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smelly lab

8K views 31 replies 26 participants last post by  gdgnyc 
#1 ·
I recently brought home my future hunting companion, a lab puppy. I,m keeping her in the house , and crate training her. I give her a bath about every four days, but she still gives off a smelly foot smell. Is there any trick to keeping the order down. Please help

  • :sad:
 
#4 ·
Shes not pottying in her crate is she? thats the only reason I would think a puppy would stink! Puppies smell wonderful! unless they are "in their stuff"..... bathing a pup that often will only dry out her coat.... As they get older, they do things that make them stink (rolling in stuff, getting skunked, etc),so what will yu do then?
Does she have diarrhea or anything , leaking urine maybe? Those are the only things that might make a puppy not smell wonderful- I think most on here would agree....
 
#6 ·
What are you feeding the pup? Many of the corn based foods make the dog's feet smell like fritos :) Dogs are not supposed to smell like a rose garden. Retrievers are supposed to have a water resistant coat, which means having natural oils, which all of your bathing is removing. If you don't like the smell of your dog now, you really won't like it once it has gone after a duck through that black swamp mud that smells like sewage.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Yep. Poor quality food can be a culprit with smelly dogs.

And yep, over-bathing a dog with a coat like a lab can actually make them smell worse. I found that out for myself. It is not a Shih-tzu that has hair (rather than the oily coat) that you can bathe and groom to your heart's content. I don't bathe them any more unless they are really dirty, and will only touch up with bath wipes in between.
 
#12 ·
My previous BLF had exaclty one bath in her life time and that was when we brought her home from the breeder.
She spent a lot of time in the river and marshes, etc,etc and lived in the house. She never smelled.
I knew a Golden that spent a lot of time in a beaver pond....you couldn't get within 10 feet of that stinker without throwing up a little in your mouth. It was that bad!

Every dog is different.
 
#18 ·
Chlorophyll --- and/or the food. Had a dog on pro plan ( certainly not low quality food) smelly dog, we joked she was the stinky kid in the neighborhood. had an old school vet tell me to use chlorphyll in the dogs food as that helps control odor used by people a lot, bow hunters during elk season out here, and it is prescribed for those with halitosis (wish I had told a co worker about it some time ago). Anyway changed the dog over to a fish and potatoe food and used the chlorophyll and it knocked the odor out. Not sure if it was one, the other or both combined but no problems any longer
 
#19 ·
I would stick my nose in the pup's ears and take a good hit. It has been my experience with my first two labs that they were somewhat prone to ear infections and they tend to stink. Of course, if you don't know what a clean doggy ear smells like, this might not work.
 
#20 ·
Thanks for the info. My pup is a retreiving fool, she sets,stay,lay, and comes to gun fire like its dinner time, because it is.My wife is not a dog lover like us duck hunters, so she cant take the smell. I will try different food and get back to you. Really enjoy the site and all the people on here. HAPPY HUNTING
 
#21 ·
Thanks for the info. My pup is a retreiving fool, she sets,stay,lay, and comes to gun fire like its dinner time, because it is.My wife is not a dog lover like us duck hunters, so she cant take the smell. I will try different food and get back to you. Really enjoy the site and all the people on here. HAPPY HUNTING
I sure hope she can cook.
 
#22 ·
reposted for those wanting the recipe.

My lab got mixed up with a SKUNK while training. I searched the web for a
skunk wash and found this one.
1 qt hydrogen peroxide, 1/4 cup of baking soda, 2 teaspoons dish soap DAWN, 1 qt apple cider vinegar, 1 qt of warm water.

Worked so well I washed all the dogs with the stuff. left their fur soft, left no odor what so ever,
and there wasn't hair falling out like with some of the shampoo.

it erupts a little when you mix it.
 
#23 ·
If you discover the cause of the odor, let us know.
 
#25 ·
EARS! Whatever else you try, check the ears. An ear infection can stink, it can be very painful, it can make a dog deaf. Look, smell. Even take a piece of tissue and wipe around in there (don't let it get stuck!)--if there's anything on the tissue, go to the vet and have them show you how to take care of it.
 
#27 ·
Once had a puppy that whenever he got close I could smell something that I couldn't detect what it was. Checked his ears, pads and finally his mouth Nothing or so I thought. He jumped up on the couch and I began to scratch his belly. He opened his mouth and sure enough there it was. He has bit a stick into and it had wedged between his molars and didn't come out. I had to pry it out from between those teeth but boy did he smell better.
Clay
 
#29 ·
Perhaps she could have some kind of bacterial or fungal infection in her skin?
 
#30 ·
I have a holistic animal foods shop. We see many stinky dogs. Put her on a grain free diet. The smell won't go away until the allergens from the grain are out of her system? Are her ears stinky or itchy? Also a sign of a grain allergy. My dogs had stinky breath which is due to the carbs in the diet as opposed to dirty teeth. I put them on grain free (ie..Fromm, Dr Tim's, Calfornia Naturals...all good stuff) and added raw diet (ie..Answers, Tuckers or Primal) and their breath does not smell nor do their bodies. It's okay to shampoo a dog once a week. Make sure to use a gentle all natural "dog" shampoo. People shampoos or soaps have a different PH than human products. Hope this helps.
 
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