# Tips on keeping a dog's rear end clean?



## msdogs1976 (Dec 21, 2007)

LOL, I've seen every question now. Don't have that problem. My golden takes care of herself on that end.


----------



## Goldbeau (Mar 29, 2008)

Wish I had an answer!! We have had that same problem on occasion with Beau. I have plastic bags and antibacterial wipes by the back door. On occasion I have to wipe his fur with the wipes - they go right in the plastic bag and then in the garage garbage. Thought I was done wiping butts after 3 kids - but no....LOL. 

We did consider trimming his fur ( have not tried yet) - would also be interested if anyone else did it successfully. He also sometimes gets poop stuck in his butt. So icky. He hates it too.


----------



## mainegirl (May 2, 2005)

our groomer has a service called a sanitary cut which trims the hair in that area so it doesn't happen. we get our two done every three or four weeks (only the cut.... kind of like a bangs trim on humans) and it takes care of most of the problem
beth, moose and angel


----------



## Pudden (Dec 28, 2008)

hmmm...how does she poop? Does she back up into bushes to get it so smeared? 

The Pud pinches off very neatly - never any kling-ons. But her lil' friend Garp from next door likes to "hang" them in the willow bushes. He gets his whole butt smeared in the process. 
In the spring, after the snow has melted, his old dry turds are 3 feet up in the bushes, like Christmas ornaments.


----------



## tannernoodle (Mar 19, 2008)

Tucker has these issues sometimes...I add more fiber to his food so it's not so pastey when it comes out. I also trim up his butt hairs really good cus this time of year the snow gets so deep and as he poops, he kind of sinks into his own pooh. It's so gross....otherwise I've used baby wipes to get it out of his hair...or I cut it out.


----------



## Adriennelane (Feb 13, 2008)

Lucy has the worst butt haircut because of her poop landing on her butt-feathers when she does her business.


----------



## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

My groomer sort of "weeds" the area right at the hole and sometimes trims the pants. Looks very natural when she does it.


----------



## martinrt (Jun 24, 2008)

Are the poops pretty soft? You'd think a hard poop wouldn't smear just from brushing the hair on the way down. Allee used to have bad diarrhea and would dirty up her pants all the time. Very nasty, especially since she's trained to sit once she gets back inside, and I didn't want her sitting that dirty butt on the carpet. Anyway, I tried trimming it myself once and it was a definite hack job, she was quite embarrassed. Now we take her to a groomer for trimming, but no more diarrhea either so haven't had to cut it in a while.


----------



## Zumie05 (Jan 16, 2009)

I work in a grooming salon and perform sanitary cuts on dogs with feathering types of hair alllll the time. Definitely the best thing to do to keep your dog clean back there! 

The sanitary cut only shaves about an inch around the anus. On male dogs you can also have the hair on the outside of the penis shaved off, that way pee wont stick all over his tummy hairs.


----------



## Rhapsody in Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

We keep baby wipes with our puppy supplies in the kitchen. Every day I use the wipes on each of my dog's muzzle, around the eyes, and the underside where all the potty stuff happens. When I go for the wipes, they come over and sit - - - after it is over, they each get a treat.

You know nothing grosses me out about their waste or even if they get sick. It is very much like when you have a child. It is your child and you do what you have to do and the smells and all that goes with it doesn't matter.

Anyway - - - I think the wipes are great. I can't believe I'm writing about wipes and our hygiene routine : )


----------



## Cam's Mom (Apr 13, 2007)

Baking Soda and a stiff brush. Not so cold as water or wipes in winter, especially for young pups and old guys. Apply baking soda liberally to fur and brush out with fairly stiff brush. May need a second round. Leaves fur clean, odorless and silky. Older guys who are beginning to have a hard time squatting, and sometimes get messy...much kinder than a cold shower. You can stand your pup in the shower stall or bath, and then rinse baking soda away after the dog is out.

Works well for stinky "roll ins" too when there's no time for a bath, or it's too cold.


----------



## AmbikaGR (Dec 31, 2007)

If you are comfortable grooming your own dog you may want to try the following. If not, do not attempt. I did this quite a bit when Keeper was having problems and was having the "runs" on a semi-regular basis.

With thinning shears this is what I did. I grasp the tail about three inches away from the butt. I pull the tail feathering out that is exposed on the tail but under my fingers holding the tail. So the picture is three inches of tail exposed from the butt and all the corresponding feathering hanging. With the thinning shears I trim the feathers on the UNDERSIDE of the tail so they are about 1/2 inch long. I then while still holding the tail trim the area below where the tail attaches to the body and all around the anus. I shift the tail to one side while I trim the other side. Again I do this with thinning shears. I trim around the anus so there is about a two inch semi-circle under the tail and anus of closely trimmed fur. Finnally I take the thinning shears and hold them perpendicular to the ground and trim back the "pants" so they are sticking out from the hind area of the dog about two inches less than normal. One of the keys is to use thinning shears. If you cut to deep it is not as noticeable as it is with regular shears. And if looks bad when you are done don't be overly concerned it will all grow back -SOMEDAY


----------



## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

AmbikaGR said:


> I then while still holding the tail trim the area below where the tail attaches to the body and all around the anus. I shift the tail to one side while I trim the other side. Again I do this with thinning shears. I trim around the anus so there is about a two inch semi-circle under the tail and anus of closely trimmed fur.



Yup. That's pretty much the "weeding" we do with Quiz!


----------



## Goldbeau (Mar 29, 2008)

Pudden said:


> hmmm...how does she poop? Does she back up into bushes to get it so smeared?
> 
> The Pud pinches off very neatly - never any kling-ons. But her lil' friend Garp from next door likes to "hang" them in the willow bushes. He gets his whole butt smeared in the process.
> In the spring, after the snow has melted, his old dry turds are 3 feet up in the bushes, like Christmas ornaments.



HAHAAHAA  That is too funny.


----------



## SadieBodean (Mar 28, 2008)

Thanks for all the tips everybody. I think I'll try giving her some pumpkin for awhile and see if that firms it up enough. If that doesn't work I'll take her to the groomer and ask for a "sanitary cut".


----------



## Brady's mom (Dec 20, 2007)

SadieBodean said:


> Thanks for all the tips everybody. I think I'll try giving her some pumpkin for awhile and see if that firms it up enough. If that doesn't work I'll take her to the groomer and ask for a "sanitary cut".


I will add one note here, in case it helps. For our Brady, soft poo tends to be a sign of overeating. For awhile it would happen on weekends when we were home more and feeding more treats. And we just had to cut back his kibble because he wasn't finishing it in the morning (he's 15 months). His poos firm up dramatically when we do this. Just something to consider!


----------



## mm03gn (Sep 24, 2008)

whenever the girls have a softer poop (not often- but occasionally this happens) and some poop sticks in the fur - CHOP CHOP! I'm not so concerned with it looking nice, or even... I used to try to clean the poop out with wipes and then I'd had enough...sorry girls! I have a pair of shears by the back door, and check their butts on the way in...any poop, and it's just cut out... Burg had a bout of runny poop a couple of weeks ago, and her rear still looks a bit silly - but it will grow out!


----------

