05 September 2008

Sprayed By a Skunk... Again!



In my family, we have two dogs. Each one is three years old, each one is a mutt that we got from a puppy rescue for my kids' birthdays, each one is about 100lbs, but one of them aims to please and is relatively smart while the other one is just a big, dumb teddy bear.

Over the last year, we moved house and discovered that there are many wild animals around the property. Luckily we have an invisible fence to keep the dogs from leaving the yard. Most of these animals have learned to simply stay away when the dogs are out, but the foxes like to taunt the dogs by staying just out of reach (hence the phrase, crazy like a fox). But one of the animals doesn't stay away, quite possibly due to arrogance - skunks.

So far, the two dogs have been sprayed by skunks together on two occasions. However, over the last month, the big, dumb teddy bear has been sprayed two more times on his own - what an idiot! I'm hoping that after being sprayed four times he'll learn. Fat chance I figure.

The first time it happened I googled all over looking for a remedy to clean the stink and found way too many answers and claims. So I contacted my friend Jeff who has had experience with this issue with his dogs. Jeff lives in the mountains and his dogs had been sprayed by skunks a few times, too, so I figured he had a solution that worked. Luckily he was able to recommend a recipe of baking soda, vinegar and Dawn dish washing liquid. I can tell you to this day it works like a charm - as long as you can stomach the stench for a bit while you're scrubbing!

2 comments:

  1. Uggh! Not again! :-(

    Don't forget to put bowls of vinegar and lemon around the house...will get rid of the stinky house in 24 hours - it soaks it up ;-) Good luck!

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  2. My 2 dogs get sprayed by skunks about once a year or so as well so I know what you mean. No, they don't learn.

    One of my dogs got sprayed and immediately ignored it and cornered the skunk and got sprayed again. :-(

    Seriously, we now keep several bottles of "Skunk Off" shampoo and lotion on hand just in case. Any PetCo/PetSmart type store should have it. It works quite well.

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