Which dogs are the smelly ones?

[Merriedy]

Having read a recent thread about how to keep upolstery clean when you have dogs, I want to ask what dog you would choose as the least smelly.

Are shiny coats smelly? Or particular breeds? Are there some that just don't smell?

You can tell by patting dogs, your hand will feel slightly greasy after patting a lot of short wiry haired type breeds, borders, JRTs etc that greasiness is what causes some smells. The drool smell is what makes houses smell most strongly, rather than the dogs themselves.

I've looked after a fair few breeds and there are two that I really expected to stink, given they had longish hair and loved swimming, but surprisingly didn't (as long as you dried them off). They were a working bearded collie and a lagotto. The latter also dried really quickly compared to the doodle breeds, so clearly has a different coat. The working beardie was kept quite short though. Both can matt, so not low maintenance but just surprisingly unsmelly. Lurchers are the smelliest dogs I've known.

My Border Terrier (very small female) STINKS. It’s actually offensive. It’s a good job she’s an amazing dog in every other respect 😂

Agree with everyone else, wiry, oily coats tend to result in the stinkiest dogs.

She’s totally worth it though ☺️

Who'd have thought that a thread about smelly dogs would garner so much interest😆

Sometimes mine stink and others I don’t notice it at all. It’s the worst when they are wet. They are very well groomed, I think keeping on top of the ears/undercoat really
helps. I would rather have a dog smell and be happy though!

I work with dogs and tend to find the bull
breeds smell most, yeasty which must offend my nose more than a normal dog smell.

yes I agree yorkies do stink. I had a yorkie and would bath him and the next day stank of sweaty dog and pee again. I could smell him in my house and on my rug etc. was always paranoid my house smelt doggy.
Also had JRTs and found them to be smelly, sweaty dogs too.
my friend has a cocker poo which is more poodle like than cocker and she doesn't seem to smell at all.

Im guessing the yorkie is the stinker. my yorkie was a very stinky boy even though i kept him well groomed. lovely photo

To me they all smell. And so do owners’ houses, clothes and cars. Sad but true for me. Felt sick in my sister’s car when she had dogs. Good luck!🙁

Our greyhound doesn’t smell and he hasn’t been bathed in AGES but I can’t imagine we could ever keep him off the sofa so if upholstery is your concern a greyhound is not for you

Our Deerhound takes up 3/4 of the sofa and I just squeeze on at the end by his boney bottom

We have a Toy Poodle and a Chipoo, they don’t smell and have tiny feet that repel mud.

I’m not saying mine is odour free but I am surprised how little he smells given he has a long thick double coat (Mioritic sheepdog cross). His coat isn’t oily (it’s kinda like those long shaggy rugs your mum had in the 70s) and seems to repel dirt and not shed half as badly as I had feared. Also he hates water so he does go swimming to get dirty. Labs of my aquaintance smell and shed a lot more despite having short fur and spaniels are always covered in mud. I guess my point is that longer haired dogs aren’t always the worse for your house vs short haired ones which I certainly did assume before I had him.

We have a border terrier
We had parsons jrt and a Labrador previously.
i think the border smells more when you’re close to him and agree with the oily sensation after grooming/stroking him.
But he is crate trained and doesn’t go upstairs or on furniture so the smell sort of stays with him and around his bed/crate. The smell of other breeds which shed hair seemed to stick around the house more iykwim.

(I don’t think I’m nose blind as I don’t smell the dog in the main parts of the house but can smell dog in the car)

Same. Maybe I'm just moderately nose blind and the car really honks!

I absolutely agree with this one! I've been to Crufts for many years (just to visit, not showing) and I once smelt the most horrific wet dog smell from about 10/15 ft away. It was a fully corded Komondor in show condition. That was with all the 100s dogs around me and in the vast ceilings and halls of the NEC. It was like someone had taken dog stink and put it through a condenser 🤢 I absolutely love dogs and have owned/fostered many different breeds, but this was something else!

We’ve had two short haired standard dachshunds who weren’t smelly. I’d wondered if we were ‘nose blind’, but I’ve had dogless visitors tell me that our house was the first one they’d been to which had a dog but didn’t smell.

someone way upthread mentioned breath… if they get smelly mouths and then they lick themselves or other things then in addition to the breath itself that’ll be stinky for sure.

Our Boston doesn't smell but they are a single coat short haired breed. He hates mud and water so will only walk in 'clean' places! He is also bathed fortnightly.

I can't believe how many of you are saying Labs are a smelly breed. We have a Lab & he doesn't smell at all. Our last Lab didn't smell either. I constantly ask friends & family if they can smell him in the house & none ever have & say they're surprised there's no smell at all with him being such a big dog. We do bath him every couple of months & he doesn't go out in wet weather often so not sure if this is why he doesn't smell.