Hi Folks,

My name is Ramon Hernandez and I'm the owner of 2 GSDs (First one 10 months & second one 9 weeks old). I'm concerning about keeping the room I keep both my GSDs in clean to keep clear of any bad odors. Below are my questions:

1. Is it OK to use 409 all purpose cleaner when cleaning the crate. My 10 month old is house trained but my 9 week old isn't. Every night I've been taking the bottom out from the crate and cleaning it with 409 and also use that when the young one makes any mistakes. I'm also mopping and broom cleaning the rest of the room.

2. Is it OK to brush the dog every day to keep lose hair down to a min.

3. Is it OK to be giving the dogs a bath every 3 weeks. To me it seems like it isn't enough but I'm worried about the smell.

We just got our 2nd dog last week and the oder in the room has doubled as you can imagine. My son's room is right off of that room and I'm trying hard to keep the odor down with out my wife going postal on me. Let me know if anyone has any recommendations and thanks to everyone in advance.

Best
Ramon Hernandez
Head Instructor
North Jersey Judo
ramon@northjerseyjudo.com
http://www.northjerseyjudo.com

Hi Ramon,
When you are using any type of cleaner (such as 409), be sure that you rinse the cleaner off very very well with plain water. I personally use Murphy's Oil Soap (I dilute it half and half with plain water and use that to wipe out the crate. Then rinse again with plain water. A product called "Odo-Ban" works very well also in getting rid of odors in the crate. I believe you can purchase a gallon jug of it at Sam's Club. (it is also diluted with water before use & on the directions it says that it is used in nursing homes, etc. when there is a problem with odors etc.)

As far as brushing goes, I'm sure that daily brushing is a good idea (I don't own GSD's so other folks will chime in on that).

The bathing seems excessive to me. We just bathed our two dogs this past weekend. They had not had a bath prior to that since last July. They have no odor - were just very dusty from playing outside all the time.

Guess my next question would be what are you feeding the dogs? I'm sure others will chime in with other questions.

The food question is a great one. The better quality or raw even will help the coat, coat smell as well as decrease the amount and size of the dogs bowl movement.

How about an air purifier for the room.

I also bath very infrequently but brush almost daily.

I wash the dog bedding weekly and vacume twice a week.

I have three dogs and little odor.

My sister only has one ill fed, ill cared for Bichon. When my brother is in town visiting he stays with us because his wife does not like the smell of the dog at my sisters.

1. I like Nature's Miracle for cleaning up messes. It's safe, hasn't damaged my rugs, and it smells good:

http://www.naturemakesitwork.com/home/index.php

Nolvasan is another product which works well on crates, kennels, tile floors:

http://www.allivet.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=AAP311

2. Daily brushing is good, IMO. Get one of these:

http://www.furminator.com/ Leerburg sells them and they are great!

For general odor control I use those Air Wick Plug-ins you get in the store. They're not nearly as pleasant as a scented candle but they do the trick in the laundry room where I keep my litter box. I have not read anything about this product being harmful to animals.

The only thing is you would have to plug it in to an outlet the pup could not get to. You don't want him eating it.

When I kept 4 working dogs in the house (all 4 crates same room) here is what I did.

1. Weekly cleaning of crates with Odo-Ban or something similar.
2. Raw food only - big help with smells!
3. High end air purifier (http://www.needs.com/FactSheet/Fact_Sheet_EE.asp?ProductCode=ALR-5014-SAN)
4. Natural oil diffuser

I know that everyone said it, but I'm gonna say it again: That "doggy" body odor is from bad food or disease.

Dogs who live indoors and not in a forest den with an adopted skunk smell bad from low-quality food (and that does NOT mean low cost! The foods in the vet's office cost a fortune and they grace the botttom of the quality list).

Absolutely! When our pup was on the low-quality kibble, he had a bad odor. After we discovered this forum, we switched him over to Canidae (he was probably about 4 months old then) and have not had any more odor problems! Both of our dog crates are in our dining room so you better believe that there is no smell or we would not be able to have them in the same room where we eat!

I also wash out the crates and at the same time launder their bedding (this is done once a week).

Ramon, I would be interested to know what you are feeding your dogs.

Just discovered Odo-Ban. Fantastic stuff. We use it on a gravel run that we were using everything on with no success.

Nature's Miracle is simply that. Stuff works wonders. Anyone with a pet should own this stuff.

Never had a problem with our current dogs coat odors. We just switched all our dogs back over to Canidae. Has really made a difference in their coats. Have never bathed the dogs that frequently so I would probably agree that it is either the food or a medical issue. Had a Beagle once that had the worst bad breath. Vet gave him antibiotics and it cleared up.

Hi Diane,

I'm feeding the pup Eukanuba. My 9 month old is on a raw diet. I just got the GSD pup last Friday and wanted to get him settled before I switch him to a raw diet.

I'll try the Odo Ban!!

Thanks to all for your replies.

Ramon

Hi, Ramon-

One thing I've definitely noticed (I only have one GSD, 9 mos old), is that if I don't keep his bedding changed about 2x/week, the "dog" smell builds up on the bedding, then on the dog. If I put clean bedding in his crate about every 3-4 days, we have no dog odor. My dog is on a good diet - raw w/THK, and Orijen adult on opposite days. But I notice that he ends up smelling anyway if I don't do the bedding chgs more than 1x/week. I also wipe the crate w/Nature's Miracle when I do bedding chgs, just because, why not? LOL.

If I do this, I don't even have to bathe Kodee to keep him smelling clean. I don't like bathing him simply b/c it dries out his skin and takes a lot of the shine out of his coat. He's had about 2 baths maybe in the last 6 months, because he got into something smelly, no other reason.