Bathing

[amfule]

I just got my 1st Sheltie Yuko exactly a week ago.

As soon as we took her from the breeder, we bought her to our vet and had a groomer give her a bath. Since Yuko is our first long haired canine friend, we thought a pro groomer would do a better job.

After only 2 days, the doggy smell came back. She freely roams inside the house and is never caged and is on BARF diet. I decided yesterday to give her a bath my self.

This is the procedure I followed:

-Shampoo
-Rinse well
-Rinse with water plus apple cider vinegar (1 cup diluted w/ 1 gallon water)
-Rinse well after 10+ minutes
-Shampoo
-Rinse well
-Damp dry the fur with towel
-Blow dry while combing the fur

She now looks and smells a lot better than before!

My question is-- should I use or do the apple cider vinegar part every time I give her a bath? It's hot and humid where I live.

Thanks!

 

[granite]

Apple cider vinegar is a natural deodorant and flea-repellent; I don't see where it is a problem to use it every time you bathe your pup.

Keep in mind that a sheltie generally doesn't need a lot of baths....unless they are playing in mud or get into some trash or something really sticky/stinky a sheltie generally needs a bath monthly to quarterly at most.

 

[Caro]

Puppies also have a distinctly different smell until they get their adult coat. So perhaps thats the odour you are noticing. It wont disappear completely, maybe just wait a couple of months until her adult fur starts growing in and see if the smell changes. The humidity shouldnt make a huge difference as dogs dont sweat like humans.

 

[BarbV]

Define "doggy smell"?

I'm going to go on my soapbox for a moment.

Dogs are dogs. They won't and never will smell like humans.

Wet dog smell is one I know well. But that's easily solved by a towel dry when they come back inside.

Poop-bum...a quick look under the tail - baby wipes and scissors if necessary to get rid of any dingleberries.

Muddy feet....they get toweled dried and stay off furniture until dry completely. The rest just flakes off and the vacuum takes care of it.

Every 2-4 months, they do get kinda of oily kind of texture....that's when I know its time for a full bath. In between they get dry shampoos, conditioner and a little sprinkle of baby powder.

If you are complaining about a puppy having doggie smell, then wait for it. To me puppies smell sweet!. Its only going to get worse. Dogs really shouldn't need bathes any more than every 2-4 months.

 

[danisgoat]

Dogs really shouldn't need bathes any more than every 2-4 months.

This is very dependant on your climate and where you live.

Barb lives in Canada. It is not hot and humid like the Philippines, so she will not have the damp musty bacteria smell that a dog in the Philipines will have. Therefore, her dogs "smell" will be very different and most likely much more appealing than your dog will have living in the Philippines.

You can safely give a dog a bath every month without it affecting their coat. Sometimes more if needed.

The apple cider vinegar is a great idea, as it will kill the bacteria that will be growing in the damp puppy fur.

I would make sure that after a bath, your dog is REALLY dry. A lot of times in the heat and humidity, your dog may not ever dry completely against the skin which could be the reason for the smell a couple of days later.

 

[Smudge]

Kind of random, but riddle me this.

Is your puppy completely house trained, and do they sleep in a crate?

I am asking, because Fluffy used to smell funky before she was house trained because she would pee on herself in the middle of the night. Fluffy is not a barker. So is it possible that this is the smell? Once Fluffy was house trained the smell mostly went away.

 

[Justicemom]

This is very dependant on your climate and where you live.

I would make sure that after a bath, your dog is REALLY dry. A lot of times in the heat and humidity, your dog may not ever dry completely against the skin which could be the reason for the smell a couple of days later.

I agree. Not completely drying to the skin causes alot of the smell especially with humidity. Think old used towels and how they smell. My friends first malamute in the spring/summer would smell horrible after she got wet if she wasn't blown out completely. That was either after a bath or if she got rained. She was also a drooler and if she drooled on her legs and it didn't get dried properly, she smelt aweful. It was yeasty and moldy. It was not normal. She was very well taken care of and groomed regularly. She had a heavy thick coat though. Her current Malamute not so much smell unless she jumps in the pond.

 

[amfule]

"Doggy Smell"-- Yeah, may be a bit hard to define. It's just that my Chi Brutus which has been with us for more than 4 years never smelled like an animal. I mean, if I sniff my arms and sniff Brutus, I can't tell that much the difference. lol! BTW, Brutus sleeps with us in the bed.

It may be the diet though. Yuko was fed wet kibble by the breeder and I have since switched her to raw diet. And yeah, the apple cider vinegar may have made a difference. After 2 days, still no "doggy smell"!

I'd also say that Yuko who's been with us for 9 days now is on her way to being completely house trained. She poohed only once inside the house and pees 8 out of 10 times outside. She's not crated and roams freely inside the house. At night, we leave her alone to sleep in our living room at around 11pm and wakes her up at 6-7am without any accident. We open the door and she relieves herself outside! Not bad I guess.

Where I live, I cannot imagine my canine family to take a bath only once every 2-4 months. It's not that they will certainly stink but I would imagine them becoming very very uncomfortable. We ourselves take a bath 2x a day!

Thanks everyone for the useful thoughts!

 

[danisgoat]

I am glad to hear that everything is going so well!

 

[BarbV]

I agree. Not completely drying to the skin causes alot of the smell especially with humidity. Think old used towels and how they smell. My friends first malamute in the spring/summer would smell horrible after she got wet if she wasn't blown out completely. That was either after a bath or if she got rained. She was also a drooler and if she drooled on her legs and it didn't get dried properly, she smelt aweful. It was yeasty and moldy. It was not normal. She was very well taken care of and groomed regularly. She had a heavy thick coat though. Her current Malamute not so much smell unless she jumps in the pond.

Good point. I admit that I did not look at location!

And also a good point about drooling! Indy tends to pant and drool more than Bacca. So it certainly would explain why kisses from Indy are far less inviting than Bacca's kisses.

What does the forum think about using baby wipes to wipe down our pups muzzles? I used to think it was Indy's breath that was the problem, but he's got perfect teeth. Maybe its just leftover drool?