I have been looking forward to getting a westie. I have researched the breed and looked thoughly into what is involved in caring and training for a westie puppy. My teenage Kids are looking forward to it too. Tonight my husband gave me 2 ultimatums. I can have the dog provided 1) I clear up any dog poo in the garden - no problems, and 2) He doesnt want the house to smell of dog! If it does the dog would have to go! I am devestated and obviously would not get a puppy under these conditions. I dont feel that I can guarentee that a dog would not smell. My husband says that dog owners cannnot smell their own houses but he can smell dog when he goes to their house. Is their an answer to this or should I give up my dream?

Mmmm - my OH can smell "unsavoury" at times when he comes in - and as for teenagers' feet

A healthy, clean dog should not smell - a puppy will have accidents in the house to start with, until you have it housetrained - maybe a few weeks, maybe a few months, you cannot be specific on this point.  However, provided accidents are cleaned up immediately, there shouldn't be any smell - unless you have the House Doctor in - who reckons she can smell dog at 100 yards ;)

My teenaged sons' rooms could smell 100 times worse than any of the dogs beds, if they weren't cleaned!

Margot

PS (you could always get rid of the husband ;)  )

Oh June, how awful for you.  Personally I don't know about Westies, but as a multi-dog household (7 Labs) I know that I do get paranoid, as I am accustomed to it.  But, I do ask my daughter and visitors for the truth and have been told (most of the time) there is no smell.  I few people have asked me how on earth I manage it.  I put it down to furnishings.  Smells can get trapped in carpets, sofas, curtains etc.  I have (had) leather sofas and wooden floor throughout the house.  My only cleaning tool inside the house is hot water and biological washing powder.  No disinfectants as they simply mask any smells and are far too overpowering.  Washing powder has a clean fresh smell and has no side effects for (my) dogs. 

But, in the winter or wet days after walks, beleive me, dog smell can be very noticable, even to one accustomed to it.

Hi June i have three dogs and sometimes they can smell i dont think it would be a good idea for you to get a puppy if your husband has put an ultumatium on it, it wouldn't be fair to the puppy or you because when dogs do get wet they can pong or if they have an upset stomach and they are farting all the time. Dont get me wrong the goods definitaley out way the good, how unfair of your husband.

I think your husband wont notice a slight doggy smell if he lives in it! Regular trips to the grooming parlor will help. My husband is quite fussy and doesnt like dogs in the house he thinks they should live outside and that they smell......... then we got our little puppy (5 months ago)and they share the sofa together and he is forever giving her cuddles and loves even though i know she sometimes smells especially after rolling in horse phoo!! So hopefully your puppy will grow on your hubby too. A house isnt a home without a dog!

Err does the Oh smell at times :-) . Heaven help a man who gives me an ultimatium.

I have westies and they are not really dogs that smell. Of course you will get some odour if they are not kept clean but they are an easy breed to keep in regards cleaning.  They don't cast hair and are a dry coated breed. 

What your husband says is perfectly true; your own house smells normal! I too hate a 'doggy' smelling house (I can't go in a family member's kitchen because of it) but I've never known a properly-groomed Westie to smell unpleasant.

I must admit i hate going to peoples houses who have the wet dog smell in them,even though their dogs are never wet It just makes me think "dirty" and uncleaned HOWEVER it would not be the decision breaker for me getting a dog or not,i think you have picked a good breed in regards to not so smelly dogs,i dont think i have met a smelly westie,thats not to say they cant smell,but they are not as bad as many other dogs ;)

I have to agree with Blue,heaven help any man who gives me an ultimatum,especially about something as important and special as a dog :) Hopefully DH will fall head over heels for the pup and his bodily odours will smell like sweet roses on a summers day as he will be blinded by love :D

As an addition (too late to add to the earlier post!) puppies don't smell doggy. By the time a pup's old enough to have got its adult coat (which is the one that is most likely to smell) then your husband should be so fond of the dog any slight odour won't matter ... ;)
:)

>By the time a pup's old enough to have got its adult coat (which is the one that is most likely to smell) then your husband should be so fond of the dog any slight odour won't matter ... ;-)<

LOL Jeanjenie or she may have traded hubby in...;-)

I'd tell the OH to move into the garden and tell him he smells ;-)

Umm - if both you and the kids want a dog then your OH is out numbered ;) - I'm afraid that I would not let my husband dictate to me in such an unfair way. The fact is that a puppy WILL have accidents in the house and they WILL smell - just like your kids did when they were babies. When  fully grown the dog will smell sometimes particularly in the winter time when they have got wet/muddy/rolled in fox poo etc. When your dog becomes old they will smell a bit too sometimes -  You will  get dog hairs on your clothes and furniture, pawprints on your clean floors and the odd chewed shoe. You will also have years of wonderful memories, the truest expression of love , a most valuable way of teaching your kids about commitment and empathy for another living creature, loyalty and devotion beyond measure, the best excuse for going for a walk, a key to making loads of new friends and a treasured member of your family.

Most men don't like change, but I bet given a couple of months he'll be cuddling the pup on the sofa and  boasting about it's cleverness to his friends - smell ? what smell ? HIS dog won't smell only other peoples ! :D.

Yvonne

Well said Yvonne.  I totally agree.  All the "smelly" times, fox poo, farting, burping, etc are so far outweighed by the total love of a dog for it's owner.  This particular OH sounds like a bit of a control freak to me....:(  Pick up the poo from the garden?  Well, of course you will - totally daft ultimatum if you ask me.  Bin the OH and get two dogs....... :D

Here here, definately bin OH and get two dogs.

Ah now if I could get a dog that could bring in a wage then I would never have bothered with a husband :D  Sadly mine was crap at that too and got the heave ho many years ago :D

IME if not ALL members of the household are equally enthusiastic about the canine members it can lead to disaster, we have seen several posts of this kind on this board..........

I would say that when they come in from a walk in the rain, they do smell. Some breeds smell more than others and as owners, I don't think we notice it. My friend has a long haired BSD and uses some kind of doggy deoderant and he smells lovely, I am going to try it myself (off to the pet shop today). I have air fresheners over the house so I don't smell anything and neither do my friends

My hubby never wanted dogs,i just came home with one and then another :D It's got nothing to do with him as i'm the one who walks them,feeds them,pays for everything they need etc. etc.

I never bothered asking him,as i know he would have said No, which would have made it that much harder to just turn up at home with one ;)

I dont take ultimatums or orders from anyone,especially not my husband!!  It's not as iff he doesnt like dogs per say,he loves over them,especially when he thinks i'm not watching :p

Love ME,Love MY dogs :D

I live in a house with 3 loopy collies and a mother, who in her own words is 'not a doggy person' She protested mildly with each dog I got and made several rules - not on furniture, upstairs, no mess, etc, etc...at the moment they are lying on the landing or on my bed while I type this. Earlier on one was sitting on my lap on the sofa. There is hair everywhere as it is spring and they are moulting. The middle one smells v.doggy and has to have monthly baths to keep the smell down, the oldest is never bathed and smells of nothing until you reach his mouth, then you have to run for cover from his breath (rescue dog-manky teeth!), the youngest is still learning to get his balance when cocking his leg and has the odd accident over his feet so occassionally smells of wee. :p

In other words, it is dependant on how strict you OH is and on how much he is likely to grow to love the dog. Mine climb on my mums lap in her sacred chair while she mumbles about them ruining her reputation about not liking dogs! :D Yesterday she came home from the supermarket with chicken portions and bio yoghurt for them all and forgot her poorly daughters tissues! :-( ;-)

As the others have said, Westies do not normally smell as long as you keep them clipped and clean. I do know one who does but that is only around her mouth where she eats and gets stained fur because she is not clipped often enough. :rolleyes:

I think your husband may have been watching "The House Doctor" recently!

Some dogs do seem to carry a doggie odour and my OH parent's have 2 Westies. They never used to smell, but now they are not so often at the groomers, they do smell just a little bit "doggie".

You can get lovely herbal wipes and so on that can take the smell away, and as long as you ensrue he is healthy, dog bedding is washed etc, and maybe invest in a steam cleanner, there is no reason the new Westie should smell or make the home smelly :)

My Belgian doesn't seem to smell except when she has been in the marsh, then she carries very smelly mud back but we don't care because we love her and its gone in 2 days :D

My first and second Belgians had the most wonderful smell, like faint perfume, it was amazing. They smelled better than most people ;)

Lindsay
X

Ps don't get a BSD though, they need lots of looking after

A serious comment after what i said before - leo is long haired and sometimes he does smell but only usually after hes decided he needs a swim in the river / roll in the mud or been in the rain and even then the smell doesnt last long. My parents like dogs but didnt want anymore themseleves and we take Leo round there where my dad moans that the dog hair is clogging up his hoover - when he was a baby he also peed on their new carpet, poohed on it and threw up on it! nice i know but he wasis so cute it was instantly forgotten.
When people come round to our house i give it a good hoover with the dyson, spray some febreeze anti bacterial stuff around and some airfreshner and most importantly - I open up the windows and let some fresh air in. I believe i read that white vinegar is supposed to be great for odours (think it was kim and aggie) and they say if you keep a bowl of white vinegar in a room it will absorb any smell + they do those plug in air freshner things

How is your OH with other dogs? does he hate them / like them - if he likes them then im sure a week or two with a new pup and it will be His dog not yours!

I'm with the others tho - i dont take ultimatums off anyone, b/f really didnt want me to get a hamster, he seems to be scared of them so he told me i couldnt have one, that just made me more determined and now we have Olivia my hamster

I ask friends to tell me if they can smell anything - so far so good !. I do have one friend who's house smells really 'doggy' and everything appears to be covered in hair. I wouldn't want my house to be like that in every room. It only takes a reasonable amount of hoovering to remove most traces. My friend has those carpet tiles in the kitchen so I'm sure most of it is from the dog bowls and the fact that they spend most of their time in that room when they are left. I do sometimes notice a bit of a wee smell when my boys coat gets a bit long so I trim the long hair around his 'tiddler' (that's my dog, not my husband !!).

My friends do comment about there not being a doggy smell,i think its because  i have wooden floors and leather soffas,i mop through every day,the only times i can smell the dogs is if they have been rolling in dead fish ,ducks,rabbits ect awful smells.

Sheila.

I wouldn't get a dog yet, I'd wait until after the divorce, any man who gave me instructions like that would soon become my ex ;)

arched
I ask friends to tell me if they can smell anything - so far so good !

Are you sure theyre not just being polite :o :D

I did wonder that to start with !. My Mum wouldn't lie to her little girl though - would she ?!!!

val

Can you message me with the name of this magic perfume??!

That random message of mine was to Sarah Gord by the way!

My westie smells better than most people.

Have PM'd you

Many thanks for all your replies - they made me laugh and cheered me up, and reassured me. Dont know who the House Doctor is though, Perhaps I can trade my husband for him? Have seriously considered getting rid of the OH, a dog sounds more companianable at the moment, - but then we wouldnt survive financially.

I shall try further negotiation with my husband and give him an edited version of all your advise.

To be honest (from an owner of three dogs and past owner of a very old dog ), my house only gets 'doggy' when I get very lazy with the hoovering and general cleaning.  Having a decent hoover (I'm a Dyson fan) and using it regularly will prevent most smells.

However, I agree with tohme - if your OH really does not want a dog, it will be a cause of strife and the loser is usually the dog.

This is the perfect oppotunity to get rid of most of your carpets and get that longed for laminate flooring all through the downstairs, ROFLOL.

Seriously though, small puppies dont smell ( only what they leave behind :-) ) and as  they get older if its combed ( not brushed) throughly  outside every day there should be little smell. Whatever you do dont be tempted to bath it too often - say more than once every 6 weeks or you may encourage skin problems. Get a good lint roller too, as white hairs on clothing are among the most annoying thing for most non-dog lovers.

Oil burners are great for masking the occasional doggy smell - just light a candle under some nice smelling oil and voila.......

I was thinking about getting that febreeze,not for doggy smells,just to freshen up and get of that lingering stale ciggie smell :rolleyes: .But one of my dogs has allergies,dust mites etc. would useing febreeze aggravate an allergic dog,like for example the carpet powders do?

There's an answer to removing stale ciggie smells..........(she says, having given up the fags four months ago, but still gagging for one now :) )

but still gagging for one now :-)

Oh god,dont say that :( I'm planning on giving up very soon,i can barely go 2 hours without a smoke.I cant believe your still craving after 4 mths There's no hope for me :o

Speaking of giving up and starting again,my OH gave up for 14 years and then started again when he met me
Obviously the feeling never leaves you!

Frodo,
The giving up part was easy - it's the maintaining it I'm having trouble with......get nicotine patches from your doctor - they are free and make giving up a doddle.  You'll have the munchies for about three months and WILL put on weight, BUT it will come off again once things calm down, so don't let it panic you into lighting up.  Anyway, what would you rather have - a few extra pounds or...... :(

My problem is I am at home at present with a bad back, so I've way too much time on my hands, and and I can still make it to the newsagents.......get thee behind me, satan...:)

Frodo,

Simple Solution has a spray odour remover that you can use on furniture and is also safe to use on dogs.   There are so many different Febreeze types now that I too am concerned about an allergic reaction.   I just got two new sofas and decided to cover them with throws immediately - my old ones I did not bother.   Luckily, the throws are a near perfect match to the colour of the sofas, so I can pretend I now have a stylish lounge and the sofa throws are not even there. :-)   They will go into the wash at least once a month.

On carpet you can use baking soda.  No scent and no allergic reactions.   Sprinkle it on and leave it for half an hour and hoover it up.  You can also add scent to the baking soda naturally - stick either some fresh mint leaves in it, or a small piece or two of paper scented with vanilla, and let the baking soda absorb the scent for a week or so before using it. 

Stacey

A friend of mine has a springer and a Shar Pi and his house absolutely stinks and in all honesty, when you leave you smell. Its because his dogs swim in whatever they can find and he never washes them properly. Just sticks a hose on him and thats it. Being a typical male his not one for house cleaning.

I think the secret is in keeping up with cleaning most definitely. My mother-in-law has three dogs - two GSD and one Spitz, and when she had carpets, it was really hard for her to hoover up all that hair and keep it clean and free from smells with wet dogs coming in and out from off the farm. Then she got tiled floors throughout, and it is just a case of letting the dogs dry out with a towel and in the warm of the kitchen and then wiping up after them, and there is no smell at all. Her case is a little more extreme as they are farm dogs that sit out while she is working, rain or shine (to be near mummy!) and who also enjoy running through puddles and rolling in any manure they can find (lovely...!) but living in a more urban area, I doubt dogs get the chance to be like this everyday. Dogs will smell if they have got wet or muddy, but it is far outweighed by the joy in seeing them generally messing about and loving that muck and manure, and if my mother-in-law can keep the smell under control (and she HATES housework!) most people can I think!

A dog should not smell -- now im not the most fanatical person about keeping my house tidy (ok, its a pigsty).... AND i smoke in the living room,....... BUT, very very rarely does my house smell 'doggy' even though i have three dogs.

The key to it is this:

Feed the most appropriate diet you can - i raw feed. Cheap diets, diets bulked out with lots of cereals will give your dog scurfy skin, bad breath and wind. So find the diet with the least cr@p in it. (Raw, or nature diet etc).

Grooming -- dogs with a wire coat tend to smell less, westies have a hard coat which should be stripped. If clipped or left to grow long, then they will pong, stripping THINS the coat as well as shortens it, lets the skin breathe and the natural oils distribute around the coat.

Other than that, just keep to your normal cleaning regime. (not mine, thats 'ignore it'!)

Em

This thread is not at all anti-male is it!!! ;-)

Some dogs smell more than others, hounds (pointers, bassets etc) tend to kick up a bit and my friends Newfoundland absolutely reeks. On the other hand my brothers Westie doesn't smell at all.

Apart from that, I'm with Em

Maybe a smidge anti male!

Just incase my house does smell - I've banned all visitors and kept the danes :D :D

Lol

I know its sad but I do like the smell of my pups feet. 

Henry smells of my perfume most of the time because I can't stop kissing him and hugging him.

I adore the smell of his feet....they smell like beef monster munch crisps!!!!

:-)

I will never look at a Beef Monster Munch in the same light again.

lol lol! they do honestly!

In all honesty I think that most homes with pets in do smell a bit ( just like smokers homes do ;)) the truth is that most of us  just don't notice it. I have tiles all through, leather sofa's, I mop everyday and wash all the throws and dog bedding once a week but I know that my house does sometimes smell of dog - especially in the winter time. It does'nt really bother me too much although I have been to houses where it makes your eyes water . I am a bit paranoid about this at the moment as we have our house on the market and I am very aware that 'non-doggy' people will be looking round the house.

Yvonne