampoos that groomers use actually have a 15-1 ratio use an old water bottle/sports bottle to mix in that way you can have more control on where you want the shampoo to go. Good luck.

[KineGirl]

what kind of dog do you have? .... a 15-1 ratio use an old water bottle/sports bottle to mix in that way you can have more control on where you want the shampoo to go. Good luck.

She is just a mutt - probably a pit bull, lab, shepherd mix. She has a lab build, with brendal pit colors, and a shepherds coat... :confused: and a sweetheart personality. We always tell ppl she is whatever you want her to be. A very pretty doggie though - we always gets lots of compliments on her "look". Ive never used ppl shampoo on her and yes Ive had her checked by the vet. Im a nervous Nelly when it comes to my "man"imals & DD and take them to the docs at the first sign of a problem. She checks out great. Just smelly. I will PM you for the website. The water bottle/ ratio suggestion is a good one and will def use that the next time I bathe her as I do find the shampoos a little thick. Youd think some of this stuff would be common sense and yet its managed to escape me .. too much Disney on the brain maybe? :blush:

[RenDuran]

I shed blade my GSD a few times a week when she's blowing her coat. Lately, not as often as I should!

[DisneyDudet]

Our Chloe smells when we love on her too much! Our oils get on her, and she is just loved way too much, so she ends up smelling dirty! She's a massive shedder, so we usually just brush the smell away. Her undercoat is ridiculous, and takes HOURS for her to dry completely!

Hope you are finding a good cure!

[cknorr28]

Not sure if this is what is happenning but our dog (an english Springer Spaniel) gets yeaast infections in her ears. You can always tell whenthis happens. The Vet gives use medicine to rub into her ear canals and in a couple of days the smell is gone. Hope this helps.

[Hair_Razor]

When I went to Disney in February I had a friend of mine watch our Pomizhu and when we picked her up she was soft as butter and smelled great, I asked her if she had her groomed her while we were gone. She said that she had this conditioner spray that she got to use when you are brushing. It's by Paw Mitchell great since I'm a hairstylist!:thumbsup:

[KineGirl]

Not sure if this is what is happenning but our dog (an english Springer Spaniel) gets yeaast infections in her ears. You can always tell whenthis happens. The Vet gives use medicine to rub into her ear canals and in a couple of days the smell is gone. Hope this helps.

Thanks!

Yep our girl gets those too but this isnt it. She just is a pretty girl with bad B.O. :sick: She always has been that way. Just her curse for being so beautiful I guess :D I think we are getting it under control. Getting rid of all that extra fur with the shed blade already seems to have made a difference. I shouldve caught on to this sooner seeing how she is less smelly when we give her a summer shave. We are also ordering her some new groomers shampoo.

[WDWCrazyKaren]

With Collies and a Sheltie, we swear by the shed blade. Those long coats hold those smells in and I tell, you, before we got one of those, well, I don't know how long we could have stood it!

To answer on how often, I don't know how long your dogs coat is, and how thick, but we use ours about once a week in the summer, once a month in the winter. It really does remove a lot of the undercoating and we don't want to leave them "naked".

Take note on not using them too often or too harshly in one particular spot though. We saw what happened on our poor sister in laws German Shepherd when they took too much off! Poor thing! (It grew back-whew!)

[DDBird]

My boss used to bring his dog to work everyday - surprisingly he always smelled the worse when he needed to have the inside of his ears cleaned!!!
We did have a spray for the wet days plus we used an air purifier which really made a difference to us.

[Stitchahula]

For those of you whose dogs get ear infections what you can to to try to prevent them is clean with rubbing alcohol after bathing or swimming. You can use it as just a regular cleaner too but you definately want to do it after they've been in the water. The rubbing alcohol will not only clean out the ear but will also help to dry up any water that might be in the ear which can lead to an infection. Alcohol is the main ingredient in most cleaners that you buy it's just a lot cheaper.

[PAYROLL PRINCESS]

I read somewhere that sprinkling with baking soda and then brushing helps with odor. Just like it helps the odors in a refrigerator.