Skunks and their smell

Late one evening,I was finishing up a few dishes in preparation for retiring for the evening.  It was all very Norman Rockwell with my sister letting our dogs out once more before bedtime. And then the idyllic evening was broken by her screaming, "SKUNK!"

We don’t live in the city, but we aren’t in the middle of nowhere either.  We have certainly smelled skunk before, just not quite this close.  All three dogs ran in the house, and we could tell right away which one had been trying to make friends with the striped kitty.  The white one with black spots and a yellow film on his nose.  Petey, my curious and over friendly Chihuahua had been hit square in the face with the most foul smelling substance you can imagine.  We could hardly get near to help him. 

We immediately tried to think of all those things we had heard that would take out the skunk smell.  First, we tried every kind of soap in the house with no relief.  All we got was a mad, wet and still stinky Chihuahua.

Then we thought of tomatoes.  We grabbed the only thing I had in the house made with tomatoes, a jar of spaghetti sauce.  We poured the entire jar on him and rubbed it deep into his fur, then rinsed him again with soap. No joy.  That didn’t fix the smell, but it did turn my white dog to a lovely shade of pink.

Finally on the list was vinegar.  An entire jug of white wine vinegar.  That did help some, he kind of smelled like a limburger cheese salad.  But worse. 

He slept in his crate in the garage.

The next morning I called the groomer and explained what had happened.  Thankfully she took the appointment and I dropped him off.  When I picked him up he smelled really good.  No more skunk smell.  I was amazed. 

Now, I had been told that there are two kinds of dogs.  Those that learn to avoid skunks, and those who will stink again. Knowing my Petey, I asked the groomer if I could buy this wonder skunk smell removal product commercially.  She smiled and said that there were a number of good products on the market, but she went the simpler route.  Feminine douche.

I stood there looking at her smiling face as it all started to make perfect sense.  No wonder he smells so fresh. I secretly vowed never to tell him.  Petey is gone now, but his lessons live on. I now keep some feminine douche in the house for emergencies.  One of my new dogs will someday encounter that striped kitty, and I’m ready.