# Does your male have a distinctive "boy" smell?



## Rua (Jan 2, 2012)

I saw this debate on another thread, and found it rather fascinating. I have a 5 month old intact male, and a 16 month old spayed female. Neither dog has a strong odour, unless they have rolled in fox poo. 

However, I have noticed that my male does have a distinctively different smell than my female. It's not bad, nor overly strong. But it is distinctive....at least to me. Interestingly, he had a ridiculously STRONG puppy smell when we brought him home at 10 weeks. It was a sickly sweet puppy smell that permeated the whole house and lasted for a solid month before finally dissipating.

So I'm gonna throw this out there to all you folk who own males:

Do your boys smell like boys? Do they stink? Do they have no odour?


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## Shade (Feb 20, 2012)

Delgado does have a slightly musky scent, I really smell it on his blankets which get washed once a month. It's not bad, just different 

It has lessened slightly since he was neutered at 10 months but not by much, I just figure it's his natural odor.


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## Courtney (Feb 12, 2010)

I swear my intact male smells like maple syrup!

To me it's hogwash that neutered males or intact males "smell" for that reason alone. Without the obvious that a dog is dirty, smells from swimming in the lake, etc. I would look at diet first.

Now I do believe that dogs can smell a neutered male vs intact male....same with females.


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## Rua (Jan 2, 2012)

Maybe it's because I live in a house full of boys (I have 2 sons and a husband)...but the "boy" smell that Bowser has doesn't bother me. That being said, I wonder will it become stronger the older he gets since I don't plan to neuter him.

Has anyone else found that to be the case?


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

I think this might have something to do with the breed of dog it is. My male golden did have a smell, but I was told that is typical of goldens. As he got older I don't smell him, he was fixed at 6 monthish.


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## JackandMattie (Feb 4, 2013)

Jack is just over two and intact, and while he does smell differently than the girls, so do the girls from one another. 

None are stinky. Some people might disagree, but they all just smell like love to me.


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## RocketDog (Sep 25, 2011)

Nope. He just spent two hours in a super crowded Cabela's store on Saturday, getting petted and made a star by at least 100 people. The only comments were: "Wow, he's soft! Wow he's shiny! What do you feed him?!" Plus the usual "GORGEOUS".  Not one person smelled their hands or said he "stunk".


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## Rua (Jan 2, 2012)

Courtney said:


> I swear my intact male smells like maple syrup!
> 
> To me it's hogwash that neutered males or intact males "smell" for that reason alone. Without the obvious that a dog is dirty, smells from swimming in the lake, etc. I would look at diet first.
> 
> Now I do believe that dogs can smell a neutered male vs intact male....same with females.


Maple Syrup smells good! 

I wish I could've bottled that smell Bowser had when we brought him home from the breeders. Juno did NOT have a puppy smell hardly at all. (Then again, I suspect she was weaned from her mum too young.) Whereas, Bowser was with his mum and last litter mate right up to the day I collected him. Every so often, I catch a little whiff of it around the back of his head if his fur gets wet. But it's pretty much all gone...and he smells more like a boy now. lol


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## Rua (Jan 2, 2012)

I just wanna clarify this: When I say "smell", I don't mean "stink". Maybe I should be using the word "scent".

My dogs distinctively have a male and female scent TO ME. But neither is stinky. To everyone else, they don't have any smell. In fact, we get compliments on how soft and lovely their coats are, and how they don't have "doggy odour".

It's the same as both of my sons having their own distinctive scent that only I as their mother would know.


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## RocketDog (Sep 25, 2011)

Rua said:


> I just wanna clarify this: When I say "smell", I don't mean "stink". Maybe I should be using the word "scent".
> 
> My dogs distinctively have a male and female scent TO ME. But neither is stinky. *To everyone else, they don't have any smell. In fact, we get compliments on how soft and lovely their coats are, and how they don't have "doggy odour*".
> 
> It's the same as both of my sons having their own distinctive scent that only I as their mother would know.



Yes. This is what I meant.


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## Courtney (Feb 12, 2010)

Rua, I misunderstood your question

Regarding scent, I only have one dog & don't have another to compare him too.

RocketDog, beautiful picture!


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## Rua (Jan 2, 2012)

RocketDog said:


> Yes. This is what I meant.


He really is gorgeous. I love his happy face. :wub:


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## RocketDog (Sep 25, 2011)

Thanks. (I didn't mean to distract from your question. Just showing he really did spend that time in Cabelas, lol)


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## gsdlover91 (Jul 21, 2012)

My 8 month old intact male actually smells good and clean all the time. I am really on top of his grooming (ears, brushing hair/ teeth, etc). But he doesn't have a stinky odor and he definitely acts like a boy (digging in mud/snow, getting into things). My spayed female actually is pretty smelly. She is old though. 


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## gsdlover91 (Jul 21, 2012)

RocketDog said:


> Nope. He just spent two hours in a super crowded Cabela's store on Saturday, getting petted and made a star by at least 100 people. The only comments were: "Wow, he's soft! Wow he's shiny! What do you feed him?!" Plus the usual "GORGEOUS".  Not one person smelled their hands or said he "stunk".


Rocket is so cute :wub: I get the same comments as well. 


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## Rua (Jan 2, 2012)

RocketDog said:


> Thanks. (I didn't mean to distract from your question. Just showing he really did spend that time in Cabelas, lol)


He's always a welcome distraction!


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## JackandMattie (Feb 4, 2013)

Gorgeous! He looks to have the same type of hair as my senior female rescue... And the same square snout and sturdy legs. I've been having her shaved periodically, because of the heat here, but she's grown in now and it's too cool yet to shave her. I need to do some serious brushing out. What type of brush do you use? Product? I have a detangler but it doesn't seem to help much...except maybe to attract dust.



RocketDog said:


> Nope. He just spent two hours in a super crowded Cabela's store on Saturday, getting petted and made a star by at least 100 people. The only comments were: "Wow, he's soft! Wow he's shiny! What do you feed him?!" Plus the usual "GORGEOUS".  Not one person smelled their hands or said he "stunk".


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## RocketDog (Sep 25, 2011)

Honestly, it's a blade on side and a comb on the other, I got it at Petsmart. He only gets baths in May/June when he's blowing coat really bad. Otherwise, the snow and rain and rivers keep him clean,  (And I only brush him about once a month. I KNOW I KNOW, but he just doesn't seem to need it!) He is just an easy-keeper. (And he only sheds really bad in the spring)


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## robk (Jun 16, 2011)

Ruger used to smell really "doggy" until I took him off kibble. Now he kind of has a faint chicken smell.


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## Wolfgeist (Dec 4, 2010)

I love the way my intact male smells, a very faint scent of warm fur and clean all the time.


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## ohdev (Mar 26, 2012)

My intact male only stinks when we've had a fun day outdoors and he's gotten to splash around in some nice smelly mud puddles. Otherwise, he's really good about keeping himself clean, and I keep him brushed out once a week or more if he needs it. He's also not a heavy shedder since I put him on the salmon ToTW.

My neutered male is much stinkier than my intact, but he's also a different breed. He's a lab, and he's a bit more... careless with cleaning himself up I think. Before his snipping he held up a lot better outdoors, I feel like his coat was better at repelling the dirt compared to now. So much for that water repellant coat too, he needs more of a scrubbing and double the time drying than my intact GSD 

To me, my intact male just smells like a dog, a little bit of fur, a little bit of shampoo, the neutered male though mostly smells musty to my nose.


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

Honestly I have just noticed a stronger urine odor around the "pee spots" but no odor special to the dog.....


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## Cheyanna (Aug 18, 2012)

Fiona got that puppy smell back in her ears this weekend, so I cleaned her ears. Only after a few deep sniffs.
How can I get her to smell like maple syrup? Yummy.

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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

My intact male doesn't have any doggy odor...he smells like the outdoors! Kacie, my long coat has a bit more scent...her breath/or gut is noticable, not sure if it is from her crappy alignment in her dentition or what. She eats the same as the others. 

And because she's a coatie, she gets that wet dog smell more often because she gets wet(snowballs in her fuzzies) when the stock coats don't.
RE: maple syrup, Onyx had that odor when she was on pred. Hated that smell!


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## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

I definitely notice a difference. Their skin/fur has a different almost musky odor... Each dog has their own individual scent like each human and I've noticed that most GSD's have a slightly smokey scent that I don't smell on other breeds.


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## Carriesue (Aug 13, 2012)

Mine smell different dependent on which area of their body you happen to be sniffing.


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## Sarah~ (Apr 30, 2012)

Hm for a while after my male's monthly bath he doesn't really smell like anything unless he's gotten wet outside, then he smells like wet dog. Usually right around when he's due for another bath he starts to stink like dog again, so I try to wait as long as I can. Thought about buying one of those doggy "perfumes" they have at petsmart so I can get away with it even longer before the guys start pestering me to wash him. He is not neutered but I don't have any other dogs. He has the same dog smell I've smelled on every other stinky dog lol.


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## Kayathefrustrated (Aug 22, 2013)

Old thread I know but I have been meaning to ask, I google searched why my dogs smell like maple and it brought me back here. Kaya, my intact female has always had that smell only on her forehead, and Koda, intact male, started smelling like it as well at around 8 months old. Only on the forehead. None of my other dogs had it. Only the GSDs.


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## Solamar (Jan 25, 2017)

I'll bump this up again. My female GSD's head just started smelling like maple syrup! My two sons noticed it as well. I was surprised when I searched "maple syrup and German Shepherd" that it is a fairly common comment.

Wonder what causes it?


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## debr1776 (Feb 4, 2018)

My (spayed) female smooth collie's head smelled like maple syrup, too. So it's not just GSDs.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Solamar said:


> I'll bump this up again. My female GSD's head just started smelling like maple syrup! My two sons noticed it as well. I was surprised when I searched "maple syrup and German Shepherd" that it is a fairly common comment.
> 
> Wonder what causes it?


Look at the diet? Meds? Dogs should not have that odor. Is your dog taking steroids/prednisone?


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## Solamar (Jan 25, 2017)

onyx'girl said:


> Look at the diet? Meds? Dogs should not have that odor. Is your dog taking steroids/prednisone?


Kibble (Canidae Lamb) raw eggs and occasional raw chicken backs. No medication.

We do have rosemary growing in our yard and and sage throughout our trail network. Sometimes the "Maple" smell smells more like sweet curry.

We do have hens and chicks that she spends allot of time with (and likes to eat their poop). But none of that smell particularly good.

Odd that is is somewhat common for dogs to smell of maple...


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

I have had intact males throughout my life and they never smelled stronger than the females. They do have their individual scents that I actually love; they are healthy. The only strong scent I can sense is in their foot pads; a sweet, earthy scent. My hubby doesn't understand me in this and thinks that sometimes I am turning into a dog.


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## GandalfTheShepherd (May 1, 2017)

I don't think my intact male smells any different than my neutered males or anything at all for that matter... he usually has no smell although he does get a bath once a month. My neighbors swear I spray him with perfume they are always smelling him and tell me how good he smells lol! It's bizzare. I never put anything on him. When we took him to puppy play days the other dogs seemed to notice he was intact, my trainer mentioned this was due to the smell he was giving off.


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## Whiteshepherds (Aug 21, 2010)

Never noticed a difference between my male/females. I use to own goats….trust me, once you’ve owned an unneutered male goat the word “musky” takes on a whole new meaning. :wink2::


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