Does anyone else have self-cleaning dogs?

Question

I have two maltese dogs, and the mother (we've had her since she was a pup), has always licked her paws and strategically wiped the tear stains off her eyes. She's never had tear stains growing up. Then we had her get pregnant and we kept one of the puppies and she instinctively never cleaned her eyes, but being the copy-cat that she is, she learned from her mother and started to do the same thing...
Is this common or rare?

I felt like I wanted the new puppy to eventually have puppies (she's like 5 now), but my parents disagreed because they didn't want her "personality to change" and we've now had her spayed. :(

Answer 1

Years ago I had that would clean herself totally. She was a pure white Border Collie mix. There times she would come covered in black mud, chasing squirrels into a spring. She was an outside dog and did not like to be in the house. By the next morning she would be totally white again.
There were many times she had encounters with skunks and would stink to all holy heaven. By the next morning no more smell. I don't know how she did it. My best guess is she went out under the eucalyptus trees, we had six acres of them, and rolled in the bark on the ground.
My little Chi/Rat Terrier is like your dog. He preens just like a cat.

Answer 2

That's really cool and good for you that you got her spayed. There are way too many dogs in shelters dieing because people are buying from breeders. If you want another dog, adopt and save a life! But for you question, I'd say it's really rare, but be glad you don't have to deal with dirty dogs.

Answer 3

My Keeshond cleans her feet,legs and face all day long when she feels she is dirty. My Pit mix actually bites off her own nails when they get too long for her liking and she cleans her feet extremely well before she goes to bed every night as well as her face. My Great Dane cleans her feet the same way and my Chihuahua cleans his feet,face,ears and pretty much anything else he can reach. It's a pretty common thing for any animal to routinely clean itself.

Answer 4

All dogs will clean themselves...this is common, however the way they clean themselves can be unique or rare. It sounds like your malese is pretty smart...and nice for you that she cleans her eyes herself! I once had a husky that would nibble at his toe nails...it was so interesting to see him clean the dirt from his toes....I thought this was very unique. My cockers will clean thier faces....but they use my carpet!! May I send them to your house to learn the nice way to clean thier eyes?! ;)

Answer 5

Some small dogs lick themselves. Our mini dachshund licks himself as much as a cat. It's not very common though.

Answer 6

American Eskimos are known for their "self cleaning" type fur.

Answer 7

Many small dogs clean themselves, like my chihuahua for instance..