@maddyiscool Us too! Short haired breed, mud and dirt dry up and fall off. She’s almost 11 mos old now and she’s had 1 “real bath!” Nails are another story, every 4 weeksish or so. Summer brings more water fun tho so if we’re swimming in fresh water lakes or ponds I may bring a bottle of biodegradable doggy soap that a friend of mine makes and give our pup a quick scrub! Thats how it worked with our last boy, hoping this little girly tolerates the same!!
“That doggy smell” isn’t something that bothers me! She’s happy and that’s all that matters!
@maddyiscool My old dog, a springer spaniel, died at 13 years old. He probably had only 7-8 baths with proper dog shampoo his whole life. Smelt lovely, no dog smell at all. We’d hose him off with water in the garden after getting muddy on his belly and legs, but that was about it. Skin and fur was very good condition, never had any issues bless him. I have a vizsla puppy now though and she smells a bit more of “dog smell”. So I may need to actually bathe her…
@maddyiscool I only bath my three once a year and maybe a few times in between if they're particularly nasty. Most of the time, they're not that dirty and they don't smell any different than what they normally do. I live next to a creek so half the time the dirt gets washed off lol
@maddyiscool I've got an 11 month border terrier, he's only had 3 or 4 baths. We only tend to do it when he is particularly stinky. It has been really wet here, so he has been on probably a dozen muddy/sandy walks in the past week or so. After our hike on Sunday where we got caught in the rain for half of it, he got a bath because he stank so much. But normally I don't really care, he's a dog, he has a smell
@maddyiscool Our last dog most of her baths were me telling her to go jump in the lake after a run lol. She was also short haired though, and I like the earthy smell that dogs get.
@fenhn In my opinion every 2-3 weeks is a lot. Obviously, if the dog is very dirty, it’s a different thing but also a lot of dirt can be brushed out.
If you do bathe her that often she can get prone to skin infection and dry skin (dandruff) and her fur can even get very dull and the quality can significantly decrease.
There is a thing called dog cologne, I don’t know if you’ve ever tried it out. Dogs will just have a natural smell, because of the oil (idk the English word, in German it’s Talg). If you bathe your dog too often this oil will either overproduce to compensate (oily skin and fur) or stop production (dry skin and patchy).
@thehundreds Yes I believe Aussies are double coated, which means the outer guard hairs protect from mud, dirt, and sand. Letting it dry allows it to pretty easily brush out.
@fenhn That is likely too much washing for that breed. I have an Aussie as well, live in a city and my dog goes jumping and frolicking in mud, creeks and springs almost everyday. He gets rinsed at most if he got into a body of water that is dank/questionable but only gets washed with shampoo and conditioner every 2 months (at the earliest) unless he rolled in shit or something similar.
I’ve found thoroughly brushing and making sure my dog is dry to the skin has avoided any issues with fungal infections (which can contribute to weird smells beyond typical wet dog smell) or bacterial infections. Do you blow dry your dog? Aussies should be blow dried due to their double coats.
It also might be helpful to counter condition/redirect some behavior that gets them messier than usual. Like I let my dog put his paws on mud puddles but he isn’t allowed to roll in mud/puddles. I let him swim in waterways but only on command. He can’t just go running into any body of water without permissions or take off running at full speed in a muddy area. This helps a lot in keeping him out of super dank stuff but still get to enjoy being a dog.
It also might be helpful to take breaks at the dog park, remove your dog and build in a “take break cue” in a clean area where they can roll around without getting super dirty (my dog often rolls on his back as a way to distress after an event and I built a cue so I can interrupt when he is doing it somewhere inappropriate and move him somewhere safe/clean to do that behavior). Sometimes excessive running similar to zoomies and lots of rolling around can be signs of high arousal and stress (stress can stem from positive and negative emotional reactions). Dog parks can be intense (I’m not bashing dog parks. I take my dog to the dog park on occasion too) and dogs like Aussies may need more frequent breaks than other dogs to regulate themselves in a more proactive manner. You might be able to stop a lot of those displacement behaviors that end with your dog getting dirty by replacing with more functional coping behaviors like a food search/ an easy going engagement training session with you focusing on decompressing.
@fenhn Yep, agree that it's a matter of allowing the dog to dry up so you can brush most of the dirt out of her. We also just clean paws and belly with water only when we go to the off leash park.
But actually baths are rare. And my 2 aussies girls do not smell - maybe your could be overproducing oils for the skin because of the frequent baths. Why don't you stop the baths for a while, just clean paws / belly with water, the rest just brush it off and see if it gets better?
Also, we use a omega supplement for skin and coat, I'd recommend it as well. Might help with the smelling!
@fenhn Oooh how nice to have an apartment with grooming stations! According to other comments, it seems I wash my dog too much..... we usually just rinse his feet in a bowl of water, but he's completely white and gets very muddy after rain... My boy definitely has that smell to him all the time, I tell him he's a stinky boy frequently
@tgc0908 Literally forgot about OP’s question and started obsessing over this living situation… I live next to a dog beach where’s my free grooming station??!
@tgc0908 I too live in Chicago, but I bathe my dog in the kitchen sink! Of course, he’s only 12 lbs, a poodle mix. He gets a bath and dry every other week and a haircut every four weeks. I groom him myself. The only time he ever smells like a dog is when he goes to daycare and plays bitey face with other dogs and they get their saliva all over him!
@fenhn I have an aussie and one of the things I love about them is their fir seems to be somewhat dirt resistant. My girl will get pretty muddy but once she dries and is brushed out she looks pretty damn clean. The dirt kind of just falls off.
I use a leave in conditioner spray for brushing. But generally don't have to bathe unless she REALLY gets gross. Maybe 4 times a year or so.
I gave up on keeping him clean a while ago lol
