Stinky

Last night at bedtime, The Husband let the dogs out into the backyard for their final potty break of the day.  He gave a quick look around when he turned on the floodlights before he let the dogs out, like he always does, to make sure there wasn't anything in the yard.  He opened the kitchen door, the dogs ran across the deck and down the stairs, and almost immediately came charging back up the stairs.  He let the dogs back into the house, like always ... then he smelled it.  Skunk.

(Photo I took of a sad-looking Daniel a few weeks ago.  It seems like an appropriate expression, considering the subject of this post.)

It was Daniel who got sprayed .... in the face, of course, and down his right side.  Ruby was fine.  Thank goodness I read THIS post last year on my friend Kat's blog, so I knew what to do.

I mixed up a batch of solution and I sponged it onto Daniel, rubbing it into his fur and letting it sit for a few minutes.  Then I rinsed him thoroughly with warm water to get the soap off  ... ran a hose outside to the deck from the kitchen faucet.

This morning, we still have a residual smell of skunk in the house, from when Daniel ran in before we knew that he'd been sprayed.  It could have been much worse ... note to self, buy more peroxide next time I'm at the store.

Here's the recipe:

For every 16 ounces of regular 3% peroxide, add two tablespoons of baking soda and one teaspoon of dish detergent.  This was enough to do Daniel ... even though greyhounds are large dogs, they have short, fairly sparce fur.  I applied it to Daniel with a sponge (less dripping and waste that way)  I'm sure it stung his eyes when I sponged his face, having dish soap in it and all, and I rinsed his face REALLY well with the hose ... he hated that part, but he put up with it because he is a good, good boy.

(Edited to add:  you CANNOT mix up this solution ahead of time and DO NOT keep it in a closed container.  Keep the ingredients on hand and mix it as needed.)