In case you missed it on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram last week, Storm got skunked. It happened very early in the morning a week ago yesterday. She chased a skunk and did not come out smelling like a rose.
She got the worst of it on the top of her head and on her face, but luckily not in her eyes.
We had the ingredients for a homemade deodorizer on hand so we mixed up a batch.
This recipe is readily available online. Some recipes say that you can substitute white vinegar diluted with water for the hydrogen peroxide, but we had the hydrogen peroxide so that is what we used.
We rubbed it all over her and then rinsed it off. You do not want to leave this mixture on the dog too long because it will bleach the coat. You also do not want to get it in the dog’s eyes, ears or mouth. We used a rag saturated in the mixture and rubbed all over Storm’s head. Then we rinsed her with the hose. She was not at all thrilled with that because it was pretty cold out. Then we shampooed her good and rinsed again with the hose.
Hubby washed her (with the solution) right after it happened, but it was dark and hard to do a thorough job. Once finished, Storm got to spend some time in her kennel. After the sun was up, I repeated the whole process and Storm went back in her kennel. There was no way that stink was coming in the house.
On my way to work, I stopped and bought a skunk deodorizer and some deodorizing shampoo from the pet store. We needed the shampoo because we used all of the shampoo in the house on the previous washings.
Hubby used the Nature’s Miracle and shampooed Storm again when he got home from work. By evening she smelled OK and was allowed to come in the house to sleep.
Her head still smells if you get close to her even though it has been more than a week since she was sprayed and her head has been washed a couple more times. She is the cleanest smelly dog ever!
Both the home remedy and the Nature’s Miracle worked fairly well to neutralize the odor. I guess I will file this information away for future reference and hope not to have to use it for a good long time. 🙂
Now for a little good news.
Long time readers will remember that the summer before last we had a training membership at a training preserve which was part of a large farm. The farm was sold last year and we did not think the memberships would be offered again; however, this year they were. The land that is available for training is not as large as it was before the sale, but it is still really nice and there are several ponds. We signed up for a membership last Sunday. This will be a great place to work on Freighter’s steadiness because we can use birds and gunfire on the property. We also hope to get a chance to train with live birds. It opens for training April 1, (depending on the weather).
This is my favorite picture of Storm. I took this while we were training on the property in 2013.
This is the Thursday Barks and Bytes Blog Hop hosted by Heart Like A Dog and 2 Brown Dawgs.
OMD Storm getting skunked made us chuckle mainly because never having smelt one we have no idea how bad it is but can just imagine. Glad the training ground is sorted. Have a tremendous Thursday.
Best wishes Molly
You are lucky to have never smelled one. 🙂
We smell dead skunks on the road a lot in the fall, but thankfully have never had any personal interactions! Like the new look you have here on the site!
Thanks! But LOL you scared me. I was thinking what new look? Then I remembered. I had time a few weeks ago to figure out how to add the slider to my home page which I have been wanting to do since I purchased this theme in January. Of course when I added that, I had to simplify the header and I moved some stuff to my footer because when they were on the sidebar, they slowed my site. I have no idea why. I hope it will stay this way for a while.
Being skunked isn’t fun. Norman got skunked one early morning when john was about to leave for work opened the door and there was squinty eyed norman with a foot of drool hanging out his mouth. John shut the door in his face and left for work leaving me to take care of it. Congrats on getting your training land back
Poor Norman! Poor you! I need to buy some of that shampoo you sent me because of course I used what little I had left on dumb dumb and it really is the best for rinsing out clean.
So sorry to hear Storm was skunked! What a process to remove the odor, I hope that never happens with Daisy, we can’t leave her outside for any length of time, let alone overnight! Glad to hear the new farm owners are still offering memberships for training.
I am sure Daisy is not as dumb as Storm to chase a skunk.
NOOOO! Storm! My mom’s dog about once every two years grabs a skunk, gets sprayed, then runs into the house through the dog door. It takes 6 months to get the smell out. For nearly a year after being sprayed, the whiskers smell when they get wet. ICK! Now my mom’s life revolves around her skunks. She does not stay away from home after dark anymore, and she checks the yard with a flashlight at night and in the early morning. She’s had them removed, but it’s prime skunk real estate, so a new skunk family always moves in.
That’s such good news on the training site! I’m so glad it’s opened up to training for you all again! I can’t imagine how difficult it is to find great places to work a gun dog.
A good reason for no doggie door…lol. When we first moved here 20+ years ago we had a lot of skunks. Then coyotes moved in and they seemed to move out. I think the coyotes have now moved on because some of the vacant land is being built up. Now skunks are back. I did see a couple dead ones on the main road. Usually I feel badly for the flat things on the road. Not sure about the skunks.
Poor Storm… eau de Skunquette is not really Chanel N°5 :o( but please don’t send Monsieur Pepe Le Pew back to France :o)
It’s great that you found such a good training area… Congrats!
LOL no we won’t send any your way!
When we lived in LA, our Sally would get skunked all the time. Inevitably in the morning so we’d have to take care of her before work, this was also back when a tomato juice bath was the ‘cure’. Fun times…
You know what it is like then. We had no tomato juice so it was good I found a different remedy…lol.
Ugh, what a nightmare. I’ve never had a dog get skunked (knock on wood!). My friend’s dog got skunked a while back and every time we met up at the beach and the dog got wet she would smell again. Good thing you managed to keep the smell out of the house! It’s the worst!
Thank goodness for outside runs! Although I did have to change out the straw and that is something I probably should not have done according to the restrictions after my eye surgery. Took me forever since I had to be careful not to bend all the way over…lol.
I’m getting an error message when I try and enter the blog hop, from both your blog and Jodi’s. 🙁
Sometimes the linky is goofy. I see you entered your link. I entered a test link and it was slow, but I got it to work so hopefully whatever it was is fixed.
I’m so glad for you that you got your training grounds back!
Luckily for us, with the fenced in yard, we haven’t had a skunk encounter since our first or second dog. I think we used some kind of vinegar rinse similar to what you did. All I remember is that every time she got wet after that, the smell would come back!
We have that large detention area behind our house and who knows what lives in there. We think the skunk was behind the kennel run and that would have been between the run and the fence for the detention area. Dumb skunk.
UGH!!! U cannot stand the smell of skunk! Luckily I have never had to deal with any pets being sprayed….yet.
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
It was not a great way to start the day. lol
There is nothing worse than a skunked dog!! Ugh.. So sorry for that! Just so you know for next time, the reason she still smells is because your hubby washed her first before applying the de-skunk solution. What happens is that the skunk “oil” goes deep down into the hair follicle, basically into the dogs pours and if you put water on the dog first, the water just sits on top of the skunk smell. The solution should be applied to a dry coat, so no water or anything else (shampoo) should be applied before the solution. That way the chemicals can get down into the follicle.
Btw, I absolutely hate deskunking dogs. The smell induces a bad headache! I hope Storm smells better soon!
Thanks for the tip, but he washed her first with the solution just as my directions state and then the shampoo. I was told by the lady at pet smart that if it got into her nose or any other mucus membrane, it would take longer to go away and again as others have stated, she will smell when she gets wet. You have to remember she has a heavy winter double Chessie coat so it is very difficult to really wash every hair.
Hi Y’all!
Oh, y’all are just a fountain of good and bad news!
Y’all come on by,
Hawk aka BrownDog
LOL that’s the way the week went. 🙂
My late Chessie cross Abby tangled with a skunk on more than one occasion. Oye! The second time was the worst because I think she it squeezed every ounce of its scent onto her. Of course this always happens at 11:30 p.m. at night! I always keep a bottle of Nature’s Miracle Skunk Odor Remover in the house and literally poured the whole thing onto her. It worked terrifically! Also works well on upholstery, clothing and anywhere else a skunked dog will go. Abby had that thick double coat, so we know how difficult it is to thoroughly wash that.
Hope Storm is smelling much better now!
Silly Chessie! lol Good tip on using the Nature’s Miracle on clothing or upholstery if needed. It did work well on the smell. I bet it would have worked better if it had been the first thing we put on Storm.
Oh, poor Storm sure happy that skunk didn’t spray her eyes or mouth. Good thing you had what you needed to wash her in hope she never has that happen again. Great news that you get to go back to that farm. I remember when you posted about the farm selling. Hugs for you and nose kisses for all the Brown Dawgs from us
Thanks Mags. I was glad we had the ingredients for the wash too. In fact we had enough for two batches. lol We can’t wait to get out and train there again.
Oh no! That’s one of my biggest fears with Barley. I can’t leave her outside in our apartment and there’s no outdoor place to wash her here, either, so she’d have to come in just to get bathed! Sometimes I smell skunk smell out in the yard at night, but I always flip on the lights and make a production of opening the door to hopefully shoo them away before we get out. Glad she’s smelling a little better now 🙂
That is what hubby did. Flip on lights and make noise…it was insufficient. lol Now he walks the parameter of the yard and I take them out on lead after dark. I am not doing the skunk wash again if I can help it.
Even though I knew what happened, I’m glad you shared this story! As I mentioned to you on FB, my niece happened to be outside almost immediately after a skunk had sprayed and I could smell it in her hair for weeks. That is some potent stuff!
Glad to hear the training facility re-opened. I wish we had areas like that around here, I’d love to be able to just run Delilah. LOL
Your poor niece. I cannot imagine being the one to get sprayed! It costs a lot more than the last time but so we hope it will be worth it. 🙂
Skunk smell, ugh! On a more cheerful note, I love the photo of Storm running through the field and also the beautiful photo of the butterfly.
I am glad you like my photos. I got some of the best ones on that property. It is a great place to train but also a good place to work on my photography. 🙂
Environmentally, I don’t mind skunk smell. But, I would if it was right on Elka’s head and skin (and then my skin, because that’s how Elka works)!
So glad that farm offered training memberships for you again! It looks like a great space.