Comments on How to Eliminate Pet Odor and Make Your Dog a Magnet

A dog smells like a dog. Certain breeds, especially hounds, have a distinctive body odor. Some people may find this offensive.
BTW: How do you think you meat eaters and garlic lovers smell to a dog? lol

One thing that I've come to learn with one of my dogs, who is more anxious/nervous about life, is that he sheds, flakes and smells in comparison to my other dog. He has especially bad bouts after a bad day or event. So there is definitely an emotional connection as well as diet and clean living, in my experience.

I follow your recommendations with my dogs who have been eating raw and have had no vaccines for the last 4 years. Also no heartworm meds for last 2 years. They get chiro and acupuncture a few times a year too! Oh, and we started seeing a homeopath last summer. So far the results have been great...I can see the vitality in them! I have a hard time keeping up and keeping them occupied. No more lazy winter evenings for us.
I do wonder why my 8 y/o shihtzu seems to have a dull coat. After a bath he's soft and shiny but within a few weeks his coat starts to lay flat and look dul. Baths are every other month. Any thoughts?

I have a 5-month old Irish wolfhound, and I love his “puppy smell”. His coat is shiny, clear eyes, and he’s full of energy. He never has bad breath either, neither does my senior wolfhound. My boys eat raw. I supplement with organic spirulina, alfalfa, green lip muscle, parsley, and with the fish (salmon) they have dill…. Even when they get wet, they never smell bad.
In our family we eat whole foods. This is meat, with vegetables, and plenty herbs, so do our dogs. My senior wolfhound will be seven in May. The bones can slow him a bit, but he never misses his walk with junior, even in below zero winter weather No smell.

It's true, it is possible to have an odor-free dog. I have a 3 yr. old Schnauzer/Beagle mix that was given to us as a puppy. He was vaccinated, kibble-fed and given the typical flea & heartworm preventions regularly. And he smelled like a dog. I didn't think that was abnormal. But I also didn't know any better back then.
He had always been itchy too, for no apparent reason. He had a few bouts with fleas but even when the fleas were gone he still itched. Eventually he developed a foul odor, not just the usual doggy odor but something much worse, it was a sour-like odor that resembled really rotten cheese. His armpits were red & inflamed, as were his ears, and his belly began to develop a black pigment that wasn't there before. The smell persisted, even after a bath.
A trip to the vet revealed a yeast infection all over his body. We were given antibiotics & Prednisone pills and sent on our way. A few days after the last pills were taken, the infection was back again. This was the cycle for one year until I was finally fed up. I began doing my own research (and found Dr. Falconer's website in the process) and realized that everything I was doing was causing this incessant itch.
I began feeding him a prey-model raw diet, stopped all vaccinations (he'd already had at least one of every kind) and ditched all flea and heartworm pills too. Over the period of several weeks the itching subsided and the black pigment on his belly began to fade. He is now odor-free, itch-free and full of energy. And he LOVES his raw diet.
There have been a few times when the itching has returned but I can always pinpoint the reason. There isn't a nice way to put this but... he eats cat poop out of the cat litter box. Disgusting, I know. These are the times when the itching returns because our cat still eats kibble. I am in the process of transitioning the cat to a raw diet and hopefully it will stop this issue.

If it was my dog, I would stop trying to diagnose the problem myself and take the dog to a specialist. Either a dermatologist or a endocrinologist......depending on what the veterinarian that has examined your pet recommends.

I have two blue nose Pittie/Staffies (as Rescues I am not quite sure what the "truly" are. My female who is now 5 literally gleams in the sunlight with gorgeous highlights, has sparkling white teeth, and has that wonderful and faint puppy smell. About 2 years ago, my 4 year old boy (2yrs at the time) started losing the gleam to his coat and started having a slight odor in his mouth. Within a year, he started losing hair starting with the base of his skull and tail, and now his entire back and hind legs. I was mystified and slowly removed certain proteins from his diet thinking it was a food allergy of sorts. Nothing made a difference and so a year later I am back to rotating organic free range chicken, Alaskan salmon, and grass fed beef.
My question is: Does anybody have any insight as to what could be causing this? He is NOT itchy, his hair is literally falling out and not growing back. I have been doing research and am leaning towards Cushings or a possible Thyroid imbalance, neither of which I have been able to convince to a vet - one vet told me I must be lying and am obviously feeding a grain based kibble (how dare he!) and the other brushed it off and said its "not a big deal" and sent me on my way. Cushings, in horses as well as dogs, typically does not present itself until the senior years, however, he has always been an obsessive drinker and pees for literally over a minute at a time (polyuria). I am about ready to make the 5 hour trek to San Diego to see a holistic vet that was recommended to me but would love if somebody could give me some other possible causes to his issue so I have a nice list of possible causes at the appt.
Thank you for reading! :)