Bathing Dog

[AliandShooter]

How often do you bathe your dog? Our goes to the groomer once every 2 months, but even though I clean all the time it still smells. I’m thinking of taking him once a month just to get bathed he’s a 70 pound dog and last time I tried bathing him in the tub well let’s just say I’m the one who got bathed lol

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Jack was bathed every 7-8 weeks. I never noticed any smell from him in between baths, and he was a heavy shedder. 

Jasper gets groomed every 6 weeks, because his coat requires more maintenance. Also no smells in between groomings. 

I've lived with dogs for more than 60 years, and the only time I've noticed any smell from any of them was when I had fosters who came directly from shelters. And I have a pretty good sense of smell, lol. I don;t notice any smells when i visit friends with dogs, either.

I think people who haven't lived with animals may be more attuned to their natural smells than those of us who have always lived with them. Is Shooter your first dog?

[AliandShooter]

Yes, he’s our first indoor dog growing up I was raised with German shepherds, but they always stayed outside 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I just noticed that back when you first got Shooter, you complained about his smell, and in the same discussion, you mention that he is your first "inside" dog. https://doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/dog-smell
I've noticed that culturally, people who have "outside" dogs (and I have to tell you, I never heard of an "outside" dog until I got involved in doodle forums) have a certain mindset about having animals in the house, and maybe are more bothered by a dog's natural scent, whereas those of us who grew up with dogs in our homes don;t even think about it. I think you will probably get used to it if you keep an open mind. :) 

[AliandShooter]

That’s probably what it is lol although most days I really can’t smell anything, but I do use plug ins and wax melts, but today it hit me kind of hard. Not sure if it’s because he’s been digging and rolling in mud or the fact that he threw up in the crate. I clean all the time and mop the house at least once a month, but the smell has lingered for awhile even though I’ve cleaned his crate.

[Gail and Bailey]

When dogs throw up they tend to get a bit of it on their beard and mouth area and it will smell yucky.  I use some baking soda mixed with water and using a wash cloth wipe the mouth area really well.  This neutralizes the acrid smell.  Regarding all over doggie smell in the house....vacuum cleaners will become full of dog smell and we do not notice it until it is turned on.  Then the smell is distributed throughout the house.  I finally got a vacuum that does not have a bag that can get smelly.  It has a plastic dirt collector which can be washed.  Problem solved.   

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Luna got bathed only very rarely (every few months) or when she was dirty because she got into something.  She never really had a "smell" - her natural smell was pleasant.

Riley these days is bathed once a week because she gets into things and her paws are always a mess with the road salt :p

[DonMarie and Picco]

Picco gets a bath about every 3 weeks which I think is too often.  He does get a odor sometimes which my husband notices first and doesn't tolerate.   I say, "well, he's a dog".   We do hike alot which I think of as "fresh air cleansing" and he gets a reprieve!  Why bathe him, we are going on a hike again!  But he does get foot baths when he paws get too dirty!   PIcco's hair will get a sticky feeling and won't fluff up as much, then to me it's time for a bath.

[Stella]

My Hartley is 11 years old, and I doubt he has had that many baths in his entire life. In fact I can't even remember the last time I did bathe him!!  He's a 70lb F1 LD, but I find he has hardly any odour, even when he's wet. I'm very lucky I guess. My previous multi-gen had a stronger odour, but still wasn't so strong. I'm a bit paranoid so ask people all the time if my house smells like dog!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I have my dogs groomed monthly. My shedding dog smells differently as the month goes on , but it’s just a dog smell- not a stinky smell. Some of my dogs will get a ‘Cheetos’ scent to their feet. If glands get full dogs can have a terrible fishy smell. Infected ears smell. Then there can be a smell depending upon what they eat (certain meat/protein  bases stink to me), or the state of their tummy or mouth. 

If it’s just the doggy smell, you could take the dry dog shampoo wipes and wipe the dog down or spray the coat with a dog detangler or finishing spray. 

[AliandShooter]

So I think I've come to a conclusion. Yesterday we went over to someone's house and they have 5 dogs and I could not smell a thing. However, the dogs have their own room in the house where they have their crates as soon as we walked in there you could smell the dirty dog smell lol. I think because we have our crate set up in the living room and all of our house is pretty much open as in that room connects to everything else (its in the middle of the house) the whole house smells like "dog". Its not always bad it smells good most days, but then theirs days when he goes and plays outside and he comes in panting and everything that it smells stronger.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I think that with multiple dogs, having the crates in a remote location is fine, because the dogs have each other for company. But with a single dog, it's pretty important to have the crate in a location where the dog can be part of the family activities and not isolated somewhere. 
I also think 5 dogs are going to create a lot more smell than one, regardless of where the crate is. :)

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

It just occurred to me that when we camp on our RV, it does get a doggy smell— I smell it as soon as I enter.  It’s a small space. I keep the fabric-upholstered  furniture covered with towels or quilts and I take those items off and wash  them and open the windows to air it out. It’s pretty stupid but our RV also has carpet. I clean that carpet often too. It’s such a small area that it gets smelly pretty quick. I should have thought of it when you first posted.