Can I Divorce My Dog?

[mbc1963]

Last night at 12:04, Buddy woke me from a sound and needed sleep. Generally, he only wakes me if he has intestinal distress - so when he really pushed me to get up, I decided I'd better let him out. I banged on the screen door a bunch of times to scare away any critters that might be in the yard, paused, and then sent Buddy out. Only... the skunk in the back yard wasn't scared of no stinkin' banging. I heard BAAAARK BAAARK BAAARK and then just BAA--! Sure enough, Buddy was rolling around on the ground, trying to get the skunk juice out of his eyes.

 

Now, it was literally 100% humidity out there - we were in the middle of torrential downpours.

 

I had hydrogen peroxide and baking soda in my house (http://home.earthlink.net/~skunkremedy/home/). I bathed the dog and waited (walked him up the street and back, in the pouring rain), and then rinsed him off. Could still smell skunk, so drove to all-night drugstore and bought more ingredients, then repeated (in the tub, this time).

 

Water EVERYWHERE in my house - kitchen, living room, bathroom. Loads of skunky laundry and towels. A very stinky collar and leash and gloves that must now be replaced.

 

So, Buddy is a bit highlighted, and still more than a bit stinky. (I'm guessing he took most of this hit in his eyes, inside his ears, and on his muzzle area - nearly impossible to wash.)

 

This is the second time he's been sprayed. I'm hoping that his fully-adult brain will register this one - and not go chasing skunks in the future. It took my old dog two times before she learned to stay back. Oy.

 

Mary

[ejano]

Last night at 12:04, Buddy woke me from a sound and needed sleep. Generally, he only wakes me if he has intestinal distress - so when he really pushed me to get up, I decided I'd better let him out. I banged on the screen door a bunch of times to scare away any critters that might be in the yard, paused, and then sent Buddy out. Only... the skunk in the back yard wasn't scared of no stinkin' banging. I heard BAAAARK BAAARK BAAARK and then just BAA--! Sure enough, Buddy was rolling around on the ground, trying to get the skunk juice out of his eyes.

 

Now, it was literally 100% humidity out there - we were in the middle of torrential downpours.

 

I had hydrogen peroxide and baking soda in my house (http://home.earthlink.net/~skunkremedy/home/). I bathed the dog and waited (walked him up the street and back, in the pouring rain), and then rinsed him off. Could still smell skunk, so drove to all-night drugstore and bought more ingredients, then repeated (in the tub, this time).

 

Water EVERYWHERE in my house - kitchen, living room, bathroom. Loads of skunky laundry and towels. A very stinky collar and leash and gloves that must now be replaced.

 

So, Buddy is a bit highlighted, and still more than a bit stinky. (I'm guessing he took most of this hit in his eyes, inside his ears, and on his muzzle area - nearly impossible to wash.)

 

This is the second time he's been sprayed. I'm hoping that his fully-adult brain will register this one - and not go chasing skunks in the future. It took my old dog two times before she learned to stay back. Oy.

 

Mary

 

Bless you a million times...Buddy has no idea of how fortunate a dog he is.

 

Friends found a similar recipe for their distressed lab that involved adding Dawn dish detergent to the hydrogen peroxide/baking soda mix -- they said it worked....they were about to depart on vacation and desperate as they knew the boarding kennel wouldn't want the dog in such a stinky state.

 

Liz

[Sue R]

That happened to Megan one evening - poor girl, she was only trying to give the strange "kitty" a kiss!

 

The recipe I used included a teaspoon (I think) of Dawn. Worked pretty well although I doubt anything would get every bit of scent out. And I left the towel that I used to get the slimey stuff off her face and out of her eyes, in the yard for months, before I ran it into the house to the washing machine.

[WildFlower]

Poor you! I hope that Buddy has learned his lesson!

[sblock]

Loved this story. A few years ago, our dog had an ill-timed skunk encounter on a 100-degree day when company was coming.

[Laurae]

Mary, you're a saint!

[eclare]

I was just listening to a piece on NPR the other day about how Dawn is basically consider a miracle product when it comes to animal issues. It's what they use to clean birds and sea-mammals after oils spills. Something about its formula creates a much better bonding agent that other brands and is gentler on skin.

 

I promise I don't work for Proctor & Gamble. I just thought it was an interesting story and worth passing along for all of your disgusting clean up needs.

[nancy in AZ]

Something about its formula creates a much better bonding agent that other brands and is gentler on skin.

 

 

Uh-huh, it's petroleum, ironically. I heard that story on NPR too.

 

Not to be a doomsayer, but Minnie never learned to leave skunks alone. I can't count the time she charged and ended up getting sprayed...either has Boo.

[PSmitty]

Sounds like grounds for divorce to me!

[MrSnappy]

Good luck getting a skunked dog to learn his lesson - most dogs I know get skunked over and over and over again. However, Mr. Woo - who chases and eats anything that could conceivably fit in his gaping maw - cowers and hides behind me when we encounter a skunk, leading me to believe he has been skunked and doesn't want to repeat the experience. It must have been in his formative puppy months as he's been with me since he was 7 months old.

 

Another de-skunking tip - the peroxide/baking soda/dish soap mixture works like a hot damn (though if you leave it on too long, your black dog bleaches out to a gross brown colour) but you can't put it on their face. White toothpaste you CAN put on their face, and does a super job of removing skunk stink. Just apply liberally and leave on for 10 minutes, then wipe off with a damp cloth.

 

RDM

[Sue R]

White toothpaste you CAN put on their face, and does a super job of removing skunk stink. Just apply liberally and leave on for 10 minutes, then wipe off with a damp cloth.

 

RDM

Wow, thanks for the great suggestion! I can see why you wouldn't put this on the whole dog.

 

By the way, toothpaste is useful for removing permanent marker from dry-erase boards, barring any other better (rubbing alcohol?) alternatives being present.

[geonni banner]

Knock wood, Sugarfoot has never encountered a skunk.

 

But I got an anguished call form a friend late one night. Her German Shepherd Dog had gotten skunked in the back yard and she wanted to know what to use. I told her to go to the all-night Safeway and get 4 packages of Massengill vinegar douch, mix it all up and sponge it on. Her husband, Ted, was lobbying for tomato juice, and since he was elected to drive to the store he got both. The store was virtually uinhabited as it was 1AM and the checker drowsily watched as Ted frantically tossed 4 paks of douch and half a dozen large cans of tomato juice onto the conveyor.

 

The checker took a long look at the order he was presented with, cocked an eyebrow and inquired laconically, "Cocktails?"

 

Since then I have discovered that plain white vinegar works wonders. And it's cheap! When I lived in Sebastopol, CA for awhile I kept a gallon of it in the garage. We were out in the country and skunks were regular visitors. And no, several direct hits never convinced my Lurcher, Grace, to avoid skunks. They were the enemy, and she went into attack mode upon sighting one. If I was present I could call her off, but...

[alligande]

I have tried all sorts of products, basically what ever is acidic and in the house, the list includes orange juice, lemon juice - effective, white vinegar - sort of helpful, natures miracle - kind of helps: you get the picture. What I finally realized after our last major skunking 2 dogs 11pm in January, with a taxi coming at 5.30 am to take us to the airport was that it depended on the dog, Bandit the border collie smelt lovely after his cold bath outside with the hose, Jester the mutt with GSD coat still smelt horrid. A letter of apology was on the table for the house sitter and she got a big tip

PS Jester continued to smell horrid for weeks.

[Alchemist]

This topic is timely, as I'm heading out in a week to spend a month taking care of my FIL in semi-rural New Hampshire. We don't seem to have skunks here in Maryland, but I do remember skunks from my days in Boston. I was figuring "forewarned is forearmed".

 

My last Border collie did get badly skunked when I was staying with my parents shortly after graduating from college. They had a dog door, and she had crept out to explore their back yard the same night that the skunks decided to check out the trash. I'm sure she was just trying to move them along (she had a habit of running in circles around any animal then, occasionally dashing in to give it a poke with her nose; fortunately, the cat took it all in good fun and it often devolved into the two of them playing together. But I'm sure this sort of attention was unwelcome to skunks). Anyway, she apparently got a good snootful. She tried to rub it off on their carpet. When that didn't work, she came into my bedroom. I awoke from a dream that an elephant was sitting on my chest to realize that there was a stench of sufficient intensity arising from the dog as to make it hard for me to breathe. I did what any self-respecting 21-year-old would do and woke my mother up to ask for help. We bathed the dog in tomato juice. We were sleepy, and the dog kept getting away from us and shaking. The bathroom looked like the scene of the Glencoe Massacre by the time we were done. Oh, and tomato juice only blunted the edge off the smell. She reeked for years afterwards whenever she got wet.

 

My parents had a terrible time getting the smell out of their carpets. And some of it clung to me the next day while I was interviewing for a job.

 

The suggestions for alternatives to tomato juice all seem worth considering.

[Sue R]

I wonder how often our dogs wonder if they could divorce us?

[mbc1963]

This topic is timely, as I'm heading out in a week to spend a month taking care of my FIL in semi-rural New Hampshire. We don't seem to have skunks here in Maryland, but I do remember skunks from my days in Boston. I was figuring "forewarned is forearmed".

 

Ah, well! I can say - you won't have to worry much during the day, but evening, night, and early mornings are serious times to watch. When I walk Buddy around sunrise (spring and fall), I have to be careful of every garbage can, because the chances are there's a skunk sniffing around them.

 

He still stinks.

 

Mary

[Ooky]

I wonder how often our dogs wonder if they could divorce us?

 

Dunno, but when it goes 8 hours without much attention or even a bathroom break and the baby is screaming, I can definitely see Odin longing for a bachelor lifestyle a lil bit. But then he gets to lick her feet and all is forgiven. I think dogs are much more forgiving and patient than most people

 

Mary, you are so wonderful to Buddy! Hope the toothpaste suggestion works for you guys? I've heard that one too, but never tried it.

[ejano]

Ah, well! I can say - you won't have to worry much during the day, but evening, night, and early mornings are serious times to watch. When I walk Buddy around sunrise (spring and fall), I have to be careful of every garbage can, because the chances are there's a skunk sniffing around them.

 

He still stinks.

 

Mary

 

We don't have a problem here in the country oddly enough, but when we lived in town, had an awful time with skunks. The game commission suggested putting ammonia soaked rags around our trash cans....it worked to keep them out of our yard at least.

[gypsy84]

Gypsy got sprayed right in the face too. I used the same concoction you did at least 4 times and she still stunk. I then went to the pet store and bought an expensive bottle of "de-skunker" that was guaranteed to work, used it twice, and brought it back. My mom sells Norwex, a line of natural home cleaning products, and she gave me a bottle of stuff that is usually used for stinky sports equipment. It got most of the smell out, but I didn't put it too close to her eyes/ears/nose, so now, over a MONTH later, I can still smell it when I get real close to her

[njnovice]

Ginsberg, the cat, has maintained a low level of skunky odor for about the last two months now. It's never been horrible, just there. I think he didn't actually get skunked, but was very much nearby something that did get skunked.

 

Naturally, I have absolutely zero desire to attempt any form of bathing on him, so I've gotten used to having a cat that smells vaguely of skunk. He's always filthy anyway, so he might as well smell.

 

For example, he honestly thought I'd let him into the house like this.

 

[josey]

Nope. You can't divorce him. That was for better or worse. ha. My dog was barking outside, and I looked out the window and just on the other side was a skunk that was ignoring her, for which I am grateful. I called her inside.

[pansmom]

Man am I glad our back yard is fenced in and I have never seen a skunk in these parts!

 

Dunno, but when it goes 8 hours without much attention or even a bathroom break and the baby is screaming, I can definitely see Odin longing for a bachelor lifestyle a lil bit. But then he gets to lick her feet and all is forgiven. I think dogs are much more forgiving and patient than most people

 

Hey, I was wondering about you, Ooky! You're back! Haven't seen you around! Congratulations on the baby!

[Kelleybean]

My crazy Jack Russell has been skunked too many times to count. She finally killed the poor thing. My son says she got "hit by a stunk" .