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I'm a first time owner of a dog that can get to smelling relly bad. I need some advice about this.

He's a 60 pound male Wheaton Terrier. He's not a pure breed and we don't know what he's mixed with but he has all the characteristics of a Wheaton except for the long hair all over. He only has that on his thighs and legs .The rest is more like a medium length soft wirey hair that does not shed.

He's spends most of time inside but gets plenty of outside time for exercise. Each trip outdoors seemd to add to his bad smell. If I had to describe it I would say it's just a regular ole doggie smell . I have to bath him about every 2 weeks. I am worried that this is not good for his skin. What is a good shampoo that will help control this ordor but not be harmful to him? How often is it safe to bath him?


My dog Ringo

I don't own a dog, but I did dog sit (for a couple of years) a German Shepard. The owner was a doctor (M.D.) and either she or I would wash her weekly. She exclusively used 'Biolage' shampoo, I want to say the 'hydratherapie' version. She once told me (through an odd discussion we had, because I had found out the price of the shampoo) that bathing her weekly with a quality shampoo wasn't harmful, because it didn't strip the oils in her coat like shampoos would have 10 years ago or so. I have also heard that it helps control itching (if you are having an issue with that).

Are you sure it's the dog?

It could be you Marty .....

To paraphrase DP, ask your vet. If you are using a good dog (not human) shampoo, then every two weeks is not too often. During show season our dogs are bathed once a week.

Do you also clean it's ears regularly? Again, ask the vet about this.

The vet should also ask you about what you are feeding the dog. This could make the dog smell.

BTW, that is a very cute dog.

Some dogs LOVE to find the smelliest thing and roll around in it. I would guess this is the case with your VERY CUTE doggie. Every other week would be fine if you are using a doggie shampoo. In any case, like the others have suggested, a call to your favorite vet couldn't hurt. Enjoy the love!!

Thanks for the nice comments. We have 3 different kind of dog shampoos we use. All are ph neutral and claim to be safe for regular use. One is a bio,green, hipie dippie, all natural ,herbal, let's all hold hands and save the world something or other. It works the least well of all of them.
I would reccommend this breed of dog for anyone looking for a non agressive,kid friendly ,family dog. Very gentle and easy going. He doesn't bark much but he does you know you should go see what he's barking at because something is going on. He's very stubborn like most terriers and tough to train but we have managed to get him to the pont where he will listen to us .... most of the time.He doesn't shed. He is also very intelligent. His biggest problem is he like to run and he's very fast for a mid sized dog and ...... he gets smelly ....

Do you also clean it's ears regularly?

If the dog just smells like dog, then it's just a matter of how often you want to bath him. If the dog flat out stinks, and it isn't from rolling in cat poop, then my experience has been that it is from the ears. Some dogs make more crud in their ears than others. And dogs vary widely in their level of cooperation with getting ear wash dumped or sprayed in their ears.

When Terri and I got married about 14 years ago, she brought a basset hound into our relationship. This was the 'stinkiest' dog I've ever know. You could bathe her and an hour later she would be smelly and oily. It was just something about her coat.

It could be something in his diet as some have suggested or something he is getting into outside. Some dog coats seem to catch outdoor scents much better than others. In my experience long hair coats can be really good at picking up even distance scents. Have you tried keeping him inside and then just walking him for a day or so in order to see if he still stinks? If he doesn't then it is likely something in the area you are letting him spend time in outside is the cause. Also, does he have a double coat?

My dad had a dog that was a mixed breed and when combed with regular dog brushes appeared to have no shedding fur. In reality he had a double coat and it wasn't until we got a special pet brush called the "Furminator" that we realized how much dead fur there was under the top coat. It was amazing how much dead fur that this special brush removed. It is not cheap but it really works and solved the problem. Your local pet store probably stocks them.

Dogs are best off if they are bathed as little as possible, which leaves their natural skin oils in tact. Often times a dog will smell due to flea feces. These days there are many fine products out there like Frontline and Advantage that kill the fleas from the inside out. I find that if i treat my terrier mutt for fleas on a regular basis, she rarely needs a bath. A natural dog smell should be kind of "corn-chippy", but not overpowering. One should only be able to smell that if their nose is right up to the dog's fur.

It is in a dog's nature to roll themselves in feces or in dead animal matter in order to hide their scent while hunting. Terrier breeds do this even more than other breeds, as they are naturally attracted to rodent-like pray and pray that has to be digged up or tunneled out. Is it possible that your dog is rolling around on a dead oppossum or something when you aren't looking?

The real answer though is to talk to your vet. Just like with tubas, we can give you all sorts of advice and stories that might help you, but probably won't.

I'm a fellow first-time dog owner (Jack Russell Terrier mix). She has very short fur, and sheds a lot of it for the summer, so she's very clean, with minimal upkeep from us. Dylan is right, when she smells really bad, it's almost always because she's rolled around in something she found outside. And when she does that, plop, straight in the tub when we get inside.

Your dog seems to have long-ish fur, so she might just need more attention in general to keep clean, brushed, etc. Check the ears, the eyes (furry dogs get a lot of eye goop), mouth/teeth (dogs eat some weird stuff outside!), and check the...er..."undercarriage" as well.

Maybe your dog is just a little faster than others to get smelly, and that could be normal. Only your vet can tell for sure.

And at the worst, it's a whole lot less bathing than with a kid!

I just wanted to thank everyone here for the good advice and kind words about my dog. It was all helpful. I have taken him to the vet and he is in perfect health. No problems with his ears. His odor comes from the fact that his kind of hair naturally holds in odors. The doctor recommended a dog shampoo with oatmeal in it and to use Dawn dish detergent every other bath.
So basically he just a smelly dog.

reminds me of the old joke...

My dog has no nose...

How does he smell?

awful.....

I have begun to brush him out daily and it seems to help keep the odor down and he stays cleaner. Hope fully I won't have to bath him as often now. He also really enjoys the brushing !