What's that smell?
Mar. 11th, 2011 02:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
potato_headThe dog decided this morning that he'd like to have another go at making friends with a skunk. Since the first time went so well, you know (he got sprayed directly in the face last time). This time he at least tried to run away when he saw the skunk getting ready to spray, and it only got him in the hip :P
By the way, when I say 'this morning', it happened at like 5:30 AM. GOOD MORNING EVERYBODY! Pffft.
Tripper was exiled to the basement, and in his crate, because it was also raining out so he was all wet, and when he's wet he both shakes and RUBS ALL OVER ALL THE FURNITURE, which was pretty undesirable at the moment. Since I'm the only one in the house who can stand the smell of skunk (it gives mom headaches and makes her throw up, and for some reason really pisses dad off) and is willing to actually help (Paige and Derek opted to go back to sleep), I sat with him in the basement to keep him company while dad ran out and bought lysterine and tomato sauce (he came back with v8 juice instead...apparently the cashier at the Stop&sShop swore by it...I don't think it worked as well as tomato juice tbh, but it was less gross to work with).
I also sniffed Tripper to figure out where, exactly, the skunk got him. If you've never dealt with a skunk spray before...you should probably just not do this; just rinse the dog down and then wash all of him. A noseful of skunk spray is a lot worse than you'd expect; it's not just stinky, remember, it's a chemical attack; it can be incredibly irritating, and has known to cause temporary blindness. MAKE SURE you rinse the dog down before starting to really wash him, to get off any of the excess skunk spray; it's an oil, and will easily spread through your dog's fur when you start scrubbing him if you don't rinse first. Our usual pattern, since I don't have trouble sniffing out the spot, is to rinse, wash that spot first, rinse, then wash his whole body.
You can also try to visually identify the sprayed area by looking for a spot that looks wet and slick. If your dog's eyes are watering badly, it was probably on or near the face. Tripper also starts drooling when he gets sprayed in the face, lol.
I was also the only one willing to get my clothes all gross and wet, so I was holding Tripper while dad washed him. Tripper was both very upset about the situation and trying to avoid the cold hose water, so he kept rubbing against my pants, and several times he shook when he was covered in V8 juice, lol. He also enjoyed eating the V8 juice off the deck, which is why we usually wash him on the grass, but it's all snow and mud right now.
We also washed his crate down, since he was in it, and the blankets in his crate; it's hard to tell sometimes if the dog actually rubbed any of the skunk oil off on something because the whole room will smell for quite some time, so it's best just to wash everything the dog touched/might have touched - or just throw it out, if it probably got a lot of spray on it and can be replaced. With things like the dog's crate blankets, we usually run them through the wash and see how they come out, then decide whether to keep them or toss them.
So we got Tripper all tomato'd and minty-fresh'd, and his cage as well (dad used the remainder of the V8 and listerine on it, since we weren't going to use it for anything else) and Tripper, now quite wet, started running around the house like a maniac and rubbing himself all over everything because that is his automatic solution to being wet. It wouldn't have been such a problem if dad had dried him thoroughly the first time, but he wasn't just damp, he was still wet, so I had to grab a towel and dry him again :P and then change clothes, since mine were soaked and covered in V8.
BTW, your dog will not smell awesome when you're done cleaning it. A lot of people expect skunk spray treatments to just make the smell go away. No, your dog will smell like whatever you cleaned it with, plus faint hints of skunk underneath; there isn't anything that completely gets rid of skunk spray, you're just trying to get off the majority of it, and all of the oil that hasn't been absorbed so that it won't rub off on anything in the house. That's one of the main reasons I like the tomato-and-listerine treatment, because the listerine at least smells fresh. For getting rid of the smell it seems to work about as well as just tomato juice, but that creates a new and wonderful tomato-wet-dog smell; the listerine is definitely preferable.
So we opened all the windows and aired out the house and mom lit some candles and now things almost don't smell like we had a close encounter with a skunk :D
I wanted to get some video of Tripper in his time of shame in the crate in the basement right after he got sprayed, but I couldn't get the camera to work :C oh well.
By the way, when I say 'this morning', it happened at like 5:30 AM. GOOD MORNING EVERYBODY! Pffft.
Tripper was exiled to the basement, and in his crate, because it was also raining out so he was all wet, and when he's wet he both shakes and RUBS ALL OVER ALL THE FURNITURE, which was pretty undesirable at the moment. Since I'm the only one in the house who can stand the smell of skunk (it gives mom headaches and makes her throw up, and for some reason really pisses dad off) and is willing to actually help (Paige and Derek opted to go back to sleep), I sat with him in the basement to keep him company while dad ran out and bought lysterine and tomato sauce (he came back with v8 juice instead...apparently the cashier at the Stop&sShop swore by it...I don't think it worked as well as tomato juice tbh, but it was less gross to work with).
I also sniffed Tripper to figure out where, exactly, the skunk got him. If you've never dealt with a skunk spray before...you should probably just not do this; just rinse the dog down and then wash all of him. A noseful of skunk spray is a lot worse than you'd expect; it's not just stinky, remember, it's a chemical attack; it can be incredibly irritating, and has known to cause temporary blindness. MAKE SURE you rinse the dog down before starting to really wash him, to get off any of the excess skunk spray; it's an oil, and will easily spread through your dog's fur when you start scrubbing him if you don't rinse first. Our usual pattern, since I don't have trouble sniffing out the spot, is to rinse, wash that spot first, rinse, then wash his whole body.
You can also try to visually identify the sprayed area by looking for a spot that looks wet and slick. If your dog's eyes are watering badly, it was probably on or near the face. Tripper also starts drooling when he gets sprayed in the face, lol.
I was also the only one willing to get my clothes all gross and wet, so I was holding Tripper while dad washed him. Tripper was both very upset about the situation and trying to avoid the cold hose water, so he kept rubbing against my pants, and several times he shook when he was covered in V8 juice, lol. He also enjoyed eating the V8 juice off the deck, which is why we usually wash him on the grass, but it's all snow and mud right now.
We also washed his crate down, since he was in it, and the blankets in his crate; it's hard to tell sometimes if the dog actually rubbed any of the skunk oil off on something because the whole room will smell for quite some time, so it's best just to wash everything the dog touched/might have touched - or just throw it out, if it probably got a lot of spray on it and can be replaced. With things like the dog's crate blankets, we usually run them through the wash and see how they come out, then decide whether to keep them or toss them.
So we got Tripper all tomato'd and minty-fresh'd, and his cage as well (dad used the remainder of the V8 and listerine on it, since we weren't going to use it for anything else) and Tripper, now quite wet, started running around the house like a maniac and rubbing himself all over everything because that is his automatic solution to being wet. It wouldn't have been such a problem if dad had dried him thoroughly the first time, but he wasn't just damp, he was still wet, so I had to grab a towel and dry him again :P and then change clothes, since mine were soaked and covered in V8.
BTW, your dog will not smell awesome when you're done cleaning it. A lot of people expect skunk spray treatments to just make the smell go away. No, your dog will smell like whatever you cleaned it with, plus faint hints of skunk underneath; there isn't anything that completely gets rid of skunk spray, you're just trying to get off the majority of it, and all of the oil that hasn't been absorbed so that it won't rub off on anything in the house. That's one of the main reasons I like the tomato-and-listerine treatment, because the listerine at least smells fresh. For getting rid of the smell it seems to work about as well as just tomato juice, but that creates a new and wonderful tomato-wet-dog smell; the listerine is definitely preferable.
So we opened all the windows and aired out the house and mom lit some candles and now things almost don't smell like we had a close encounter with a skunk :D
I wanted to get some video of Tripper in his time of shame in the crate in the basement right after he got sprayed, but I couldn't get the camera to work :C oh well.
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Date: 2011-03-11 11:11 pm (UTC)