Help my dog be not smelly + visual aids

In My Humble Opinion
1

Hello, my name is Little Bird, and I have a smelly dog .

Hi Little Bird!

Lucy is a smelly, smelly dog. She gets bathed whenever I say, “Hey Bird Man, bathe your damn dog!” but Bird Man rarely bathes her unprompted. Her cage is smelly enough that I need to hold my breath while locking her in, and [del]we[/del] I just washed it two weeks ago. She gets more smelly when frightened, anxious, nervous, or hot, and since she’s a giant ball of nerves all of those happen regularly. I don’t think it’s sweat, dogs don’t sweat, do they? It’s a yucky smell and I’d like it gone.

Let’s see…I feed her Nutro Natural Choice Lamb Meal & Rice, which is supposed to be a pretty good food. Her favorite snack is a braided Bully Stick, which may not be great for her natural odor, but we’re not giving up–she has about three a week. She gets the occasional steak gristle or pizza bone, but not very often. Does any of that make a dog smelly?

It’s not really my fault. She’s really Bird Man’s dog but he is completely unfazed by her smelly. I don’t know how much more often I can convince him to bathe her, “She doesn’t like it!” he cries. It doesn’t help that his man nose can’t smell her. I also heard that washing a dog too often can be bad for her skin.

So, does anyone know any suppliments I could feed her or any other tricks to make her less smelly? I would really appreciate it!

And here’s a little comic I just made to illustrate my feelings on the matter.

2

Have you ever had her anal glands checked for leakage / impaction?

3

I would really talk to the vet about it. Some skin conditions can produce really funky odors, and a lot of over- the-counter treatments can do more harm than good. Sounds as though she is on a quality food, so that shouldn’t be the problem. Cleaning her cage more often may help.

P.S. my cats loved the comic strip.

4

How often does she go out? Dogs love to eat feces from other species. Observe what she’s really doing when she can’t seem to tear herself away from “sniffing” that spot.

5

If Lucy’s breath is stinky, try Greenies. They’re edible toothbrush shaped treats with clorophyll. Our corgi loves 'em!

6

If she’s stinky all the time, you should definitely take her to the vet. There’s a problem there - no dog should be stinky all the time.

Dogs do have sweat glands, but only in their footpads. So the only sweaty stinky place would be their feet. With my dogs, you have to actually sniff their footpads to pick up the smell, though, so it’s likely with your pup there’s something else going on.

7

Well, I’m taking the pup to the vet today. She just developed something weird with her joints, like yesterday. Her elby-bones and ankles are puffy and a pink. :frowning: It’s really strange, but I don’t think it’s related to the smelly. I’m not terribly pleased with my vet right now as it is, we boarded her this weekend when we went out of town and they were supposed to give her her yearly shots while she was boarded. Well, they waited and waited and when we came to pick her up a little early they still weren’t done. :mad: I thought the whole reason they needed the shots to board her was so she wouldn’t get sick! If she’s sick because of their negligence I’m a-gonna be pissed.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions, hopefully we’ll get this all cleared up.