Dogs lick their privates and feet. I’m not sure if they lick their bodies as much as cats. They don’t seem to reach their chests and backs like cats. Whatever dogs are doing isn’t very efficient because they do get smelly and require baths from humans.
What do you think? Are cats bathing themselves with the constant licking? How about dogs? Who is the better butt licker? 
Dogs certainly don’t bathe their entire bodies the way cats do – they’re less flexible, and most dogs don’t use their paws like cats do.
That said, you might be misunderstanding something about dogs. Dogs like being smelly. What self-bathing a dog does is certainly not done to get rid of smells. Humans bathe dogs for our own reasons, aside from emergency skunkings and medical issues.
Dogs are much more “about” the sense of smell than most humans realize. Not only is their nose about 100,000 times more sensitive than ours, and more of their brain devoted to processing smells, but they have an additional organ, the vomeronasal organ, which is believed to be vestigial/nonfunctional in humans, for processing pheromones.
I’ve read an (admittedly unscientific) account by one observer of dogs who suggested that the reason dogs like to roll in smelly things is related to the pack’s behavior when one member returns from a hunt or journey – the dogs gather around and carefully sniff the traveler all over. She surmises that they are “reading” about the journey from the scent record carried on the traveler’s fur. Rolling in something stinky is a great way to have something to bring for “show & tell” with your pack.
My dog grooms himself. But he also has very, very short hair and somehow the dirt just comes off him (maybe from rolling around on the floor or in my bed). I’ve never bathed him and he doesn’t smell like dog except when he comes in wet when it’s raining.
Here’s a quote from the wiki:
Same thing with previous dog of same breed.
Ours too: basenjis autogroom, and even try and dry us if we come dripping out of the bathroom. (I don’t like it, and dry myself thoroughly, but my husband doesn’t mind, he thinks its cute or something. Ew. Dog tongue.)
From Wiki:
“The basenji has the unique properties of not barking (it makes a low, liquid ululation instead) and cleaning itself like a cat.”
Sailboat, the reason I’ve always heard about dogs liking to roll in smells are to cover or mask their own odour, to make them less smellable by their prey.
Well, don’t keep us all in suspense here. What KIND OF DOG DO YOU HAVE?
Rats groom themselves, too. Actually I wonder if dogs are unusual among furry critters, since they generally don’t spend all that much time grooming.
I have a female Boston Terrier and a Male Chihuahua. The Chihuahua seems to lick himself more like a cat. I’ve watched him really go after his feet and legs licking and licking. The Boston does her feet and privates. I can’t recall her licking her legs or shoulders.
My Papillons will actually lick their front paws and then use them to wipe their faces, just like a cat will! It’s very cute to watch.
All of my dogs like to groom one another, licking ach others’ eyes and ears.
Oh, sorry. Pharaoh Hound. He was a rescue. I had mentioned the breed before when someone asked about rabbit dogs, since that’s what the dog’s real breed name and purpose is.
Thanks, Sister V. 
Most prey animals keep themselves cleaner than most carnivores, since it behooves them to not give away their location by being all stinky.
Also, cat tongues are bristly and do an excellent job of scouring.
Dog tongues aren’t like this. I think they just like licking their nuts.
Captain licks himself (and the couch, and sometimes just the air, and the carpet, and your feet, and pretty much everything) in a destructive manner. When he’s really stressed out he’ll lick patches of his own fur off his legs. Today I just got him a Prozac prescription which will hopefully help his anxiety.
They do that because they can’t make a fist.
Cats have deodorant and disinfectant enzymes in their saliva. If you stick your nose into a cat’s fur, it smells “clean” unless it is too sick to groom. Dogs, even clean ones, always smell “doggy” – a kind of slightly pungent BO odor – and get to reeking after enough time sans bath, just like a person who is not dirty with dirt, just unbathed. Even if they are inclined to be clean generally, dogs don’t swab themselves in deodorant throughout the day.
Occaisonal grooming and a quality diet go a long way. My dogs are rarely bathed and definitely have a faint doggy smell, but it is not nearly as pungent or as unpleasant as the smell of an unwashed human. I have to bury my nose in their fur to detect their doggy odour, while the BO of a guy who hasn’t bathed, I can smell from a few feet away.
My Shiba Inu grooms himself, cleans his paws, wipes his face, and is generally clean almost all the time. The Shiba is often referred to as a cat-like breed - for both cleanliness and attitude. He doesn’t smell like anything really and hasn’t had a bath in almost a year. He found some deer poop and flung himself down on it before I could react so he got a bath.
I just sniffed him. Smells ok. No doggy odor. Feet smell like Fritos.
Now my parents had Mini-Schnauzers, and they stunk when it was getting close to the next trip to the groomers. Petting them left a funk on my hands.
My Shiba is fed freeze-dried raw and my parents fed IAMS kibble so now I wonder how much the smell came from what they ate. If my mom ever gets another Schnauzer, I’ll see if a raw fed one doesn’t stink.
Your shiba is fed freeze dried raw to whom?
Sorry. He eats freeze-dried raw from Stella and Chewy’s.
There still seems to be a noun missing.
Food.
Dog food.
