My brother’s dog, Duncan, got skunked recently while I was walking him. They were very close quarters between, in a ditch / drainage pipe, so I don’t think I got any on me. It was dark, and around a bush from me, so I didn’t even see the critter, and didn’t know it was a skunk until after I had pulled him away and noticed the smell. But it was quite some work to get him cleaned up.
Duncan got sprayed a time or two before with my brother. He is prey driven, and gets especially excited about rabbits and skunks. We’ve come across skunks before and he’s lunged and I’ve had to work to hold him back, but they’ve all been far enough away that there hasn’t been a problem. This time I had no warning and no distance to prevent it.
This was supposed to be a quick pee before we went to bed, but Duncan wanted to go around the front of the house, and I obliged. He gets bored in the house, plus I want to give him a chance to poop if he needs it. So I obliged when he went toward the street.
When the skunk smell gets real strong, it smells different than the normal skunk smell. It took me a little bit to identify it. He seemed mostly fine but kept stopping to sniff his front legs. We went back to the house, but I wasn’t sure what to do, so I waited outside for my dad to appear, and I broke the news to him.
Dad wasn’t too happy and went to get some cleaning products. He brought back a bucket of hot water, two skunk cleaning products, and some dish soap, as well as some towels. He held Duncan while I did my best to clean him. He didn’t want to stay still, so it was a struggle. I also had trouble identifying where the spray was. We went through three separate cleanings, with the two skunk cleaners and then the dish soap. It was kinda chilly out so Duncan was cold and not happy, but we made it through it, and then I did my best to dry him. We set out all the towels and what not to air out on the deck to deal with later.
He still smelled too strongly to take in the house. We took him in the garage and made a bed out of a thick blanket. We put out some toys and a water bowl, and left him there in the dark. I was worried he would whine, but he didn’t. Took it just fine.
By the next day the smell was gone enough to let him in the house. That evening, my brother came with another skunk cleaner and gave him a bath in a storage tub. He was reluctant, but did fine with it, and after that, the smell was mostly gone except for fairly close to his chest. A couple weeks later and it can still be smelled a bit at times right near his chest or when he gets wet, but otherwise it’s gone.
I’m sure he wants to get that skunk more than ever.