If you’ve ever had the misfortune of your dog rolling in fox poo, you will know how badly the smell will permeate everything. It absolutely stinks and is hard to shift, even with a bath using your normal dog washing routine.
We’ve had this problem multiple times with our dog Claude. He often rolls in fox poo in the fields behind our house, and afterwards the smell is extremely tough to get rid of. It gets into his collar, fur, and even onto us after days of him doing it when we stroke him. It’s disgusting.
Thankfully we have stumbled onto a little routine which works very well for getting rid of the smell of fox poo. It’s a normal washing and bathing routine but using 3 distinct products to get the fox smell out of his fur.
This is my guide and photos of how to get rid of fox poo smell on a dog in just a few minutes with a little hard work. It’s totally worth it if you want the smell gone from your home.
What gets rid of the smell of fox poo on a dog?
Firstly though, what gets rid of the smell of fox poo? Here’s what we use, following by instructions on how to use all 3 cleaning products to get a great smelling dog again.
You will need all 3 of these (and read on to see how to use them properly):
- Specialist fox poo shampoo (view on Amazon)
- Dog friendly wet wipes (view on Amazon)
- Dog deodorizing spray (view on Amazon)
How to get rid of fox poo smell on a dog
I am going to assume you have cleaned your dog in a bath and shower before, so will skip over the detail on some of the more basic aspects, only referring to them in short. Here’s what you need to do to clean the fox poo smell off your dog in 5 simple steps.
1. Wash your dog’s collar or harness in the washing machine
The smell of fox poo gets into everything and will not shift unless you clean it on a power wash. That means you should take your dog’s collar or harness off and put it in the washing machine on a high temperature wash.
If you don’t, the fox poo smell will go straight back onto your clean dog’s fur and you are going think that the clean-up operation was unsuccessful.
Cleaning the collar will also stop the fox poo smell from getting onto your fingers when you put your dog’s leash on each time. You might even want to wash the leash too if it has any of the fox pong on it.
2. Use dog-friendly wet wipes to remove stuck on mess
Before you wash your dog in the bath, use dog-friendly wet wipes to clean up any heavy fox poo debris and dirt. The poop can get matted into the fur and get into paws and under your dog’s arm pits so pay close attention to these areas.
I find it easiest to put my finger into a wet wipe and then get under my dog’s legs and in-between the toe pads in his paw.
The best wet wipes to use will be non-fragranced and chemical-free. In other words something like the wipes below which you can buy on Amazon.
3. Shower your dog with specialist fox poo shampoo
Now put your dog into the bath and rinse him down with a warm shower (please remember to check the temperature first). Once he’s rinsed down and you’ve used your hands to manually push fox poo out of his fur, you can move to the specialist shampoo.
It’s by a brand called Animology, and you can buy it on Amazon (read the reviews). You just need to squeeze out a cap full into your hand, and then rub it all through your dog’s wet fur.
Pay special attention to the areas where your dog has rolled in the fox poo the most, for example the top of the back, around the face and muzzle, and the area underneath their jaw down to the chest.
4. Rinse your dog properly and towel dry
Once the shampoo is all through your dog’s fur, rinse properly with the shower head and then completely towel your dog dry.
It’s not always easy to completely towel dry and dog, and so some people (including us) will even use a hair dryer on a low heat setting to get our dog completely dry.
5. Spray dog deodorizer on to your dog
The final step is to use a spray dog deodorizer onto your dog. Not only will it leave your dog smelling much fresher than usual but will also help to eliminate any remaining fox poo smells that you might have missed.
There are lots of spray products on the market, but the one we’ve used and like is this spray bottle on Amazon. It’s the perfect odor eliminator for many different scenarios!
Prevention is better than cure
It goes without saying that the best way to not have to go through this process each time is to stop your dog rolling in the fox poop completely. You can read some tips I’ve put together on how to stop this happening elsewhere on Doggysaurus.com.
If you can do that, you won’t need to get rid of fox poo smell on your dog… wishful thinking though, as if your dog wants to do it, it’s not that easy to stop them!
Did You Know? There have been press reports in recent years about foxes attacking dogs, and here are some examples.
Conclusion
Dogs have a mind of their own and roll in all sorts of smelly things. Unfortunately, it’s very hard to completely prevent them from doing it unless you keep them on a leash all the time, which isn’t that practical!
The smell of fox poo is very attractive to dogs, so if they find it, they will get into it.
This means that you will need to get rid of the smell of fox poo on your dog at some point, so I hope these tips have helped.
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