Early this morning, before it was daylight, Hubby rolled out of bed and without thinking, let the dogs out.

Well… other creatures are out at that time.  And, of course, mayhem ensued.

Our dogs lost, based on their scent upon arrival to the back door.  Actually, that’s not true.  I could smell the ‘incident’ inside the house way before the dogs returned.

You know what I mean…

HOW TO DESKUNK A DOG.

There are many products on the market.  However, I have found that DAWN dish soap actually is the best first bath.  It loosens all that nasty oil, just like it does for oil slicks on pelicans (You’ve seen the commercials…).

The next thing is to run out and get hydrogen peroxide and baking soda.  And, the best de-skunking shampoo you can find in your area.  I ended up with Nature’s Miracle.

First:  (recipe from a reader, thank you!)  Vinegar is old school, and isn’t all that effective.  You want to make the following mix and apply it to the dog BEFORE you get them hosed down at all. The goal is to dissolve the oil before the water spreads it.

Mix together and put in a squirt bottle:
1/2 cup Baking soda
2 TBSP Blue Dawn Dish Soap
1 Quart 3% hydrogen peroxide
NOTE!  Do NOT tightly cap or save this mix. Pressure will build and may explode. Use it all or dump.
DO NOT get in your pet’s eyes. Peroxide can bleach so fabrics or possibly lighten you dog’s coat.

I always keep an empty large Dawn detergent bottle handy to mix this in because it makes it easier to squirt to apply.

Again BEFORE getting the dog wet, put on some disposable gloves and apply about 1/2 the mix you’ve made to the area where the dog has been sprayed. Rub it around in the fur.  It will smell strong as it begins to break down the oils, but will begin to go away.  If it’s not diminished in 10 minutes, apply the rest, or use it on collars or anything else the dog touched. After the smell is all gone, bathe the dog with dog or people shampoo and rinse thoroughly.

You can use this mixture to wash pets, floors, and hard surfaces. To clean fabric, wash in cold water with 1 cup of baking soda with regular laundry detergent. Hang outside to dry in warm sunny spot to completely kill any lingering smell.

Another recipe from a reader:

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Or, step 2 is to use the De-skunking shampoo.

The third step is to use a baking soda dog shampoo (which is what I did because I always worry about hydrogen peroxide and baking soda in the eyes).

Here is my arsenal.

The 4th step is to repeat.   Repeat.  Usually the first really good scrub will do it.  But if you are like me… and miss spots, you’ll need to repeat once they are dry and you can do a sniff test.

Make sure you are really thorough around the face.  That is where the oil is generally concentrated.  I missed the top of Violet’s head, so we had to go back in and redo it.

MORAL OF THE STORY:  Don’t let the dogs out when skunks are doing their thing!

PS:  Skunks are great for eating rodents, frogs, snakes… I love them!! I had a few living in our barn in Grass Valley and I never worried about rattle snakes!