Skunks 'n Stuff

Taylor and Amber loaded their two kids, Ava and Jonas, and their big yellow dog, Cole, into their SUV and headed east on I-10 from El Paso late last night. The idea was to have the kids asleep for most of the 590 mile, nine hour journey to Floresville, on their way ultimately to their new home in North Carolina. All went as planned until early this morning, about twenty miles west of Ozona at about 4:30 AM. They needed to stop and found a large rest area with lots of parking for trucks. Taylor parked the car. Amber was caring for Jonas. Taylor let Cole out and he managed to find a skunk immediately. He chased the critter, picked it up in his mouth and threw it, and then pursued it toward the edge of the woods. At this point the advantage was on the skunk's end, so to speak. When Cole approached he received a large dose of skunk juice right in the face.

Now, four hours away from their destination, tired of driving and not sleeping, in a car crowded with four people, they had a skunk-soaked dog on their hands. What to do? Taylor suggested borrowing a gun from one of the truckers parked there and saying good-bye to the dog. Amber and Ava vetoed that plan. He thought of chaining him to the garbage cans and leaving him. Amber searched the Internet on her smart phone for options. There were the usual home remedies for dogs who have encountered skunks, such as a bath in tomato juice or vinegar, neither of which were readily available. One site suggested a bath in mouthwash. Well, they had some of that. So Taylor took the bottle of mouthwash, some dog shampoo they'd brought, and paper towel and did his best to clear the air. Meanwhile Cole's eyes were swelling and he was foaming at the mouth.

I was up reading at 6:00 AM. I got a call at 6:30 from Taylor.

Taylor: Hey, Dad, are you up?

Me: Yeah. How are y'all doing?

Taylor: Not so good right now. We stopped at a rest area and Cole got sprayed by a skunk.

Me: Sorry to hear that.  (Really sorry. Glad I wasn't there.)

So the reeking dog rejoined the family in the car, still emitting waves of odor like sulphur and burned rubber, and they rolled the windows down and drove 80 mph. for the next four hours.

Meanwhile I looked up a home remedy for the situation. It turns out that most consider the tomato juice or vinegar options as only cover-ups that do not actually remove the oily spray from the skunk. A preferred option is a solution of baking soda, liquid soap, and hydrogen peroxide. I drove to Wal-Mart and bought dog-cleaning supplies. I came back to the house and waited. They arrived at about ten, and I served them breakfast tacos and coffee and went to work on Cole. When I stepped onto the front porch the odor hit me. Cole was chained to the pecan tree ten feet away. It was like he was a skunk. I put on rubber gloves, added a quarter cup of baking soda to the dishwashing detergent and quart of hydrogen peroxide I'd poured into my big blue plastic bucket and began the first bath. Fortunately, Cole was entirely cooperative.

I have to admit that I have a vested interest in this dog's aroma. First, he would be staying at the farm house with us for the next five or six days. And, second, we are going to be adopting him. He's headed back to Waco with me next week to live out the rest of his days with us. It is important to me that his smell improve.

I gave him a couple of baths with the H2O2 and baking soda. That helped a lot. Meanwhile Taylor and Amber were sorting out suitcases on which he'd been laying, finding that clothes in one particular duffle bag were definitely skunky smelling. Another Internet search suggested adding 1 cup vinegar and 1 cup baking soda to the regular wash to clean clothes. (Which by the way worked wonderfully, even on the towels they had placed under the dog.) I stopped by Tractor Supply and got a container of "Nature's Miracle Skunk Odor Remover," which finished the job that the other baths had started.

Cole spent the day on the front porch, shamed and embarrassed by his poor decision earlier that morning. By nighttime we all concurred that he now passed the smell test and could be admitted into the house for the night.