Does your male have a distinctive "boy" smell?

[Rua]

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?

[Shade]

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.

[Courtney]

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.

[Rua]

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?

[llombardo]

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.

[JackandMattie]

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.

[RocketDog]

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".

[Rua]

Originally Posted by Courtney

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

[Rua]

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.

[RocketDog]

Originally Posted by Rua

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.