The Mid-Summer Coat Funk: Managing Seasonal Shedding and Smells

You know the smell. It creeps into the car on the way home from a walk. It settles into the sofa cushions. It greets you at the front door even before you have opened it. Somewhere around mid-July, your dog starts to produce a scent that is best described as warm, damp, and distinctly... dog.

You have washed them. You have used good shampoo. It is back within 48 hours.

This is not a hygiene failure. It is biology. And once you understand what is actually happening inside your dog's coat and skin during humid British summers, you can tackle it in a way that actually works rather than just masking it temporarily.

The summer doggy funk is not one single thing. It is the result of several processes happening at the same time, all made worse by heat and humidity.

Bacteria on the skin. Every dog has a natural microbiome living on their skin, a community of bacteria that is entirely normal and healthy. When the skin and coat become warm and damp, whether from swimming, paddling in puddles, dew on long grass, or simply the humidity in the air, those bacteria multiply more quickly. As they break down organic matter on the skin, they produce the compounds that create that distinctive smell. It is the same process that makes humans smell after exercise.

Sebum production. Sebum is the natural oil that dogs' skin produces to keep the coat waterproof and the skin protected. In summer, sebum production often increases as the skin works harder. When sebum sits in a warm, damp coat for any length of time, it goes rancid. That oxidised oil smell is a big part of the summer coat funk.

Anal gland secretions. Worth mentioning, because they often go unnoticed until summer heat intensifies the smell. These small glands, located just inside the back end, produce a strongly-scented fluid. In warm weather, this becomes more noticeable. If your dog's smell is particularly concentrated around the tail area, or if your dog is scooting, it is worth getting the anal glands checked by your vet or a groomer.

Ear yeast. Warm, humid conditions are ideal for yeast overgrowth in the ears. A sweet, slightly musty smell coming from the ears is a sign of this. Left unmanaged, it becomes an infection. We will cover ear care separately, but it is worth checking whether any of the summer smell is coming from the ears specifically.

If the smell is arriving alongside handfuls of fur, you are also experiencing the mid-summer shed.

Most dog owners know about the spring moult, when dogs shed their winter undercoat as temperatures rise. What catches people by surprise is the second shed that often happens around July in the UK. This one is triggered by a slightly different mechanism.

When temperatures spike suddenly, as they tend to do during British summer, the body receives a signal that it needs to regulate heat more efficiently. One way it does this is by releasing the last of the undercoat that has been insulating the skin. The result is a wave of shedding that can seem to come from nowhere, often accompanied by the coat looking a little dull or flat as it transitions.

For double-coated breeds (huskies, border collies, golden retrievers, labradors, and many others), this secondary shed can be significant. The loose undercoat that sits trapped near the skin is warm and holds moisture, which compounds the smell issue considerably.

A coat that is shedding heavily and not being brushed out regularly becomes matted closer to the skin. Mats trap heat and moisture, they restrict air circulation, and they create exactly the warm, damp, bacteria-friendly environment that produces the worst of the summer smell.

To deal with the July shed and reduce the smell, you need to get the loose coat out and keep air moving close to the skin.

Brush more often than you think you need to. During a shedding period, brushing every two to three days is not excessive for a medium or heavy shedding breed. A slicker brush works well for most coat types to remove surface debris and loose fur. A deshedding tool or undercoat rake gets to the layer beneath, which is where the problem sits. Work through in sections rather than rushing over the surface.

Do not skip the blow-dry. This is the step most owners miss. After a bath or a wet walk, simply towel-drying a thick coat leaves moisture sitting close to the skin for hours. That warm, wet environment is where bacteria thrive and sebum goes rancid. If your dog tolerates a hairdryer on a low, cool setting, using it after a bath makes a significant difference to how quickly the smell returns. Air drying in a warm, well-ventilated spot is better than a damp towel and nothing else.

Rinse after water play. If your dog swims in rivers, streams, or lakes, the water they bring back in their coat carries bacteria, algae, and organic matter from the water source. This is a major contributor to that particularly potent post-swim dog smell. A quick rinse with clean water, even without shampoo, before towel and air drying makes a real difference.

Wash bedding regularly. The bed absorbs all of the same oils, moisture, and bacteria from the coat. Washing it every one to two weeks during summer removes that source of re-contamination every time your dog lies down clean.

Do not over-bath. This one feels counterintuitive. Bathing too frequently strips the natural oils from the skin, which signals the skin to produce even more sebum to compensate. That extra oil production makes the smell worse, not better. Once every three to four weeks is a reasonable frequency for most dogs. Between baths, a dry dog shampoo or grooming spray can help freshen the coat without disrupting the skin's oil balance.

External grooming tackles the symptoms. Nutrition supports the system that creates them.

The skin is an organ, and like all organs, how it functions depends in part on what your dog is eating. Two things in particular affect sebum production, skin microbiome balance, and coat health: fatty acid levels and gut health.

Hemp seed oil is an excellent source of both omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in a ratio that is particularly well suited to dogs. These fatty acids are building blocks for the skin's barrier function, and they help regulate sebum production by giving the skin the lipids it needs to stay balanced rather than overcompensating.

When a dog's diet is low in essential fatty acids, the skin tends to produce more sebum in an attempt to compensate, which worsens both greasiness and smell. Adding a good quality hemp seed oil to the diet daily can help bring that balance back. You will typically notice changes in the coat texture and grease level within a few weeks of consistent use.

It also has a natural anti-inflammatory effect, which helps dogs whose skin tends to be reactive or easily irritated during summer. A calmer, less inflamed skin surface is a less hospitable environment for the bacteria that cause odour.

It might seem strange to talk about gut health in a blog about coat smell. But the connection between the two is well established and worth understanding.

The gut microbiome plays a central role in the immune system, which in turn regulates inflammation throughout the body, including in the skin. When gut bacteria are out of balance, systemic inflammation increases. That shows up in the skin as increased reactivity, disrupted sebum production, and a skin microbiome that is more likely to tip towards odour-causing bacteria rather than staying balanced.

Our Super Tummy Daily Plus is a prebiotic, probiotic, and postbiotic powder that supports a healthy, balanced gut microbiome. When the gut is working well, the knock-on effects are felt throughout the body, and the skin is one of the places it shows most clearly. Owners often report improvements in coat quality and skin condition alongside the digestive benefits they initially start the product for.

Used together, Hemp seed oil and  Super Tummy Daily Plus address the two main internal drivers of poor coat condition and odour during summer.

Not all dogs are equally affected by the summer funk. Short-coated dogs like whippets, boxers, or beagles tend to have fewer issues with trapped moisture and undercoat, though they are not immune to the sebum and bacteria combination. Double-coated and heavy shedding breeds, particularly those that spend a lot of time in or near water, will notice the most significant improvement from both a consistent grooming routine and nutritional support.

Breeds with skin folds (bulldogs, shar-peis, pugs) face a particular challenge in summer, as the folds trap heat and moisture and can develop their own bacterial and yeast populations quickly. These areas need daily checking and cleaning through the summer months.