This Week Has Been a Stinker: Skunk Attack at Talking Dogs!

Image courtesy of Park Centre Vets

No, that's not a new cologne I'm wearing.  It's the faint smell of skunk.  Won't be the first time, but definitely has been the worst of our skunk encounters.

We live in the country and have for many years, so skunks are a fact of life.  A couple of years ago one took up residence on our pond bank about 25 foot from our fenced back yard.  Pretty exciting stuff for canines.  Especially Jeffie who learned a valuable lesson about frenzied barking startling one of the black and white creatures.  Three baths later he was finally allowed free access to the house.  Thankfully extremely heavy rains caused flooding and Mrs Skunk moved on.

Our most recent encounter was totally different.  I woke at 2:30 am smelling something funny.  Like something electrical was burning.  A motor of some kind?   A prowl around the house didn't locate the cause, but made it clear that said motor must have been "going" for awhile.  The scent was pretty much everywhere, though faint.  By then all four dogs were up and wanted out.  I obliged.

3 am and Gary is up and has joined me on our search.  We're both of the mind that an electrical problem is nothing to ignore.  Not the frig, freezer or computer equipment.  Not the TVs, stereo, etc.  You get the picture.  Gary lets the dogs in and exclaims that the chemical smell is outside.  He goes out to examine the H/A compresser and while he's out he checks my studio, the greenhouse and the barn.  Smell is much stronger outside than in.

I want to be clear on this:  at no time do we smell skunk.  Honest.

Deciding I might as well get some work done, I take a cup of coffee into the office and fire up the pc.  The goldies (as we call Lucy, Jeffie and Rudy) come with me.   Oh, oh.  The office is small.  The dogs are big.  Suddenly I get a good whiff and know.  We've been skunked and skunked but good.

The past few days everybody, four leggers and two leggers, have had several baths.  The washer has been working over time.  Luckily the weather has been cooperating and yesterday we were able to fling open the windows and run the attic fan.  As of last night things are pretty much back to normal.

Like I said... this week has been a sticker!

For those of you who might need it, here's my recipe for removing skunk stink from my dogs:
1 quart hydrogen peroxide
1/4 cup baking soda
1-2 teaspoons liquid soap
You can add a little warm water.
Mix.  Massage into the fur of your dry dog and let stand 5 minutes.  Rinse.

Tomato juice does not work.  Vinegar does not work.  Trust me (you don't have to, but you should).  Developed in 1993 by chemist Paul Krebaum, this works!

And no, we have not figured out how the smell was so strong or why we didn't recognize it immediately.  The whole valley was filled with the smell.  Our neighbors are as clueless as we are, so I supposed we'll never know. 

Jeffie wonders if our old pond bank skunk died and now is haunting us.  Hmmm...

Skunks!

We live in the country where there can be plenty of excitement: possums, raccoons, bunnies (lots of bunnies), bobcats, coyotes, ... you get the picture. At the same time, we're house dogs, all of us. So I'd have to say that skunks might be the most exciting. When they're around there's always the possibility that we'll want in and Mama will scream, slam the door in our faces and run to get her skunk remedy.

She keeps this stuff on hand at all times: a quart of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide, baking soda (1/4 cup), and liquid soap (about 2 teaspoons). She mixes this stuff up with water and we get a bath pronto. She once tried the tomato juice remedy... it tasted good, but didn't do a thing for the smell. Anyway, Mama found the recipe on the web and a guy who's a chemist, Paul Krebaum, deserves the credit. In fact, he's got a web site with all the instructions. Mama says there should be a thousand blessings on his head for figuring out this formula - because it works!

From our point of view, none of us is all that crazy about getting a bath. But then, none of us is all that crazy about smelling like a skunk! In fact, we sort of hang our heads and feel stupid when we fall for that chase-a-skunk thing.

Last night we'd all gone to bed with the windows open. There was a lovely breeze and it was nice to listen to the birds sing and the coyotes yip. And then.... pee-yoo! Heavy duty SKUNK. I was glad I was all comfy and cozy in my bed and not outside!

My advice is to stay away from those black and white critters - they'll get you every time. But if you can't resist, be sure your person has this recipe!

Woof! woof!

Tucker