Any suggestions on what to bath a smelly dog in?

Ok, it's going to get really cold here tonight and I need to bring my outside doggies in.They are large dogs and get bathed when when we have to. Well, tonight are are getting a bath if they are going to sleep in the house. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to help get rid of the outdoor doggy smelly?

Soap and water. :D

this is totally a hillbilly remedy, but when i was a kid our dog got into a tiff with a skunk a few times. tomato juice helps that smell better than anything else we tried, but he still stunk a little. I don't know if it'll work for normal doggie outisde smell, but it's worth a try.

we used the big can from the veggie aisle in the grocery store. it took a couple of baths to get results

I use suave or another generic shampoo and also helps get alot of the debris in their coats out (small pieces of dirt and gunk). Then again, my get bathed fairly often since they are indoor dogs, yet can't pass up a mud puddle.....


~Kat

Ok I have to answer truthfuly.

I use an Oatmeal based shampoo for my dog that I get from Dr. Fosters and Smith magazine, and then they make a scented rinse that is like doggy calogne of perfume..

When he's extra stinky I use that.

Mane n' Tail from wally world

I second the Mane N Tail, both shampoo and conditioner. Or just plain Dawn.

Use any shampoo. But.. dilute it to use on the dog. A 1.10 ratio usually sudses up well but rinses easily and shouldn't leave any residue. Scrub it into the coat to the skin, and leave it for 2 mintues, then rinse rinse rinse. Then one more wash, same way, rinse rinse rinse. Then dry with a towel(multiple towels if it's a large or hairy dog), and you should have a clean pup.

Some thing that smells nice! :rofl:

Fresh n' clean is very nice. Ikeria(sp) is a good one, I also like there coat sprays. And main and tail is prolly the cheapest! I use the main and tail conditioner on my heifer, there is nothing nicer smelling!!

Most effective thing for skunk, I dunno about...just dog, but this worked really well several times.
~quart of hydrogen peroxide, 1/4ish cup of baking soda and a little tiny squirt of dawn. Dilute with maybe a gallon or so of warm water.

Mix the soapy solution up and use immediately. For skunk, usually 2-3 baths and the smell was well over 90% gone, but will return residually when the dog gets wet again. When my sisters dog was skunked, he got 3 of those bathes, and one the next two times in rained, and then it was not noticeable at all. I know it seems like a lot of work for several bathes, but after several other attempts, this was by far the most effective for not only killing the odor quickly, but was able to completely remove it longterm.

Another option that works a little better without having to do as many cycles is to put the concoction on the dog without diluting, but only let it sit for a minute or two and rinse thoroughly.

I use two different things.... an oatmeal based shampoo for dandruff and shinny coat, but I don't think it's that smelly. The other shampoo I use is more for smell than anything, but it's a bit expensive to use on an outside dog, it has aloe and coconut in it.

Maybe if you could find a coconut based shampoo at Walmart for people? Coconut seems to be an awesome smell that really lasts. I use the coconut dog shampoo on my little chihuahua and he smells like coconut for a week straight :banana:

Remember that dogs need a soap with a slightly lower pH than normal "adult" shampoo. General the skin pH for dogs ranges from between 6.2 to 8.62 so you need to choose a shampoo in that range. But it does depend on the dog. For example. A GSD has a much more alkaline skin than a golden retriever.

What kind of dogs are they?

Anyway. Palmolive liquid dish detergent has a pH of 7.3. You should be safe with that, or Dove liquid dish detergent (pH of 7.0). You want to match the soap as closely to the dog's skin pH as you can to avoid unnecessary scratching and dry skin. Dogs, especially outside dogs need their natural oils to stay warm.

Also remember that you should not bathe them too often ;).

Scrub thoroughly with non-scented antibacterial hand soap, take some cheap shampoo at the supermarket dilute the shampoo to about 2/3 water. That's what I usually do.

My shih tzu has some serious BO. I swear, sometimes she smells worse than my outside dogs. I use the TropiClean shampoos. They make one specifically for smelly dogs. I scrub her really hard and let it sit for a couple of minutes. She tends to give herself hot spots because she has such bad allergies and it works really well on getting the discoloration the hot spots cause on her skin. For really stinky dogs, I suggest using the Nature's Miracle for skunk smells. It works REALLY well. Hope that helps!

I have used plain shaving cream the cheap stuff to help neutalize odors (don't laugh yall it works)

Johnson and Johnson baby body soap \ shampoo. Tearless, smells good, delicate on the skin. Cheap.

When washing and rinshing, be sure to get up under the folds, under the leggs, etc. Rinse well. A hose attachment helps. Also, a good bristle brush is great to use as you rinse, comb through. Helps remove dirt and helps ensure you are getting to the base layer of fur closest to the skin (some dogs fur is so dense that you don't reach the under-fur unless you try really hard...).

An old trick from the breeder my Dobermans are from...


Take cheap dishsoap, the antibacterial kind. Orange Ajax is the best, the green palmolive works too.

Take an empty milk jug, and add just enough dishsoap to cover the bottom about 1/2 cm deep. Then, add 1/2 C of vinegar. Fill the rest with water, and shake well.

This makes a GREAT degreasing, antifungal, antibacterial, mild shampoo. It's what my breeder uses on her dogs, and they look great.

Yes, this dog is bathed in vinegar and dishsoap... hard to believe, but true!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1.../Savannah4.jpg

That does not make much sense. Vinegar is acidic (a Ph of like 2.4). Yes it will give them a good sheen for a few days, but I would think it would play hell with their skin.

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Yes it will give them a good sheen for a few days, but I would think it would play hell with their skin.

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You'd think so, yes. But for some reason, it works - and doesn't affect their skin at all.

She's been doing it for forty years, and her dogs have the nicest skin and coats that I've ever seen.

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Originally Posted by sekaiNdobes

You'd think so, yes. But for some reason, it works - and doesn't affect their skin at all.

She's been doing it for forty years, and her dogs have the nicest skin and coats that I've ever seen.

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Ya know what? After a bit of digging. The MSDS for AJAX says it has a Ph of 10.7, so what happens when you mix an acid with a base? They cancel each other out.

Vinegar very acidic, Ajax very alkaline. If my math is correct, it would come out with a PH of around 7.9 or something close. So I guess it kind of makes sense.

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Originally Posted by Typical_08

Remember that dogs need a soap with a slightly lower pH than normal "adult" shampoo. General the skin pH for dogs ranges from between 6.2 to 8.62 so you need to choose a shampoo in that range. But it does depend on the dog. For example. A GSD has a much more alkaline skin than a golden retriever.

What kind of dogs are they?

Anyway. Palmolive liquid dish detergent has a pH of 7.3. You should be safe with that, or Dove liquid dish detergent (pH of 7.0). You want to match the soap as closely to the dog's skin pH as you can to avoid unnecessary scratching and dry skin. Dogs, especially outside dogs need their natural oils to stay warm.

Also remember that you should not bathe them too often ;).

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My thoughts exactly ;)

"People" shampoo's & conditioner's are not the best options of dogs - a mild dish soap should be sufficient :)

Also...Johnson & Johnson Baby Shampoo would be OK too (and smells good as well)

Yep - it's a good combo.

Not saying I use it, of course - my own dogs get bathed with Buddy Wash. :)

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Originally Posted by sekaiNdobes

Yep - it's a good combo.

Not saying I use it, of course - my own dogs get bathed with Buddy Wash. :)

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My dogs are self cleaning. If they get muddy I take em to the lake and they swim.

A well brushed dog should not stink. They shed off the soiled fur, and the oils in their skin push dirt away. I might wash them twice a year. They sure don't stink.

My dogs don't really smell - they do get dirty though, so they get bathed. The corgi isn't bathed often - maybe once every few months or so, but the dobes seem to retain every bit of mud and slime they get into! Lake water just makes them smell like... well, like lake water. Yuck. But perhaps I'm more sensitive to dirty dogs - I groomed professionally for 6 years, and have been showing dogs for about 8 years - I'm used to dogs that are extremely clean and well groomed.

Of course, my oldest is on a high dose of prednisone for a medical condition, so she gets a bath about once a week - with spot cleaning with self-rinse every few days. No way am I going to allow her to be soaked in urine and miserable.

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Originally Posted by sekaiNdobes

My dogs don't really smell - they do get dirty though, so they get bathed. The corgi isn't bathed often - maybe once every few months or so, but the dobes seem to retain every bit of mud and slime they get into! Lake water just makes them smell like... well, like lake water. Yuck. But perhaps I'm more sensitive to dirty dogs - I groomed professionally for 6 years, and have been showing dogs for about 8 years - I'm used to dogs that are extremely clean and well groomed.

Of course, my oldest is on a high dose of prednisone for a medical condition, so she gets a bath about once a week - with spot cleaning with self-rinse every few days. No way am I going to allow her to be soaked in urine and miserable.

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How does she get soaked in urine?

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Originally Posted by Typical_08

How does she get soaked in urine?

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She's on a high dose of prednisone, so she's suffering from the very common side effects... polyuria and polydipsia. She drinks a lot, she pees a lot, and she doesn't really have control over it. She'll completely void her bladder when she's asleep, so she wakes up in a pool of urine.

Wanted to make one more comment as to why my dogs are bathed regularly. They are therapy dogs, they go into hospitals and care facilities - they are required to be bathed before entering the facilities. ;)

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Originally Posted by sekaiNdobes

She's on a high dose of prednisone, so she's suffering from the very common side effects... polyuria and polydipsia. She drinks a lot, she pees a lot, and she doesn't really have control over it. She'll completely void her bladder when she's asleep, so she wakes up in a pool of urine.

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That sucks. I'm sorry to hear that.