I'd look at his food first. Maybe he is not digesting it well, resulting in the bad breath, B.O. and possibly yeast infections. Going grain-free couldn't hurt.

If he was on antibtiotics, a small amount of plain, high quality yoghurt might help to build his gut flora back up.

I'm sure it's hard to cuddle a smelly dog, no matter how cute! Good luck, and I hope you find a solution.

Im wondering what breed of dog it is? some breeds especially are prone to skin conditions that cause a terrible BO. Does he scratch or have dry flaky skin? any bare patches or sore spots? There are some shampoos which will help to treat things like bacterial skin conditions which is often what causes the smell. What did the vet say was causing it specifically?

Did the vet check his teeth for tartar? Did he or she recommend a teeth scrape?

I'm not sure what breed he is---he's twice-rescued, so I never saw either of his parents. The girl I got him from said his littermates where smooth-coated, but Hiro has long, silky, somewhat wavy hair, huge bat-ears, and a long, pointy nose. Looks a little like a Pomeranian, but no undercoat and a longer nose.

His skin is lovely---no flaking, no scratching, no rashes, etc. The vet didn't recommend a tooth scrape, and he's only had his permanent teeth for a couple of months. The vet didn't say what was causing it---in fact, I got the impression he didn't know, and gave him the meds (I wish I could remember what it was!) as a sort of "this can't hurt" treatment.

Probiotics are a good suggestion---I'll get him some yoghurt! Do dogs LIKE yoghurt?

my dogs love yoghurt and it wont hurt to give him a bit as a treat every night. I give mine the natural one without sugar or fruit in it.

I would try getting a second opinion from another vet. You need to track down what's causing it to treat it properly and he might have a bacterial or fungal skin infection or it could be sign of another illness that needs treating. If the meds were antibiotics for example and they seemed to help then that would point to a bacterial problem but then what caused the bacterial problem? There's usually a reason bacteria starts growing out of control.

I dont think you've had a very good result from this vet and I would try another one and see if you can get some more concrete answers.

Well, the meds were to treat the odor---so I doubt they caused it. Doesn't mean they haven't contributed to a bacterial overgrowth, though. He's had stinky breath since I got him. His body odor goes away with a bath, but comes back sooner than I'd expect. (Maybe it's just that in contrast my other dog has NO body odor at all, and her breath is---well, not sweet, exactly, but it only stinks when she's gotten into something nasty outside.)

I will start on the yoghurt, and try brushing his teeth. Should I try to do that every day? Do you recommend the doggie toothpaste, or will Crest do?

Use doggie toothpaste as I believe human toothpaste has stuff in it not good for dogs...remember they won't spit it out. Using doggy toothpaste will also make brushing easier because it taste good to them.

"Well, the meds were to treat the odor---so I doubt they caused it."

I didnt say the meds caused the odor so Im not sure why you thought that. What I was meant was for e.g. if it's a bacterial problem then it could mean he has another issue such as with his immune system

I would seriously look into switching him to a raw diet. There are many resources on the web - just do a search on "raw diet for dogs" or "barf diet". I've been feeding my dogs raw for over 10 years, and it's really worked some miracles for various issues. It seems daunting, but once you get into it, it's really not much trouble, and in most cases, less expensive than commercial dog food.

Trance, I didn't make myself clear. Antibiotics often cause an imbalance of intestinal flora, which can lead to stinky gas. (Don't know if this would also cause stinky BREATH, but I guess it could.) I was just saying that as he had the stink before he had the antibiotics, they were not the cause.

If you are interested in probiotics, you can buy capsules that have 7 or so different strains, which would give the dog a wider range of benefit. My understanding is that different strains live in different areas of the intestines, with the type you generally find in yogurt being higher up in the digestive tract.

Back in the 90s we use to buy our stinky lab charcoal dog biscuits from the bulk bins at local pet stores. She loved them and they helped a lot, but after we moved we were unable to find them in our new location. I recommend trying those if you can find them. I know a lot of humans who take activated charcoal tablets for digestive problems, and have heard that's sometimes used on dogs for poisoning- I wonder if you could use a small calculated dose on a regular basis with dogs. Might be something to do some research on and ask your vet about.

Quasifish, the charcoal biscuits sound like a good idea---but no one, dogs or humans, should use it full-time, as it inhibits the absorbtion of some important nutrients. (I know quite a bit about gas/odor problems in HUMANS, because of a surgery I've had---but I wasn't sure what/how much of that could cross over to dogs.)

For humans, anyway, the best probiotics come in tablets from the health store, and have to be refrigerated. I bet he'd like those--they taste rather like milk.(*grin*)