“Boy does my dog stink”. There is usually a giggle after that statement. I don’t think it’s funny at all. Healthy dogs usually don’t stink. So the owner will bathe the dog to death, and still it smells. Great. So they dry out its coat, and probably don’t do a good job rinsing the suds out. We all know how, not too many dogs enjoy a bath, and just want to get away. Frustration kicks in, and before you know it, you’re running around with a towel. Suds are left in the coat, plus the concentrated shampoo ( that you didn’t dilute-hint hint) has now dried out its skin.
Now that causes the dog to itch, and away we go with other problems. It’s a vicious circle. Remember, dogs don’t get Body Odor like people. It’s a symptom that something else is wrong. Most of the time, I lift the dog’s ear up and say, “ is this what you are smelling?” Nine times out of ten, that’s it. Or, it’s the breath that stinks.
Again, most of the time the dog has stinky breath, cause the teeth or gums are rotting. I came across this a lot, when I groomed dogs. Part of my job as a dog groomer was educating people about the health of their dog.
Now, I know a lot of vets, have a problem with groomers. They think the groomers have too much to say about the health of their clients. I always knew this so I would give the owners powder keg questions to ask the vet. They probably knew this owner didn’t think up this question all by themselves. I’ll never forget I had this one client, for years her Westie had ear infections so bad that there was no opening to the ear; it was completely closed with infection. I truly believe the owners got used to the smell. I harped on them everytime I groomed this dog, “get these ears fixed”.
Well, I groomed dogs up to me being 8 months pregnant., (much to the chagrin of my parents) and I just couldn’t take the smell anymore. I asked them if they ever had an earache. They said ”no”, of course. I said, “Well I can tell, for if you did, you would know the pain this dog is in”. They claimed that had spent hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, toward vet bills on this dog’s ears. Ohh, so here is a thought, CHANGE VETS. I told them if they ask me ever to groom this dog again, it had better have healthy ears, or look for another groomer. They did call about a year later, and needless to say the dog didn’t smell anymore. My stories are endless about me setting my clients straight. They knew I only looked out for the best interests for the dogs, and if setting them straight meant I loss them as clients, so be it. I had great clients. They respected me, and I felt if they didn’t have the best interest for their dogs in mind, they could go elsewhere. Grooming dogs, is my trade and I miss it so. I groomed just a couple months ago my Dad’s dogs. There always seemed something wrong with him paying a dog groomer, when he had a kid that was a pro. So alas, while I was grooming them, he kept saying to me, “isn’t it good to be good at something?” Isn’t that the truth? I had forgotten that concept. How sad.
