It finally happened. After years of owning dogs and thousands of miles walked, there was an incident Friday night. The dogs and I were wrapping up a 3 mile walk on the greenspace close to us. It was dark (after 8pm) and there are no lights. As we rounded a curve, I thought I saw a dark shadow move slightly within the shadows. It was only a few feet from us. The dogs ran forward and I didn't see anything immediately And then..I saw something rise up. I saw a white stripe. I pulled the dogs back as fast as I could. Now, those that know me well know that I have a horrible sense of smell. I asked myself "Did the dogs just get sprayed by a skunk? Did I pull them back in time" I sniffed them and they smelled a tad 'off' but I didn't notice anything particularly pungent. I quickly texted JD and asked me to meet me at the back door in 2 minutes.
2 Minutes later..
JD opens the back door and immediately knows what happened. He only opens the door a crack and talks to me through it. Apparently, I couldn't smell much but it was quite pungent to everyone else. The kids were shouting through the door "Oh my goodness, it smells awful!" JD looked up what to do-wash the dogs with a mixture of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and dish soap. Wouldn't luck have it..that we had no peroxide and were low on baking soda. So JD tossed me my purse and I headed to the grocery store. This would be a good time to note that either the dogs rubbed up against my right leg or my right leg also was the lucky recipient of the skunk spray, because I also smelled quite bad. So, skunk smelling Christine headed to the grocery store Friday night to buy supplies. Yes, I did get some looks. The peroxide had a limit on bottles and the cashier was not sympathetic to my plight, but I got enough to wash the dogs.
20 Minutes later..
I mixed together the peroxide, baking soda and dish soap and got to work. Apollo was sprayed on his right side and I was able to successfully wash him and get the smell off. Success! Bella was next. Bella had the misfortune of being sprayed directly in the face. I washed her with the solution as best I could and let the dogs in. The house then smelled, you guess it, like a skunk. No problem I thought, I'll schedule a bath at PetSmart in the morning with a professional groomer and this will be taken care of.
Saturday morning..
The PetSmart groomer informs me that she cannot wash Bella. That washing Bella will in fact, make the smell worse. The only thing she can recommend is washing her with the peroxide solution had I done the night before. She recommended increasing her brushing and said the smell won't go away until the hair falls out. And warned me that anytime she gets wet, the smell will become more fragrant. I left the store but wasn't discouraged. I called the vet to see what they had to say...and they echoed everything the groomer said.
Late Saturday morning..
Not one to be deterred, I decided to try again. I had Julia sniff Bella all over to determine where exactly the smell was coming from. She determined the neck, snout and surrounding the eyes. I made another bath of solution and I cleaned her 3x with it, waiting 10min in between each time. I used a washcloth on her face and massaged her fur as much as possible. After that, I poured a giant bottle of V8 juice on her head (people swear by tomato juice although every website I found said it doesn't do anything..can't hurt trying).
The verdict?
I would love to say she smells great but alas, that is not the case. She still smells like a skunk. It's marginally better now than it was before our extended cleaning session on Saturday. I did a deep house cleaning Saturday afternoon so at least the house doesn't smell.
