Does your house smell like a dog?

    • Gold Top Dog

    Does your house smell like a dog?

    About 10 years ago, I bought my husband a chocolate lab. I remember going to the people's house and walking in and being hit in the face with smell of dog.... the house was very clean, the people were clean but the house smelled like a dog. Not necessarily a bad smell, but overwhelming all the same....you know what I mean?

    Ever since then, I've been paranoid that my house will smell like a dog. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, but would be defensive to my non-dog family memebers. And though I know my house is clean, they would say it must not be because of the smell. Not that I really care... I have a relative that won't eat at my house because I have house dogs.

    So, I ask my sister who does not have house dogs, every time she comes to visit  if my house smells like a dog, to make sure it's under control... she always say "You can tell you have dogs but it doesn't stink."

    I never smell anything... my house smells...well, like my house and whatever carpet stuff I used that day....

     My question is, how often do our homes smell of our dogs but we have no clue because we're just used to the odor? Not that it's a bad odor.. but a dog smell... And how aware are you of this... and what, if anything, do you do about it?

     

    • Gold Top Dog

    Just a note that NO ONE here will agree with...but it's true nonetheless. Someone who does not live with you or visit often..will ALWAYS know you have pets in your home as soon as they walk in and breathe inwards. Ask ANY realtor...lol! It's not good or bad..it just, is.

    • Gold Top Dog

    Good question....  I am sure my house smells like dog and it has dog hair on the floors.   It doesnt smell bad to me but I live there.  I clean my house but dont go crazy. 

    Here is my feeling....

    I have 2 dogs, they are our family, if you come to my house you come to see all of us.  If you dont like the smell or the dog hair then I guess you wont be coming to visit us anymore Big Smile

     

    • Gold Top Dog

     After owning ferrets, dogs seem rather tame smell wise.  I don't think I've ever smelled a pet that made me want to move away, humans with B.O. that is a different matter. Ick!

    • Gold Top Dog

     I'm sure my house smells like a do, I know my bed does, because when I wash my bedding, it doesn't anymore, and I don't like it when it doesn't smell like my dog.

    • Moderators
    • Gold Top Dog

     Nope my HOUSE doesn't smell like a dog - and Gina I have had 5 people tell me they can't believe that it doesn't because Bugsy has full access but doesn't smell.  Its odd - a good odd but odd I think

    His crate has some blankets so that has a bit of a smell and he has a bed in our bedroom that has a bit of a smell - not bad smells but a dog smell.

    After his knee surgery I threw out all his blankets because they did smell as did he for a while afterward but we are back to norm now

    • Gold Top Dog
    On any given day, my house can smell like birds, fish, or dogs. It will smell like an aquarium when FH is playing around in the tank, moving plants and such, but it does not normally smell. It often smells like birds in my basement. I don't think there is any getting rid of that, it just something that comes with birds. We have decided though, in our next house, the birds will not be indoors. We will have an outbuilding for them. I think that my house will smell like I have dogs, I'm sure. I don't know that it is that overpowering dog smell though - but then I am so used to it, I really can't judge. I try to keep everything quite clean to cut down on the smell and our windows are almost always open, at least April - November they are open.
    • Gold Top Dog

     LOL Gina its funny you mention that, becuase we've been trying to sell this house for a looong time and several realtors have been here and all of them compliment on how nice it looks & smells with all the animals living in it.

    Nope, our house doesnt smell like dog, at all. And Ive also had several people say they cant believe a dog lives here because of the lack of dog smell.Ever since switching him to a raw diet, he really doesnt have any "dog" odor. If he is dirty he gets a bath, and he gets brushed often. If it wasnt for all the dog hair, you wounldnt guess that a dog lives here.

    Krissim Klaw

     After owning ferrets, dogs seem rather tame smell wise.

    You'd be amazed what a good diet does to a ferrets smell. There truely is NO kibble that is healthy for them, some cat kibbles are better can ferret kibble but all kibble fed ferrets no matter what the quality have that "ferret smell". Both my ferret boys are fed raw, and they do NOT smell like ferrets. If you've ever smelled a ferret (kibble fed), there is no hiding that odor in a house. The second you walk into the house, you just KNOW there is a ferret there. Yet, with my boys, nobody knows I even have ferrets unless I mention it or they see them. They get compliments all the time like "Oh wow they smell so good, did they just get a bath?" etc.

    Out of all the animals Ive ever had, my breeding colony of crickets and superworms smelled the worse lol

    • Gold Top Dog

    Karen and Chelsea, I feel so bad for you guys that I'm sending each of you a dog to provide the proper "eau de dog" smell to your houses. lol 

    I've asked different people if my house smells doggy but since they're all dog people they aren't much use. lol  I don't think my house has an overpowering dog odor but I'm sure to a non dog person it smells doggier than a non dog household.  *shrug*  That's why they make Febreze. lol

    Personally, I much prefer the smell of dog to the smell of a litter box in need of cleaning. Ick!

    • Gold Top Dog

    I've never had a problem with doggie smells in my homes.  Cats, though, esp. Mr. Stinky butt Moose the cat.  Yep, part of the perils of indoor litter boxes, and the part I truly hate about cats.

    • Gold Top Dog

    I will have to say, per my OCD clean freak, smell freak mother that my house doesn't smell.  She was shocked when she first came over after we moved in that it didn't...she was expecting it.

    To be honest, I have had a lot of people say Charlie doesn't have that doggie smell.  I don't know if its because he's an inside dog mostly, etc.

    • Gold Top Dog

    Our house only smells like dogs when they come in from a hard play session outside.  I usually rinse them down after playing, & then sit them in front of a box fan on the patio in order to cool them off & de-stink them before letting them go back inside. 

    People who come over for the first time never believe that we have 8 dogs & 2 cats in the house.

    • Gold Top Dog

    JackieG

     I don't think my house has an overpowering dog odor but I'm sure to a non dog person it smells doggier than a non dog household.  *shrug*  That's why they make Febreze. lol

    Personally, I much prefer the smell of dog to the smell of a litter box in need of cleaning. Ick!

    Same here.  PetFresh powder followed by Mr. Dyson works like a charm.  I also use a very good litter called EverClean/Lavender that helps...but with 3 cats and two boxes it is a challenge; and requires frequent changing.  I have a "neatnik" DH, so its a constant around here.

    • Gold Top Dog

     Our house doesn't usually smell like dog unless we have a rare rainy day that a dog gets caught in (not common on either part)

    That said, I'm sure people with no pets at all can sense something (if nothing else than just more bodies :p). I know that I think houses with babies or very young kids have a distinctive smell. (not a stink, mind you...just a distinctive smell)

    No one can usually tell we have five dogs (or 5 cats for that matter)

     


    • Gold Top Dog

    I know when it was just the bichon girls and Gobie the minpin, I had complements all the time how fresh and clean the house smelled and 'you couldn't even tell" there were dogs living there (I always wondered why realtors made this comment). 

    I dunno about Echo. She is a "shedding" pwd, but I don't notice a dog smell about her at all.  If you kiss the top of just about any retriever, there is a dog smell, not terrible, just a dog smell. She doesn't have any smell at all and very little dander. 

    I tend to think houses that smell like dog- the dogs might not have baths and have their *ears cleaned* and dirty/infected ears can be very offensive.