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My Dogs vs. the Skunk
by: Danielle, Ohio
I was none-too-pleased when one of my dogs woke me up from a good dream at 4:30 in the morning on a fall day because he had to go outside. Groggy, I got out of bed and let both dogs out. After a few minutes when they didn’t come to the door, I peeked outside. It was too dark to see anything. I called for them. Nothing. I called again, and heard a collar rattle, but nothing else. This couldn’t be good. I grabbed my glasses and flashlight and looked again. Starring back at me were three sets of eyes. My dog, Cassie, on the left, my other dog, Felix, on the right, and a third set, much closer to the ground, in the middle. I was right; this wasn’t good. In the sternest voice I could muster, I called them again. This time, they obliged.
Still sleepy, I began to smell an incredibly powerful odor. “It couldn’t be skunk,” I thought to myself, as it seemed too industrial, more pungent. Before I could coral the dogs, they ran all over the room, through the kitchen, through the family room, bouncing on the couches, went into the bedroom, jumped on the bed and returned through the kitchen again and back to me. I bent down for a closer sniff, and realized a concentrated odor was coming from behind of one of the dog’s ear. The odor was starting to dissipate slightly, and began to smell exactly like skunk! Well, I was awake then!
I threw both dogs in their crates and grabbed the air freshener, going from room to room, spraying down the house, the curtains, the furniture, my bed. That did absolutely nothing! I threw some clothes and a hat on, brushed my teeth and headed out to the open-24-hours supermarket. Returning home 45 minutes later, I almost passed out from the stench. I sprayed everything again, including the dogs and now the dog beds with some skunk-be-gone spray and took a shower.
Out of the shower, there seemed to be no difference in the reek, except for the addition of a soft scent of lemon. That helped, NOT! I looked at the clock 6:45 am. I was late for work! I got ready, opened the windows, turned on the fan, moved the couches outside, removed the bedspread, fed the dogs and headed off to work. Luckily, my perfume masked any remnant skunk odor I had, or, more than likely, everyone at the office took pity on me and decided not to ask. At lunch, I searched the net for home remedies to remove skunk and found compelling claims about tomato juice. I left early, stopped again at the supermarket and returned home.
That afternoon, all three of us bathed in tomato juice, twice. To my utter surprise, the net was right. Tomato juice did the trick. We no longer smelled like skunk, however we did smell like the Italian restaurant down the street. The aired-out house and couches, along with a clean bedspread helped to eliminated most of the skunk odor, and we all survived our ordeal. For months after, however, I fondly referred to Felix and Cassie as Fettuccini and Cacciatore.
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