How often should you bathe your house dog? (border collie, poop, teeth)

[ssg II]

Brother & sister Norfolk terrier mix here. They get bathed every 2-3 weeks in the summer, less during cold weather. If I've been working in the yard, we all get in the tub together! (They get shampooed first, of course, so they don't get any people soap.)

They always have a faint, pleasant doggy smell except the top of the male's head, which pretty much stays stinky, the vet has no idea why.
Any thoughts?

[Tracysherm]

Almost every dog I've had had "perfume head" where the top of their head smells oddly perfumy, but not from shampoo or anything like that.

[suedonym]

I hardly ever wash my GSD. in the summer he gets more baths(or rather rinses) just to wash salt and chlorine off him... but in the winter none at all.

he doesnt stink (and we are very sensitive to smells).

I imagine just like people, all dogs are different.

[ssg II]

Originally Posted by TracySam

Almost every dog I've had had "perfume head" where the top of their head smells oddly perfumy, but not from shampoo or anything like that.

No, I mean it stinks! Not to the point it's gross, but definitely different from the rest of his body.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by ssg II

They always have a faint, pleasant doggy smell except the top of the male's head, which pretty much stays stinky, the vet has no idea why.
Any thoughts?

Originally Posted by ssg II

No, I mean it stinks! Not to the point it's gross, but definitely different from the rest of his body.

Ear infection?

[notfriedkasei]

If you google River Run ingredients, you'll come up with some info that is probably the source of your dogs' skin problems. Their website itself also boasts:
"Meat and Bone Meal Based
No Soy
Brewer’s Rice to Support Good Digestion and Palatability
Balanced Fiber to Support Good Digestion"

Meat and bone meal - generic term indicating that whatever, from wherever and whoever, is thrown in, mostly scraps and whatever is scraped off the slaughterhouse floor
Brewer's rice - dogs don't need rice

Other websites listing ingredients show typical crappy ingredients, no better than Ol Roy or Purina or Iams - fifty versions of corn and other fillers, no single-source meat ingredients, etc.

Essentially, River Run is a crap food, akin to feeding your dog McDonald's. Sorry I know my skin looks like hell when I eat crappy for a few days.

dogfoodanalysis.com has lots of good info for you.


I bathe my dog once a month; he goes to the park a lot and gets slobbered on, which smells. He also has a beard and his nose is always buried in the ground, so sometimes I wash just his face because his beard holds so much odor, lol. His skin is in great condition and if it weren't for slobbery, muddy fun, he'd probably get bathed less often.

[ssg II]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Ear infection?

No, just his stinky head....

[notfriedkasei]

I know this thread is a couple weeks old already, but I just now heard back from a rep at the company that makes River Run. He emailed me a pdf of a scan of a bag of food and said they are "looking into" putting the ingredients list online *eyeroll*

Anyway, here are the ingredients, as listed:

Ground corn, wheat middlings, rice bran, meat and bone meal, dehulled soybean meal, animal fat, corn gluten meal, natural flavors, [long list of supplements and preservatives]

So yeah ... probably one of the worst foods I've ever seen. And might be contributing toward that smell.

[foxywench]

while thats not a good food (first ingredient is corn, then wheat middlings, then rics, plus soy (pets shouldnt be eating soy due to the estrogen in it, fat is simply for flavor, and then more corn...yeah id say YUCK!
and the corn and soy would be the first things id say giving skin issues...

but meat MEAL is not bad...meat meal is simply dehydrated ground meat...

meat byproducts however are all the bits they couldnt sell to any other market + floor sweepings ect...


interms fo 'stinky head" syndrome dogs have scent/oil glands at the base of their ears, these can sometimes go into overdrive and give a doggy odor to the head thats stronger than the dogs body. it is normal, terriers and wire coated breeds tend to be more prone to "stinky head"

[notfriedkasei]

Yes, meal is simply dehydrated, but there's no way of knowing what "meat meal" is made up of ... beef? chicken? rat? what parts? etc. Not good enough.