I’ve always thought I’d like a lab (an “Old Yeller”) for a companion, but a coworker who is a dog fancier said they have oily coats that smell bad. Makes them good water dogs, but not pleasing to the olfactory sense. Is that true?
In my lifetime I have had a black lab and a chocolate lab. They reeked neither more nor less than any of our other dogs, which were heelers and dachshunds.
The one I inherited had such smelly ears I couldn’t say if the coat had an unpleasant odor. Poor girl. Heart of gold, though.
The only time I’ve noticed a significant bad smell is when they do the “roll in some other dog’s turd” deal, which is rare but does seem to happen randomly.
http://www.pedigree.com/All-Things-Dog/Article-Library/Why-Do-Dogs-Roll-In-Smelly-Things.aspx
They have a fluffy undercoat and a very stiff outer coat, which is waxy not oily.
If a Lab is smelly, it's probably because of food allergies. Usually they also are itchy, have dandruff, and a dark smelly ear discharge.
The cure is to put them on a good dog food that doesn't contain corn, and if that doesn't work then go to a grain-free food.
My Chocolate Lab, now 12, had smelly ears - we put her on AvoDerm which is for dogs with skin conditions, then on Wilderness and now she and my other two dogs are all on Blue Buffalo Freedom, which is grain-free but lower protein than the Wilderness. Her ears are perfect.
No it is not true. My parents had a gentle black lab that was their loving companion for 10 years as a house dog.
Your co-worker is probably smelling his own armpits. I have four labs and they just smell like any other dogs.
Give them a bath and the dogie smell goes away for a few days; or at least until they find a skunk, then the odor is an entirely different matter.