When dogs smell good, it’s time to wonder. This one was a mystery.

I’m not talking about the “What have you been rolling in?” smell or the “What in the world have you been eating?” smell.

I’m talking about everyday dog smell.

Dogs don’t seem to mind it, but we humans do. According to the American Pet Products Association, we annually spend $5.24 billion on pet services like bathing and bathing products.

And what is “dog smell?”

A pooch doesn’t sweat like a human does.

Canines perspires from their paws and emit light perspiration from their hair follicles. The scent is individual. Every dog smells different, according to petmd.com.

We love our dogs. But not always the dog smell.

Case in point.

Teddy, our Lab, came home after staying with our friend, Melissa, and her menagerie of two dogs, three cats and one husband.

During Teddy’s stay, he and his Lab pals Hank and Sully played in their playgroup.

Playgroups are filled with hours of wrestling and tumbling, running and chasing, topped off with pond swimming and mud rolling.

We were expecting Teddy to stink when he came home. We were expecting to give him a bath.

Neither expectation came to fruition.

Teddy smelled great.

I smelled the difference first.

“Smell your son. He smells great,” I said to my husband, Ed.

“I don’t smell anything,” he replied.

“Get closer,” I insisted.

Ed stuck his nose about an inch from Teddy.

“Not bad,” was all Ed had to say. “So, we don’t need to give him a bath, right?”

I took another sniff. “Melissa had to have given him a bath or maybe the playgroup staff,” I said.

“Yep,” Ed eagerly agreed.

I rolled my eyes, knowing Ed’s response had to do more about the bath than the smell.

Women do have a keener sense of smell than men.

Amanda MacMillan at health.com, writes that scientists have long known women have more cells and neurons in their olfactory centers than men.

So “Teddy smelling good” was a bigger deal to me than Ed.

The next day, the pooch still smelled good.

I called Melissa.

“Did you give Teddy a bath? He smells great.”

There was a pause on the phone. “No,” she said, “ I wiped him down after he and my boys came home from their playgroup. But no bath.”

“How about scented cleaning wipes?” I was determined to figure this out.

“No,” Melissa said.

“Geeze, I wonder what I’m smelling?” I said, perplexed to say the least.

“What’s Teddy smell like?” Melissa asked.

I had to think about it for a minute.

“Well,” I said, “like a mixed bouquet of flowers. The scent is soft, not overpowering.”

“You’re describing my laundry detergent.” Melissa laughed.

“Your what?” I wondered, still perplexed.

“My laundry detergent,” She replied

“Did you do laundry when Teddy stayed with you?” I asked.

“The bedroom sheets,” Melissa said with little fanfare.

“Bingo,” I shouted as if I had just won the mystery smell game.

From Teddy sleeping on the bed, he had picked up the laundry detergents’ scent.

Melissa’s husband, Sean, couldn’t believe we spent 15 minutes talking about laundry detergents’ scents.

And Ed?

I told him why Teddy smelled so good. I added that we should pick up a box of that detergent.

His response?

He rolled his eyes.

Make your dog smell good without shampoo

SOURCE: dailypuppy.com/make-dog-smell-good-shampoo-1120