Musings on skunks.....

Tinker AFB has lots and lots of skunks. We had actually grown fond of these little guys. We see them in the early morning along the jogging path and in the evenings along the creeks. Daisy is always excited to see them- much like her love of squirrels.

Last Tuesday morning, I let Daisy out in the backyard at 5am. We were getting ready to go out on the jogging trail. It was still dark. As soon as she walked out the back door, she turned suddenly and ran toward the fence. I swung the door open to see what was going on. There was a small hissing/cough noise and then the smell hit me like a bomb! Daisy had cornered a medium sized skunk against the side fence...about six feet from the back door. He sprayed her in the face/chest and then slipped out of the yard by scooting thru the garage. Daisy was now rubbing her face on the grass and bolted for the kitchen door.

I managed to stop her right inside the back door, but the damage was done. Unbelievable, burning rubber type horrible, horrible smell. We cleaned Daisy up as best we could. The house absolutely reeked. By 8am, we had all showered, opened all the windows, set up all our Japan fans, kenneled the dog and headed off to school.

Mike was working and I was subbing in 5th grade. Turns out, Mike and I had lost our sense of smell while we were cleaning up the dog. When I reported to the school office and Mike got to work, folks let both of us know that we smelled like skunk. It was on our clothes, in our hair, on our hands and clinging to our book bags and everything we carried. Horrid! I taught next to an open window and Mike came home to shower and wash his uniform. Lots of fun for all!

After school and football, we worked on Daisy and the house again. Lots of fans and open windows were slowly helping at the house.

We picked up some skunk smell rid stuff at Petsmart that evening. MSV had to take care of some work stuff, so the kids and I tried to douse Daisy with it at 8pm that evening in the front yard. FYI- Daisy hates water and did not enjoy the skunk rid bath. In the end, she got away from us and headed for the creek.

Long story short- by the time we caught her, she had been sprayed AGAIN down in the creek. So our Tuesday ended the same way it started- Mike and I wrestling a rancid dog, in the dark and trying to get rid of the skunk smell. We are lucky to still be married, continued dog owners and speaking to each other.....

I am happy to report that it only takes six full days of open windows and constant fans to get rid of most of the skunk smell in your house. Sadly, I am not able to report to you yet how long it takes to get rid of the skunk smell on a bluetick coonhound... Day seven and still workin on it.....

Much love,

Stinky 4Vs