[Theresia]

I recently bought my boyfriend a basset hound for v-day, which he loves!! I should of done a little more homework on this dog before I bought him and now I'm kicking myself in the butt.

Why does he smell so bad? Is this just my dog or is it every basset hound? And how do I make the smell go away? We give him a bath once a week, towel dry him and comb him out. Please if anyone has any ideas on how to make it so my whole house doesn't smell like stinky dog I'm all ears! Thanks in advance!

 

[Dasanii19]

I recently bought my boyfriend a basset hound for v-day, which he loves!! I should of done a little more homework on this dog before I bought him and now I'm kicking myself in the butt.

Why does he smell so bad? Is this just my dog or is it every basset hound? And how do I make the smell go away? We give him a bath once a week, towel dry him and comb him out. Please if anyone has any ideas on how to make it so my whole house doesn't smell like stinky dog I'm all ears! Thanks in advance![/b]

Are you cleaning his ears? I am sure there is some sort of powder you can put on his hair after he has been cleaned. I would suggest calling a groomer.

 

[emmasmom]

Are you talking about the normal hound smell? <_< Because some people find that offensive. I don't happen to mind it so I have no idea how to get rid of it because I've never tried.

p.s. I don't think a weekly bath is good for your boyfriend's dog.

 

[faysie]

CHECK HIS EARS! Take him to a vet for a check-up. Make sure the glands are clear, etc.

It has been my experience with my own dogs that some dogfoods can also make them smell icky. Look into what he's being fed. There are many possible reasons for a smelly Basset. Just go down the long list until you solve the problem.

Try to figure it out without scrubbing his skin off :blink:

 

[Midge n Hazley]

What are you feeding your hound? From my experience, some of the less expensive foods with a lot of fillers will contribute to houndie odor. I feed my girls Wellness and noticed a lot less odor from them.

 

[BubbaLeroy]

Go up to SEARCH in the top right hand corner of the screen. Click there and then type in "Odor" and it should bring up that topic with several different threads and some interesting feed back and discussion for you. Often it is the food that contribuutes to the odor especially those containing a lot of corn products.

Bogie does not have a houndy smell at all. We feed him Innova dry kibble which is more expensive than many, but he has a beautiful shiny coat, no skin problems, and is very active and healthy.

We bathe him about every two months, unless he rolls in something disgusting. Also frequent bathing can contribute to the odor problem. The more you bathe, the more the basset oil glands kick in to protect the skin, and more odor. Brushing Bogie every other day keeps him clean and the shedding hairs at bay.

.

 

[Beverly Anne]

Bubba Leroy's right. You're bathing too much which, if nothing else, will give the poor dog pretty itchy skin. Once a month, at the most, but preferably once every 2-4 months.

 

[Theresia]

Thank you so much for all the advice! We will cut way back on bath time. He has smelled horrible from day 1 so we just thought we had the stinky dog on the block, but it may have been that they were feeding him cheap food too. We feed him Purina but maybe we will look into a different type of food, hopefully that will help. When we took him to the vet for the first time in February we found out he had worms and his ears were very dirty! She gave us cleaning pads which we stay on top of cleaning. Over the last 2 1/2 months I'm slowly realizing that basset hounds are a lot of work to keep healthy! Oh well it's a great learning experience and if it keeps my boyfriend happy then it's well worth it.

 

[shakerag]

Rub his velvet ears, his loose skin and paws and give him lots of kisses on his hound muzzle and do not let him hear you talking about him. He will have you trained in no time!
don

 

[Elmer-n-Button]

We had problems with odors at first, but we have switched to quality food (Innova) and we don't have any more odors, or at least the "houndy smell". Its considerably more $$ but totally worth it when you consider the fact that in the long run, the dog will be healthier due to the human grade ingredients that they use. Also, read and try to evaluate the labels on the food bags. Many supermarket brands use things like PEANUT SHELLS as their main protein source. They don't have to list it as peanut shells, they just call it protein content. I think dogs need meat and vegetables, so in addition to their Innova weight control formula, I give them boiled chicken breast and green beans and carrots and they are doing great!
I found an interesting article online which explained (or claimed) that many supermarket pet food brands are owned by human food manufacturers and they use the by products from those foods in the pet foods. Renderings of God-knows-what, restaurant grease, you name it -- could be found in your pet's Supermarket food, according to this article. I guess you get what you pay for: No company can give your dog total nutrition for $10 for a 40 pound bag. The reason they can afford all the expensive advertising is because of the huge profit margin. Therefore they can be very convincing with all the cute commercials. There are many who say their dogs do fine on these foods, but I prefer the premium dog foods for health and odor control.

Congratulations on your new adventure! Bassets Hounds ARE more work, but totally worth it! Our long short friends with the big hearts! Good Luck and hang in there! We love pictures, so hope you will post some soon!

Link to that article:

http://www.preciouspets.org/report.htm

 

[Mikey T]

If you search the Odor threads it helps to identify the smell A frito, corn chip rancid oil smell common to hound dogs is caused by yeast. Yeast is a normal on skin and generally kept in check by the imune system but a feww thing can cause it to run out of control. alergies, moisture especially skin folds which are numerious on a basset, and a common skin alimentof bassets called seborrhea If the dog has dandruff it likely has seborrhea.

see MALESSEZIA DERMATITIS
Unless the underlying cause of the yeast infection is found it will keep comming back. Many such remedies unlike much of the popular advice involves shampoo threapy. ie frequent bathing but the proper shampoo is need one that kills yeast not one that just dries out the sking which causes the sebacious glands to go into over dry providing even more oil for the yeast to live on. The link above provides many specific for dog shampoos that are better ph balanced for a dogs skin. Thoose on a buget often find "Selsun Blue" a help

other causes of odor include a very rank rootton fish odor wich it genetral the result of inpacted anal glands
see MORE THAN YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT ANAL SACS

Lip fold pryoderma and peridontal desease can create quite a stench also but each sould show visable sign by looking at the mouth area.


When it comes to yeast infections and odor discovering the underlying cause even if it is alergies what is the alergin(s]? Most of the time this is out of the scope tha a general practicing vet can handle quickly or at all, a referral to a vet specializing in dermatology is often the fastest way to clear up the odor, because it is not normal for a dog to stink.

Find a Dermatologist

 

[slowandlow]

I have to agree with all of the previous posters. When our adopted Basset Stanley came to live with us he smelled, and after one week, the whole house smelled too. He was eating Purina One. We switched him to Wolf King Salmon and Bison with NO corn filler and now he smells sooo much better. I think if you try a food that doesn't use corn you will notice a difference in his odor.

Also, ears are a big cause of problems. We had a cocker spaniel many years ago who had constant problems with his ears. Would stink up the whole house. Switch to non-corn food and keep the ears clean and you should definitely notice an improvement.

Good Luck!