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Skunked

August 26th, 2014

Last Friday I went out to feed the pigs and noticed a skunky smell, which isn’t unusual. We have lots of birds and the skunks like to come around looking for the guinea eggs. Tara has scared a skunk away twice in the past month and the skunk smell sticks around for a few days then fades. I petted Tara as I walked by and didn’t think anything of it, until I came back inside…then I realized I was still smelling skunk, because I smelled like skunk. It was then I knew that Tara had been sprayed – UGH.
skunked
I still haven’t had the time or energy to give her a bath, hopefully that will happen today. My go-to recipe is: peroxide, baking soda and dish soap all mixed up and worked into the coat. Let it sit 10-15 minutes, then rinse and repeat if necessary. Luckily, it doesn’t seem that Tara was hit too much, she doesn’t smell nearly as bad as Lucy did when she got sprayed. I feel bad for her though, no one wants to go near her and pet her with her new perfume. I can’t blame her, she was protecting a guinea nest that is behind where she sleeps.  She’s already scared the skunk away twice this month, I guess the third time is a charm.

Do you have a great skunk smell remover recipe?

9 Comments to “Skunked”
  1. Marina on August 26, 2014 at 5:15 am

    My recipe is the same as yours, and it works!
    Sorry for you and Tara, but she is a good guard dog. Our old lab got skunked a month ago, and like you we thought it was outside. She sleeps with our young one, so we had to wash them both the next day, twice!
    I had to stop using chicken poo in my raised beds because of the skunks coming to investigate, Neptune does not appeal to them.
    I hope you fell better soon…

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  2. Jennifer Fisk on August 26, 2014 at 7:33 am

    The key to making a skunked dog socially acceptable again is to remove the oil on which the scent is carried. I have used Ajax cleaner and Master Mechanics All Purpose Cleaner. This doesn’t need to be rubbed into the coat because the skunk spray is on the surface so just spray or sponge it onto the stinky area and let it soak for maybe 15 minutes and then rinse off and then for good measure, wash the dog with Dawn. I’ve tried the formula but have better luck with an oil cutting cleaner.

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  3. Mich on August 26, 2014 at 7:42 am

    No skunks here in England :) Phew.
    The dogs do sometimes roll in fox poo which isn’t pleasant…but imagine it’s much easier to get rid off than the smell of skunk!

    Reply to Mich's comment

  4. Nebraska Dave on August 26, 2014 at 8:15 am

    Susy, skunks are one thing that I have not seen or smelled near any of my gardens. Yea!! I see them dead on the roads and smell the pungent odor while driving at times but never have come face to face with a skunk. They are known for being rabid here in Nebraska. Well groomed urban areas is not a place where skunks like to hang out so animals getting skunked where I live would be extremely rare. I do feel sorry for dogs that get sprayed because of their sensitive smell. It’s a good thing that Tara didn’t get a direct hit from the skunk spray. I bet she will be very appreciative when finished with her de skunking bath.

    Have a great de skunking day.

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  5. Misti on August 26, 2014 at 9:11 am

    My inlaws had one of their dogs sprayed in their suburban backyard several years back. I think they used tomato juice but I can’t really recall.

    Poor Tara!

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  6. Toni on August 26, 2014 at 9:49 am

    Poor Tara! What a brave girl. Just a word of warning: I had a dear friend who actually lost her dog to a skunk. Seems that he must have nearly had his mouth on the skunk’s rear when he was sprayed and he suffocated from the spray. Not a little dog mind you, he was an airdale. They found him shortly after it happened but he was already dead. So sad.

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  7. Natalie on August 26, 2014 at 10:36 am

    The Wild Kratts show uses your recipe! I wouldn’t use commercial cleaners on me or my animals. I hope I never have to clean a skunked dog, but chances are that I will someday! Dawn is supposed to be a grease fighter, so I’d err on the side of caution and use that in the mix.

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  8. KimH on August 26, 2014 at 4:45 pm

    Tomato juice.. When my brother & I were kids, we got sprayed by a mama skunk.. My grandma made us take off our clothes and she bathed us in tomato juice.. It worked well.

    Reply to KimH's comment

  9. ann roberts on August 27, 2014 at 7:35 am

    I too use the peroxide, baking soda, squirt of dishsoap and water recipe. Works on any organic pet issue in the house also.

    I wanted to let you know that our new livestock guardian puppy, Lucy, is doing so well. She is only half Anatolian, the other half a mix of Great Pyrenees and heeler. But even at 3 months she has figured out so much about our property boundaries, that she is supposed to be guarding the free range poultry and that she stays outside, not in with our other dog. She is so smart and except for a few puppy type issues, she is being so easy to train. I want to thank you for all the posts about Tara and telling us what a good working dog she is. It def swayed us in the Anatolian direction. Only bad thing is she came to us with red mange and it is costing us a fortune to fix!! But I think she is worth it all the way

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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