Skunked!

So, we went to bed at midnight Wednesday night.

At 3am, the dogs woke my husband up to let them outside. Wow, they actually did go outside and *do* something. I.E., it wasn't just a scouting mission. :)

At 5am, the dogs woke me up to let them outside. I had intended to get up at 4am... then when reality hit, at 6am, to write some more code for my project that needed to be tested today. So I rather reluctantly got up and let them outside, an hour early from my target wakeup time

Only of course, they just wanted attention... they ended up lying around the living room while I fell asleep on the couch. I think our female did go outside to do something in the way of waste removal...

Then, around 5:30am, I hear Ellie, our female, moving fast after something. Boss, our male, hears it, leaps off his corner of the couch (where he had been snoozing with me), and runs outside. [I had left the sliding glass door open while I passed out on the couch... stupid, stupid!]

I run to the sliding glass door.

Boss comes running in, and starts rubbing his face all over the carpet.

I look outside. To the left of me, about 15 feet away, is a skunk. Directly in front of me, about 12 feet away, is Ellie. I actually am not sure if she was skunked at that point.

I called her. She ran to the sliding glass window. That MAY have been when she actually got skunked. Sigh. I closed the sliding glass door, and Ellie joined Boss in the massive rubbing of skunk scent all over our carpeting.

About 2 minutes later, I had them closed up in the guest bathroom.

About 10 minutes later of web surfing for the correct chemicals, my husband entered the bathroom to start bathing them in regular shampoo, and I drove first to 7-11, then to Albertsons for the appropriate chemicals. [I.E., he decided to bathe first in dog shampoo until I could come home with the correct neutralizing chemicals to de-skunk them.]

The correct chemicals are, btw, detergent, H2O2, and Baking Soda.

And you're supposed to soak the affected area in that formula... and then you can rinse it off with water. If you apply soap and water before you apply the chemical combination, you will have activated that horrendous stench. :P So we did it in the wrong order.

According to this site, Deoderize Skunk Spray, the correct formula and methodology is as follows:


"For pets that have been sprayed, bathe the animal in a mixture of 1 quart of 3% hydrogen peroxide (from drug store), 1/4 cup of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and a teaspoon of liquid detergent. After 5 minutes rinse the animal with water. Repeat if necessary. The mixture must be used after mixing and will not work if it is stored for any length of time. DO NOT STORE IN A CLOSED CONTAINER - it releases oxygen gas so it could break the container. This mixture may bleach the pet's hair. I have heard of one black Labrador retriever that was chocolate colored after this treatment. (Paul Krebaum's Recipe from Chemical & Engineering News , October 18, 1993, p. 90).

"Some additional tips. Do this outside so the volatile skunk spray does not contaminate your house. To remove residual skunk odor from your clothes and any towels or rags used in this clean up procedure, wash them with one cup of liquid laundry bleach per gallon of water."


I'm back somewhere around 6:30am. It's my turn. I go in with the chemicals, and try direct treatment on the face using a toothbrush, carefully avoiding the eyes.

Around 7am, my husband tries to scrub the skunk smell off his body.

Around 7:15am, I do the same.

Around 7:30am, we're off to drop pets of at vet's for further chemical treatment. We get back around 8:30am?

Around 8:45am, me and my broken Spanish, and our cleaning couple and their broken English, agree on my picking them up at 2pm to retrieve them so they can PLEASE sterilize the guest bathroom, which now reeks! [Because we also tried to clean them indoors instead of outside... mistake #2.]

Around 9am, carpet cleaner dude comes. He makes our carpet as clean as I've ever seen it since we moved in and it was brand new, prior to our getting our first German Shepherd! "Wow, it WAS white when we moved in!"

Around 10am, we're exhausted. My husband takes one more shower. I can't even do that. We fall into bed, and sleep until
1:30pm.

1:50pm I'm off to pick the wonderful cleaning couple (who cleans our house twice a month) up from their home. [They don't have a car.]

They spend a little over an hour sterilizing our guest bathroom. They rule. :) They came over with little notice, and when I tried to pay them, they tried to take nothing because it was just one bathroom. I managed to get them to take something.

They are awesome, and I would recommend them to anyone! They are also good friends, and are helping me improve my spanish! :) I hope I'm helping them improve their English...

By the way, skunk in spanish is zorrilllo. I made something up to help me remember it: sore arm in rio. [Only, omit "arm" and "in".]

Around 3:30pm I drove them home.

I got back around 4pm. We both tried to go to go to sleep. We were so tired. But we couldn't do it.

Called the vet around 5pm. Yes, the dogs were done.

Picked up dogs, who were VERY glad to see us! Drove home. Let them out in backyard to poo and pee. Then crated them.

Went into backyard and de-poo'd the yard. [I had been negligent last weekend in doing so, due to a high work-load] Since they were bathed... might as well as try to keep them clean, and our apparently white carpet clean, and remove the odds of poo stains from poo-ey paws.

So with everything that went on, it's now almost 7pm. I have yet to write a line of code for that testing I WAS going to do today. :P

And instead of calling in sick this morning, I called in skunked. :P

I still smell it on the dogs and on me. :P

I hate skunks.

Oh, another thing... my husband and I think that the skunk was after the water in the water dish that we typically leave outside. At night, bring in your dog's water dishes!