My entire patterdale dog really smells, it's a male doggy smell, like the smell you get from when they have been marking or urinating. He has always smelt like this, and bathing him only offers a temporary solution and he smells real bad again. Is this just an entire male dog thing? Would castration help? He is 2 years old and I took him on recently.

I can only assume that some dogs have an odour all their own, as some will have oily coats etc

I have 2 entire male Deerhounds, and they hardly smell at all. One is 2 years old nearly, and has never had a bath

I guess it must be a combination of breed, perhaps someone with this particular breed will be able to advise you ;)

Is he peeing on himself.  Many small dogs pee with their leg so far lifted that it runs down their tummies and other hit their front legs.  I would suggest using baby wipes after every time he pees ans see if this makes a difference.  A good bath first might be worth trying first.

May be worth checking his anal glands too.

He does mark a lot when on walks and as he is rough coated with a lot of belly hair, it is a possibility that he is peeing on him self. It does not smell like anal glands, and he has good poo's and id not scooting or showing any signs of it being an anal gland thing. However I suppose it can not be ruled out completely.

Empty the anal glands and give a bath there is nothing to lose in doing that and then if he still smells may be a trip to the vet for investigation would be in order.

After having a bath he smells very nice and fresh. The smell comes back after he has been out for a wee in the yard! Tonight when i just bathed him, i noticed he had a lot of urine in his "dinky" hairs all dried on. He is due to go to the vets anyway as i am having his vaccinations restarted. I am also planning on having him castrated. So i can disscuss the problem with my vet . However i just thought i would ask as i have never experienced such a strong smell on the actual dog before.

Then may be a bit of trimming is in order and a wipe two or three times a day with a baby wipe may solve the problem

Strip his fur so he doesnt pee on himself, then use baby wipes just in case?

my papillon boy is the same, when he pees it goes on his belly and his hair underneath gets really smelly! I just rinse him every day or two to keep the smell down, but even worse he often pees on my other dogs' head (she is sniffing the ground while he pees) so they both stink! Will also try baby wipes....

Castration won't make any difference in him weeing on himself.

Could you trim the hair near his Willy and on the inside of his thighs short.  this won't alter his appearance but will help prevent the urine making him small.  the Wet wipes will also be useful in this regard, to stop it soaking in.  Glad I have all girls, LOL :D

Have to say my boys do not pee on themselves but are not too worried about peeing on my bitch, strangly enough it seems to run off and does not smell perhaps something to do with the coat type.

I have an entire male afghan......now THERE'S a dog that can wee on itself big time!. Weekly baths I am afraid, plus trimming the hair around his nether regions, and then he has a "pee coat" which is a kind of kagoule effort , and covers up the belly hair whilst the dog is out in the garden. I should have thought it would be pretty easy to bath a little terrier weekly.........I dream of that kind of bathability :-D

Willy trimmed and belly now. He does like to swim when on walks so thankfully that does wash away the wee temporarily. I don't mind washing him; I was just worried about washing him too much and stripping the oils from his coat, especially as he likes to swim. He does not seem to smell as bad today since I trimmed and bathed him last night. He does mark a lot though, and that was the reason why I considered castration. And with the marking comes the excess urine and the wee down the belly and leg.

In my experience of a Friends terrier the little so and so's love to mark castrated or not.  Napoleon syndrome I'm afraid.

Barbara, you need to meet my boy. He never marks on walks (not that I'd let him water peoples fences), never pees on himself, only sniffs like a gentleman from a distance. There are some dogs that are pleasant to have around. LOL :)

I am lucky that generally in my breed they are to, but I did bellow at our boy when he last visited as eh was in so much of a hurry to pee over where my Lexi and Kizi did that he didn't wait for them to move out the way, each.

It seems the smaller the dog the more they seem to need to annonce theri presence :D

> It seems the smaller the dog the more they seem to need to announce their presence :D

(so just like little men then ;-))

That's why I'll take big dogs any day!