I got a phone call yesterday afternoon at about 3:30 pm. It was K and she was hysterical. "The dogs got sprayed by a skunk!! Tyson is foaming at the mouth! Walker is clawing at his eyes! The skunk isn't dead and is twitching in our backyard! WHAT DO I DO?!?!?!?"
I knew there was something in our backyard. I just knew it. Both dogs have been clamoring to get outside 3 minutes after we had let them in. For the last 4 days. As soon as we'd open the door they'd tear outside. They'd run over each other to get outside. And anyone else who was unlucky enough to be in their way. You might not know this, but two dogs who weigh 65+ pounds each stepping on your bare feet HURTS. Walker usually does that anyway, but 95% of the time he'll sit before I open the door and he absolutely would not do that these past few days. Tyson never RUNS outside. He saunters. He's a bit overweight and can only run for short periods of time before he flops down exhausted, but he has been TEARING out the door.
I immediately got on the internet to look up how to clean a dog that's been skunked. You may not know this but tomato juice doesn't work. My parents had a dog, Henry, who was white. He got skunked once, my mother bathed him in tomato juice and it didn't work. It only made his white coat pinkish. One cleaning method I found said douche works wonderfully. Hmm.. That seemed like it'd be a bit expensive and a bit awkward buying enough douche to wash two dogs - one who's extremely furry. I came across this mixture on several sites:
1 Quart Hydrogen Peroxide
1/4 Cup Baking Soda
1 Tsp Dish Soap
Mix it all together, wash the dog, let it sit on their coat for 10 minutes, rinse, and wash with regular dog shampoo.
So I headed out of work early, stopped at Walgreens, bought all the "ingredients" and rubber gloves, and headed home. Nothing prepared me for what was waiting at my house. Outside the front of my house all seemed ok. As soon as I stepped into my garage I wanted to puke. Going inside wasn't much better. Both dogs are at the back door trying to get into the house. Luckily K was smart enough to keep the doors and windows closed.
K brought me up to her room so I could see the skunk - who wasn't dead - laying in my backyard. The dogs had attacked it and had hurt it badly enough that it couldn't get away, but didn't kill it. It was laying there with it's ass up in the air, tail straight up and STILL SPRAYING. You could actually see the spray coming out of it's butt. It was really REALLY gross.
It has been too cold here to wash the dogs outside so I had to bring them inside, one at a time, to the bathroom and wash them there. Walker was easy to do. He's a lab and has a short coat. I was able to wash him three times with the Hydrogen Peroxide mixture followed by two times with the dog shampoo. Tyson is a Chow/Shepherd/Golden Retriever mix and I was only able to wash his head, chest and shoulders with the mixture before it was gone. I didn't have any more Hydrogen Peroxide to make more. If I had known his fur would soak up that much of the stuff I would have bought four more bottles. You can't put this mixture on their face or muzzles because it will sting their eyes. Guess where both dogs got it the worst? Yup. Their face.
I did the best I could. Both dogs still smell, but Tyson STINKS. I read this morning that dogs with thick fur can keep the stink on them for up to two years!! I think I'm gonna shave him. Below is the most recent photo I have of both dogs in one shot. This was from Christmas last year. The same day we took the photo that's at the top of my blog actually...
After I got both dogs washed as best as I could we went around the house lighting every candle I own in an attempt to get the stink out. It worked pretty well. My house may smell like a mixture of different scented candles, but it's much better than skunk.
When M came home the offending Skunk was still in the backyard, and still alive. Unfortunately Animal Control won't come out to take care of wildlife. You have to call a private wildlife control company to do that. I don't have the money for that. I was hoping that the stupid thing would die on it's own. Not so. M had to take his bow and arrows into the backyard. I felt badly for killing the stupid thing, but what could we do? We couldn't leave it there and I couldn't afford to call someone to come take care of it. We had to do it on our own. I'm just surprised that none of our neighbors called the cops on us.
I hope I never have to do this again....
