Dog Owners - Crate Odor, etc

[amanda6035]

Fellow dog owners.... need some advice.

We have 2 dogs, a beagle and a bagel (beagle/basset hound mix). Until about 6 months ago, we did not crate them - they had free reign of the house. Problem was, they were rough-housing with one another and we were coming home to puddles even when they hadn't been left alone for a very long period of time. Upon some advice, we decided to start crating them.

We have a spare room, and we ordered a 4 * 4 crate that they share now. This crate is in this room. We keep the room clean, we wash their blanket weekly, we have air fresheners, vaccuum regularly, have a ceiling fan running, we keep the door open for air circulation and for whatever reason the room stinks to gawd-awful high heavens and we cannot figure out how to keep the smell down to a reasonable level. Our dogs don't "stink." We bath them regularly. When they roamed the house freely, the house didn't stink. The rest of the house still doesn't stink. It's just that one room, and I feel like I have tried everything. I guess it's because they are closed up in tighter quarters now than they once were. They don't have accidents in the crate, so that's not it. I feel like I've tried everything and I'm not sure what else to do.

Anyone else have similar experiences? Any advice?