Ok, so thanks to some CD members (both in person and great advice on here) I am now able to walk my boy and am having great fun at ringcraft :)

Now for my next question, how the heck do I keep him clean and smell free lol.
I obviously dont want to keep bathing him but he has an obsession with muddy water, which is fine. But he smells like a sewer when we get home. I dont want to spoil his fun free time while out walking by keeping him out of the mud and on the path.
But I dont want to turn up at ringcraft with the dog that pongs to high heaven, and will be taking him into the ring soon hopefully. What can I use to keep him generally clean? Any recomendations for good shampoos, brushes or any other tips anyone has for keeping his coat in good condition would be great. I was wondering if anyone uses baby wipes? I am thinking of using them but want to check that is ok and wont irritate his skin?

Thanks all in advance yet again :)

i use miracle coat waterless shampoo,which you just spray on like mousse and massage into the coat,then towel dry.i also use doreen paige lavender and rosemary finishing spray on their coats to make them smell lovely.hope this helps,roy.

You can get pet wipes too I think, but you'll have to use quite a few on a bullmastiff! :-D

I have bullmastiffs and pugs, to keep them clean without constant bathing,  i use baby wipes, the dry shampoos and to finish of a fragrance spray,  they all seem to do the trick, my young girl Mabel is the muddy puddles freak. I just think myself luck that I don't have a heavily coated breed.

I use the pet wipes from Pets at Home that are £1 a pack for my GSP but would ned alot on my mastiffs!!!

Yes I am the same as Lollie I use baby wipes and dry shampoo on my Bullmastiffs.

:):):):):) bullies in the bath your gunna get wet!:):)

Lol, he likes the bath :)

Rinse free shampoo from pets at home. I have some in the house I'll bring it you at Ringcraft tomorrow for you to see what you think :)

That would be great Snowkitten, he really stinks lol.

Thanks all for the suggestions :)

I have a gundog that I have to keep mud free as it makes him itch.  We don't (ever) do full baths but I slosh him off with a weak solution of Hibiscrub after each walk.  This leaves a mild clean smell but isn't too harsh - as long as it's well diluted.

His legs are hosed first with tap water then I use a sponge and bucket with the Hibiscrub solution.  I wipe his face first (if necessary) then just slosh belly, armpits and paws.  In the summer I use the same solution to keep him pollen free but sometimes just use a damp flannel dipped in the bucket.

Your boy shouldn't smell bad from just mud - are there other body odour issues??!!

Thanks Dogs-A-Babe, where can I get the hibiscrub from?

Its not the mud that makes him smell, its more the stale water he likes to wallow in :) he likes to find ditches etc with water thats had leaves rotting in it all winter.

You can buy it from Boots, but it's much cheaper online from one of the VetMeds type of places. I think I paid the same for a bottle double the size of the one I bought from Boots.

I give Buster a 'bath' once a year in the summer, he doesn't do stairs so it's a case of putting him in the garden and tipping buckets of water over him while shampooing him (he isn't keen, but will stand there as long as I keep feeding little cubes of cheese into his gob!).

The rest of the year he gets a wipe over with baby wipes occasioanlly, mostly it's not a full-body wipe over as he isn't really smelly (mud brushes off his feet easy enough), I mostly concentrate on his face & forelegs. Where he is so slobbery and  flicks it up all over his face & head & rests his slobbery chops on his forelegs , despite it being wiped away, it tends to make his face smell of stale dog-spit

I usually use Jhonsons baby wipes as they can often be found with a 'bogof' offer :) I've tried cheap baby wipes but Buster hates the smell of them and really does not like them any where near his face, he's not massively impressed with Jhonsons but at least he'll stay still and let me clean him with them (he also hates pet-wipes, but I've only tried 1 brand & can't remeber what that was.)

Buster is starting to really shed at the moment, he loved having a vigerous all-body scrub over with a rubber brush on Monday followed by a scrub over with baby wipes, then a brush with  the metal side of a double-sided brush. He looked lovely after that, smelt fresh with no hint of dog-spit around his face. Sadly, he doesn't like smelling that clean so he spent a little while licking himself, so he ended up more slobbered than when I started *rollyeyes*

>Thanks Dogs-A-Babe, where can I get the hibiscrub from?

It's human 'medicine' (actually it's what surgeons use to clean their hands) so most of the online chemists and vet supply companies sell it.  Because I dilute it so much a 500ml bottle lasts me forever.  A short squeeze into half a bucket of water will do it.

Thanks both, I will go with the flannel at the weekends when he has been for his really long smelly walks, and babywipes in the week to freshen him up :)
Also need to invest in a new rubber brush as he thought it was a nice tasy treat and demolished it lol

Did that no rinse shampoo that I gave you work or make a difference?

Much better thank you : ), have added it to the shopping list this week.