Oh What A Night
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Two Friday’s ago, I was starting to fall asleep in front of the television around 11:30pm when I was stirred by the whining sound of Bear our 11 year old boxer. I knew what it was right away since animals train us to react to their needs better than humans do. He’s starting to get on in years and needs to go out a few more times to do his business that he used to do. So I pulled myself up and yawned since I was really tired too. I too am getting on in years (surprising how we never seem to go backward and get younger) and stretched before I opened the door and turned on the light for him.
We live in a rural neighborhood with all the things that come with it. The nights get cool even in a really hot summer. The air is fresh and the next doors neighbors are just close enough for an emergency, but far enough to not be a bother to us or them. Bear doesn’t run much any more and just kinda takes his time and walks down the steps of our deck. He has a spot near the fence in the back where he usually does his stuff.
Now with the ambience of living in a rural wooded area you also get an occasional visitor or two that use our back yard as a walk-thru or feeding area and yes sometimes even to leave a present. We have had deer, wild turkeys, geese, opossum, raccoons, and other various critters that can make an appearance. Of course there’s on that I left off and it seems like Bear thought he must have found a kitty to play with at half past eleven. You know a cute little bushy tailed black one with a stripe right down its back on to its tail. Or as most of us would refer to it as SKUNK!
I didn’t see the animal at first, but when I opened the patio doors to let Bear back in the smell that hit me in the face made my eyes water immediately. He immediately ran past me and headed for the carpet in the hall way and started to roll on his back and sneeze. I went out on the deck and saw the little sprayer. He was back at the fence with his tail still in the air moving around and emptying everything he had. Our dog is not a vicious one at all and reacts very playful. He’s a lover, not a fighter.
My wife went to bed a few hours earlier and the smell woke my wife from a dead sleep. She came out to the kitchen/dining room area and asked what was burning. You know the smell is not what you get when one of those striped stinkers gets hit by a car and you just happen to pass by it a few hours later. No, this smells like burning rubber or burning plastic that is so pungent that you have a hard time breathing. This can be on the scale of one of the worse smells that anyone would ever want to experience in their life. I know it’s on mine now.
Well, where do you start? I remember somewhere I eight read or remember hearing about using tomato juice to kill the odor. So we start looking and all we can find is V8 juice instead. Now it’s not the tomato type, but one of those new fruit blends. I don’t think this is going to do it. I pull out the laptop and my wife start screaming at me that I spend too much time on that machine and now we need to do something to kill this smell. I calmly tell her that I need to do some quick research and see what we need to do to help our dog and our house. Oh did I say that the smell was bad? It now is clinging to everything that it can touch where it permeates the carpet, curtains, floor, etc. I finally find a website that explains what to do http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/skunk.htm and here I find that I need some hydrogen peroxide and baking soda in order to get the oil off the dog. The skunk spray is an oil that sticks to the hair of the dog and reeks and the only way to stop the smell is to get the oil off. I think it’s the same principle as a jalapeño pepper that leaves and oil on your tongue and you have to eat bread to extract the oil.
So now we start searching for hydrogen peroxide and find that of course we don’t have any. It’s now about 12:15am and I tell my wife that I’ll go get some. I grab my wallet and keys and head out the door. I’m relieved almost at once since I can smell the inside of my car and it’s pleasant compared with what I just left. I also let myself have a small smile since my wife is with the dong and the stink and she shouldn’t have yelled when I got the laptop out.
OK, so it’s around 12:30am and I need a quart of peroxide and the first thing I come to is a convenience store attached to a gas station. I go inside and find rows of snack food, but only Band-Aids, toilet paper and feminine products in the “drug store area” of an aisle. I ask the kid at the counter and he’s waiting on some other kids listening to a CD. He says “no man, we aint go stuff like that here”. I understand his career choice and bolt for the door. I now head to a supermarket that is one of those 24/7 places, but about 10 miles away. I get there quickly and I’m amazed with all sorts of weird people buying stuff at a quarter to one in the morning. I go from aisle to aisle looking for the peroxide and finally find it after about a ten minute search. I also get a box of baking soda and go to the pet aisle to see if there’s a shampoo since I don’t want to get home and have to go back again. All the time I’m thinking that my wife must be pissed since she’s there not knowing how much longer this is going to be.
Well as soon as I pull into the driveway I see the light in the back is on again and the dog is on the deck. It’s a warm night and she couldn’t take that stench any longer. I got a bucket out and make this mixture and start washing my poor dog. He didn’t want any part of it, but we hosed him down and then I put the doggie shampoo on and he started to smell a lot better. We reentered the house and the smell was still in there so I started to wash the floors and get rid of any towels that we used.
It’s been 2 weeks now and the smell has finally dissipated. The dog is back to his old self and he definitely smells a lot better. This goes down as one of those nights that you’ll never forget. I don’t think I got to bed before 3:00am. If any of you live in a rural area and have a pet, get yourself a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and a box of baking soda and keep it handy since you never can tell what may happen when you get a little sleepy.
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