# My dog got sand on his privates and now I'm worried...



## pwtucker (Aug 27, 2012)

So my wife and I were at the beach when our dog (we think he's a pomeranian/pappilion mix) got an erection while sitting down and then got sand on his erection. His penis retracted back into the sheath, presumably taking the sand along with it. It's now about six hours later, and he's sleeping and seems totally chill and fine. 

Question: is that sand going to be a problem? Could it cause an infection? If so, by when would we be able to tell?

Thanks!


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## zhaor (Jul 2, 2009)

Well usually with dirt and grime, a dog's penis with produce smegma to self clean sort to speak. It's a yellowish whitish discharge that tends to smell. I'm not sure about larger particles like sand though.

My thought regarding sand is that it could cause irritation and scratches which could eventually allow infection to set in. With an infection, the area will look inflamed and redder if you peel it back and will also possibly have smelly discharges and he will lick it more excessively.

I would try to clean it just in case. See if you can peel it back and clean it out when you get a chance.

I've never dealt with sand or even really peeling and cleaning my dog's penis because his sheath is somewhat odd. The opening is too small for his penis to slide out easily so I've had to resort to taking saline and squirting it in there to rinse things out. When he had an infection there, I was also told to make sure to dry it after baths and what not. For normal dogs, you should be able to just peel back the sheath and clean it.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Generally they take care of these things themselves. If he doesn't seem to be having any trouble/discomfort, don't worry about it. 

Also, when they "hang out" like that, it's not an erection. More like having your fly open. If you ever saw a dog erection, you'd know it .

ETA: but if you do want to wash him, I'd fill the tub and let him soak for a few minutes. That should let the sand drift out. I wouldn't mess around with his delicates.


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