Well, my worst nightmare has happened. I let Rico and Lucy out for a potty break and as soon as they got out the door, they started barking and running around frantically. I started walking to the edge of the deck and saw ripples in the pool. I immediately knew something must have fallen into the pool. It was a skunk that lost it's footing when Rico started charging it. He got out as quickly as he got in and by the time I reached Rico the skunk's tail was raised and he was spraying. Luckily Rico only got a small zap, but he definitely got sprayed and didn't like it one bit.

Lucy listened to me and stopped in her tracks, either that or she was frightened by the commotion over Rico.

I scooped them both up, yelled for DH to come and help. He took Lucy while I held Rico, did a quick Google on skunk odor and started to neutralize the smell. I first checked out his face to be sure he wasn't scratched or bit. His eyes looked OK but he was trying to sneeze something out of his nose and his beard was wet. I wiped his face down with distilled vinegar (smelled as bad as the skunk) then made a paste of baking soda, hydrogen peroxide and dish liquid. Let that sit on his nuzzle and beard for 15 minutes then shampooed the whole mess off. I think it smells better, but I have that smell stuck in my nose now!

Any other suggestions? I'll try anything again. Think I better go to Petco and get some skunk odor remover in the AM.

Tomato juice! My beautiful, thick coated Keeshond and Norwegian Elkhound both got sprayed by a skunk. Eyikes!! I poured as many cans of tomato paste and juice in the tub I could get my hands on and just kept pouring it over them. It didn't eliminate the smell, but sure helped a lot!

Good luck!

Sheri is right-tomato juice-might make you "kid" red for a while but seems to help. Glad to hear that at least Lucy did not get sprayed. And you are right the smell will stay in your nose for a while.

Good Luck with getting the odor off Rico.

Pat (humom to)
Miss Paige
Mr Roman
Ms Frannie

Okay, this sounds really weird, but a friend of mine's Hav got skunked & she called her brother who works at our local zoo & he recommended bathing her dog in Massingil douche. The funny part of the story was when she carried multiple packages of the product to the counter and the checker looked up she said,"Oh, it's for my dog!" I wonder what the checkout person was imagining!

Google for instructions.

I can send DH out for the douche The mix of baking soda, peroxide and shampoo worked great! I can't smell a thing this AM. I had used tomato juice on a dog of mine years ago and it worked, sort of, but took forever to get out of my white Samoyed.
My Google search said tomato masks but doesn't eliminate. It explained the molecular makeup of the spray and said the peroxide neutralized the odor. All good reading when you're holding a smelly dog.
I found the spot the skunk dug under the fence, so that's our job today. Get that fixed!

Oh, Rory, how awful! Glad to read your quick work w/the baking soda, peroxide and shampoo worked on the smell. Years ago our Sheltie was skunked. Before we found out it had happened, she'd rolled herself in the weeds (foxtails included) to try to get rid of the smell. Talk about a mess! I had to brush/comb out all the foxtails before I could even begin to work on getting rid of the smell. That had to be one of my worst "dog experiences" ever...

Oh my! We used to have a very lovable but DUMB yellow lab that would constantly stick his head in bushes and get sprayed in the face. It was awful. He would go after them every time! Finally I think it effected his eyes.
The tomato juice turned him a reddish color.
Carole

Don't want to alarm you, but watch your Havs carefully in case any of these symptoms develop. See article:

I was just reading about Hemolytic Anemia and came across the skunk information, it is on the second page near the bottom....let me see if I can copy and paste to here....

http://www.petplace.com/dogs/hemolyt...ogs/page1.aspx


"Certain toxins can also cause destruction of red cells. These include drugs (like Tylenol, especially in cats), foods (like onions), and metals (like zinc, which is found in a surprising number of common items, including pennies and diaper rash ointments). When a very young puppy develops hemolytic anemia, it is more likely to be due to the ingestion of a toxin than to an immune mediated cause. Recently, there have been reported cases of anemia caused by skunk spray. The alkyl mercaptans and disulfides in skunk spray can cause oxidative damage to the red cells causing heinz-body hemolytic anemia in some dogs."

Good reading in this article! I am glad your dogs are ok and you got a lot of the smell out, I will be remembering what you did to get rid of the odor and of course the tomato juice.

How are Lucy and Rico doing ?