by Crystal Elizabeth Webb

Created on: September 16, 2008   Last Updated: September 25, 2011

When Sam got hit, a few years ago, by a skunk, we knew it immediately. Sam is our beautiful Yellow Lab. At the time of the skunk incident, he was about three years old. His snout must have been very close to the skunk when it sprayed him, his entire head was completely soaked with stinky skunk juice. The stingy, garlic-like odor permeated our neighborhood very quickly. As Sam approached our house, you could see in his demeanor that he was terribly ashamed. He brought with him, the most hideous smell. For the first time in his life, that night, Sam slept outside.

The next morning, the smell seemed to actually intensify. Every room in our house was affected. At the suggestion of one of our friends, we rubbed Sam down with tomato juice. This method did not work. We called the Pet Supplies store. In addition to having a neutralizing shampoo in stock, they also had wash-tubs in the store, where, for $10.00, we could wash him.

When we took Sam to the Pet Store, we immediately offended everyone there. The skunk odor was so concentrated, it seemed like nothing could ever make it go away. We washed Sam in the store's tub with their shampoo. We washed him twice. The shampooing had very little impact on the skunk smell.

The manager of the store recommended a product which, he said, would neutralize the odor. We bought a bottle and applied it to Sam when we got home. Although, there was some improvement after using the product, (enough that we allowed him to sleep in the house), it was still at least a month before we bring ourselves to pet Sam's head.

Early this Summer, our Shepard puppy, Rex, learned his lesson about skunks. Rex is much more agile and runs much faster than Sam, he barely got sprayed. Still, we knew immediately, that he had been sprayed, and we knew it would be some time before the skunk's putrid odor would dissipate.

I went back to the Pet Store and picked up a bottle of the same neutralizer that we had used on Sam. Again, the product was effective in reducing the intensity of the smell, but it took a few weeks before the smell was completely gone.

Skunk odor is certainly unpleasant, not only for the dog-owner, but for the dog who endures it as well. When it comes to solving the skunk-odor problem, it really is just a matter of time. With no proven immediate method for removing skunk odor, patience, candles and a stock of air freshener may be necessary, at least for a few weeks.

As for me, I'm just hoping that Sam and Rex have learned their lessons about skunks. For these guys, this may be a difficult task, it could be almost impossible for them to distinguish between a skunk and our black-and-white cat, Spartan. They really love to chase that cat.

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