zack doesn't smell at all, he doesn't have any odor (except when he got into the catbox FOR THE FIRST--and hopefully last--TIME the other day)
:yikes
other than that, Zack has no dog odor. After i first got him, he got a dog odor, especially a breath odor, which lasted for a while, weeks, and then went away and never came back. I learned on cavaliertalk that it was from teething.
He also had that dog odor, which i don't think of as a bad odor, but it's a distinctive dog odor. He just had that for a short time and then it went away, and now, he has pretty much no odor at all, or very mild not unpleasant odors.
Back when he used to have the dog odor, i was giving him a bath about once a month and found that the bath took the odor away. As time went on, i've given him a bath less and less, pretty much like Cathy, every several months. When he has gotten dirty, the dirt just went away on its own, partly from brushing and partly, somehow it just magically goes away.
I asked Jean Dodds about this when i consulted with her about general health things. She said mainly brush him with a soft bristle brush. She said they have a feral cat at home that they have never bathed.
i use oatmeal shampoo when i bathe Zack.
Lisa T (and anyone?)--i'm very interested in the leave in conditioner--does it really prevent mats as long as you brush? LauraD had posted a while back about Riley getting matts despite her best efforts and at the time, zack never got matts, even if i didn't brush him. but recently he has suddenly started getting bad matts in his ear hair and i was remembering Laura and Riley. Like, i will use the de-matting comb and the ears will seem matt free but then the next day, a huge matt will be there that wasn't there the day before. this is a new one for me. does the leave in conditioner come in an unscented version? I'd rather not put perfume on zack, i like his natural smell, or non-smell.