There's a badger sett in the woods at the bottom of our garden and my dog, bless her, finds it such good fun to roll in their droppings. It makes her absolutely STINK and even after a through shampoo, she still whiffs. Any ideas as to how I can persuade her rolling in poo is not fun? And any recommendations for dog shampoo that actually knocks the smell on the head?

Ha, the very same thing has happened to my dog this morning! He's usually a lover of fox poo! But I know this is a slightly different smell but just as stinky! Terribly so!
I caught up with him to late, his neck and collar were full of it!
I don't really want to bath him again as he had a very soapy one two nights ago and his skin is to sensitive to keep putting him in the tub so I've settled with rubbing him down in the garden.
He still whiffs badly!

My doberman loves doing this too.

I find that the bulk of it gets caught in her collar and it is this that stinks . It gets caught in the buckle and the nooks and cranies and the only think to do is to soak it in a bucket of water.

So, I change her collar and give the offending spot a good wash. I also have a deodourising spray which you can then spray and brush in. (You can get it at pets-at-home). This tends to pretty much reduce the smell to a tolerable level.

Several of my friends' dogs are lovers of fox poo & I am always a bit smug when their dogs come back stinking as mine don't ~ except for last sunday when 3 of the dogs went running off through the woods. When my friends 2 dogs returned with fox poo liberally dabbed behind their ears I just laughed ~ & then my Barney came back too. Yes he was absolutely covered all over with fox poo & muddy stagnant pond water. The stink was horrendous especially as we had a 45 minute drive home. Even with all the windows open it was still pungent.

It ended up with my friend & her 2 dogs plus my 2 getting the hosepipe & medicated shampoo treatment in my garden. It was like a production line of rinsing, shampooing, rinsing & towelling dry & we all got soaked!

I've vowed never to laugh again when other peoples' dogs roll in foul smelling things.

Why do dogs roll in other animal's poo? Is it to disguise themselves as that animal so they don't get attacked?My dog also rolled in seagull poo on the beach once, that was NASTY

Mines done seagull poo too!

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It is sexy or they think the new stink makes them sexy to other dogs.

My now sadly deceased dear old Collie cross loved having a writhe around in a dollop of fresh horse pooh
I believe it's something to do with their inbuilt desire to disguise their own natural scent.

Maybe you should consider keeping it on a leash.

It??? Her if you don't mind! And why should she be kept on a leash when she's in her own garden? I'd just like her to roll in freshly mown grass clippings rather than poo, that's all

My dog used to eat horse poo , great round dollops before I could stop him.

My dog enjoys tucking into a crusty cow pat now and again

What is it with dogs and poo?

My dog's main goal in life seems to be to sniff out and roll in every kind of poo imaginable. He even took cat poo out the litter tray, carried it onto the sofa and rolled around in it once. (I really should have known he was up to no good due to the ominous silence coming from the other room) Thankfully we have a leather suite so it wasn't as big a nightmare to clean up as it could have been, although getting it out of his fur was no easy task!

He like fox poo the most, but he's not that fussy. As long as it makes him smell like crap he'll roll in it. He hates baths too so you'd think he'd realise by now that rolling in crap = bath!

My dog also rolls in crabsticks which is a bit disconcerting. My daughter gave her one the other day and she immediately dropped it to the floor and did a full scale roll all over it. It makes me wonder what excrement is in crabsticks

Thank goodness my cav isn't a "roller" but she loves to eat it! Worst ever was fox poo and it got all in her ears

We had a Cocker once who rolled in a dead seal on the beach, he was covered in grease, the stench was hideous and we couldn't wash it off.

One of my friend's dogs rolled in a rotting badger carcass once ~ that was the worst smell ever (& I didn't think there anything worse than fox poo).

I don't mind mine tucking into fresh cow or horse poo or nibbling at sheep dung ~ it's supposed to be quite nutritious, but I do object to the sloppy "kisses" they want to give me if they've just had their face in a cow pat.

I don't think anyone knows for sure why dogs do it ~ possibly trying to disguise their own smell, or trying to confuse potential prey, or creating a communal scent if they all do it ~ or just because they can! They certainly seem to enjoy it & look very pleased with themselves after a successful roll.

Sheep poo is the Eau de Cologne choice of my mutt, luckily there's a pool near by so he bounds in there for a swim, thus removing most of the stench before i get the dreaded brush out

We took our young lab to the park yesterday, it was one she hadn't been to before and for the first time she came face to face with cows - I was so chuffed that she wasn't bothered by them. She decided to have some fun in a stream and jumped happily through some sweet smelling lavender - how cute I thought! It didn't last long though, she suddenly slid through the most ripe and smelly, 'splattiest' cow poo I've ever seen, it was like a green speed stripe from the tip of her nose to her tail. She rolled on her back and completely covered herself. Her collar was caked in the stuff and she obviously thought it would be really funny to jump up me and my partner and cover us in cow poo too! Anyone who has a dog like ours will know what I mean when I say 'she completely knew what she was doing and she so found it funny'! We ended up stinking too! We couldn't help but laugh but even though we've given her a really good bath - there's still a bit of a pong!

They will roll in fox or badger poop to higher their rank in two ways.....

Higher ranking wolves have darker markings than lower ranks, same for some domestic breeds such as German Sheperds, they have multi toned coats but the higher ranking ones its like someone has gone over them with a black marker pen around the head, ears, hackles and tail.

Breeds that are light in colour say white for example can higher their rank by having these darker marks from the poop, you will notice that most times they put the top part of their head in the poop then neck and sometimes top of back.

Also as a Fox eats a high % meat diet the scent of this will also higher their rank as other dogs will smell it, with wolves higher ranks eat 75% meat 25% veg low ranks eat 25% veg 75% meat.

Thats why it tends to be fox poop as a favourite to higher their rank, can be badger also as badgers can also have eaten a high % meat meal (their diet variable).

Likewise some people will notice their dogs eat grass usually to lower rank........

Dogs may eat grass to purge their stomach, also if their stomach is empty, bile from the gall bladder still secretes into the stomach and hence they puke yellow bile, this doesnt happen when there is food in their stomach as the bile aids digestion.

Another reason why dogs eat grass is to lower or higher their rank, in most cases it is to lower their rank, when 2 dogs sniff each others face they are checking out their 'weaponry' ie the teeth and with their acute sense of smell they can determine what they have eaten, lower ranks have a less percentage of meat versus veg in their diet, so by eating grass would lower their rank immediately , they may do this when they can smell or sense a higher ranking animal in the area, you may see them sniff the ground and then go and eat some grass.

Sometimes they will do it to higher their rank, often this is when Fox pee is present in the grass, as foxes mainly have a meat diet this would higher the dogs rank when another dogs sniffs their face....you can easily tell if fox pee is present by sniffing the grass, it is a very strong / pungent smell.

Sorry jamesp147 but I don't think there's any scientific evidence whatsoever to suggest that wolves act in the way you describe, let alone dogs!

I know plenty of black dogs that roll in poo & it's certainly nothing to do with rank or status. I also don't think there's any truth in grass eating being anything other than for upset tummies or because it tastes nice or is nutritious in some way ~ nothing whatsoever to do with rank.

Yep black dogs will roll in fox poop as well as the scent of the high % meat diet increases their rank.

Science still has much to learn in regard of wolves and dogs, so no surprise their is no official evidence, doesnt mean it isnt true though.

Feeding from a kill, high ranks eat heart, liver kidney, next ranks best cuts of meat and muscle and low ranks get the stomach contents which in a lot of case will be % of part or undigested grass as most prey will be grass eaters.

Some people have probs with their dogs if they feed them a higher ranking meat diet than the owners eat.

I agree. My own black dog rolls in many forms of poo and only eats a certain type of grass, because he likes the taste of it.

jamesp147, what do you base this all on?

OP - Tomato ketchup or tomato puree rubbed into the dogs fur and then washed off will neutralise the smell.

Thank you, I'll remember that for next time

My dog is quite a dainty nibbler of rabbit poo on our walks. Looks completely out of character for a 35 kilo boxer.

~ my 2 chunky labs look just as silly delicately picking only the ripest of blackberries!