Hi, everytime we take Paddy for a walk or he gets slighty damp(in the garden) he smells horrendous. He smells like pondlife and it makes me feel physically sick (worse because i'm pregnant!). To be honest I have never known a dog smell this bad! He is only 20 months so not an age related smell, and we feed him on dried food. He only smells if he gets damp/wet - which is all the time at the moment!
He is such a lovely dog but i can't bear to have him in the same room as me until he is completely dried, and that takes hours. I would be so grateful for some advice, thank you! Dee

He might just need a bath, a gentle baby shampoo is as good as anything taking care to rinse his coat out thoroughly.

My lot smell when they're wet but it's not an unpleasant smell, not unlike baby shampoo actually even though they rarely get a bath.

Mine have that wet dog feel but I do dry them off witha doggy towel if they get wet, doesn't dry them completely but reduces the time it takes to get them dry.

If he really does smell that bad a bath might help but don't do it too often or else you will strip his natural oils out of his coat.

Personally mine get a bath rarely .... last year probably once ..... but they don't smell!

Awww, poor you! I remember that well cos I was exactly the same with my 2 when I was preggers in 2006. Apart from towelling them down well I also used a detangling coat spray from a local company to us, which helped with the smell.

I promise it wont seem so bad after you've had bubby

I dry mine off with a towel too, stroking him with the towel, not rubbbing(rubbing rubs wet in). Sometimes i spray them with a conditioner which reduced the tangles and makes them smell a bit sweeter. If you think it may be short term for you not being able to bear the smell, what about washing him off outside, towel drying him, spraying with a conditioner then after about half an hour using a hairdryer. I did that with my last springer, she loved it.

Hi, many thanks for your replies, i think i will try a bath first and then i will try the towel drying/detangling conditioner in future. I think my pregnancy does make the smell worse, although both my daughters say he smells terrible - so it's not just me! thanks again, Dee

I think some dogs jsut smell more than others
and charley is one of them too

a spritz bottle with cider vinegar and water, then spray it and brush through the coat, the vinegar smell goes as does the smell.

Just wandered if it was his coat that was smelly or is it his ears.
Springers do get smelly ears sometimes.
Mine had their last bath /wash when they went to the groomers in may of last year.
I dont think they smell even though they should really with all of the mud and muck that they run through Maybe its just us and we have got used to it.
I have asked the question when peeps come to our home but have been assured that they do not smell. Personally I like wet doggy smell . Strange I know but then I never exp it when |I was pregnant I might have felt diff then about it.
I couldnt stand the smell or taste of tea when I was pregnant with mine it made me feel physically sick.

how are you getting on? x

i really sympathise - when i was pregnant my husband used to have to cook his dinner in his brothers house (next door) then take his clothes and put them in the washing machine and have a shower before i could be in the same room (I did suffer very badly with morn noon and night sickness) I think your sense of smell and taste alters so much when you're pregnant, that this will be making it much worse.

My friend is a dog groomer and gave me a present for christmas of the dog equivalent of old spice it actually smells quite pleasant, let me know if you think this might help - (though it might be just as bad - i still can't bear my OH wearing Joop as it reminds me of having morning sickness!) I bath ours in johnsons with camomile btw

Or maybe invest in one of these dog drying coat/nest things to speed the process up? Not sure exactly what they are, but many people on here seem to use them, and I'd welcome more info on them too...

Good luck - when's baby due?

When Moll gets wet my father says she smells like a spaniel. Our old English Springer used to reek when he got wet. But then he reeked most of the time because the poor dear had canker in his ears which the vets could do little about.

When moll is really wet, and rather stinky I put her into a towelling dog thing that my sister made for her. It works really well, and dries her off without mess. She did have a dog bag, but kept trying to walk up the inside, so my sister made this thing she now uses out of 2 old towels, with one hole for head / inserting moll, and 4 elasticated holes for her feet.

I have occasionally cocooned her in a single duvet case when taking her wet in the car. By the time we get to journeys end she is dry, and the mud is all in the duvet.