Skunked For The Weekend

Earlier this week my parents and I decided to take my dogs for a walk at the farm. What was supposed to be a leisurely evening stroll quickly turned sour when my dog Piper managed to corner a skunk under one of the sheds.

As a retired sled dog, this was the first time she had ever encountered such a creature, and with her newly earned off-leash privileges, she was surely not about to let it get away. She zoomed around the shed and then shimmied underneath to get even closer. The skunk was quick to call her on her mistake, spraying her right in her face. As if she had just been pepper sprayed, she came out of the shed with her eyes squeezed shut in discomfort, confused about what had just happened.

My dad quickly hustled my other dog, June, in to the vehicle before she could get involved while my mom and I ran Piper over to the well to rinse out her eyes. As we were flushing them out we both looked up to see the fat skunk waddling smugly away from his hiding spot. Eventually the pain subsided and we were left with a very smelly dog. Her direct hit and my close proximity to the smell won us both a ride home in the box of the truck together.

I had passed plenty of dead skunks on the road before, but never been in such close proximity. The concentrated skunk smell is entirely different than what I expected. It was like we had both been doused in some sort of chemical, and at first I even worried that she had gotten in to something else, until of course we saw the culprit.

A quick google search says that you should cover your pet in baking soda, and then scrub them with a mixture of baking soda, dish soap, and hydrogen peroxide. After giving it a try it became apparent that we would need a lot more baths before we were skunk-free.

June is a good sport and happily spent the night in the garage with Piper, who was sad that she was missing out on the bed that she has become quite accustomed to. The next morning I drove to the vets office as soon as it opened and bought the biggest bottle of Skunk Off that they had.

I carefully massaged the mixture all over her face and her front paws and then rinsed her off and repeated the process. When I drove back to my house with the dogs that evening it was apparent that many more baths would be necessary. In order to save the seats of my car I purchased two inexpensive shower curtains and tucked them in around the fabric.

After another night in the garage, and plenty more baths, the weekend finally arrived. Usually I would wake up early to take the dogs for a run by the lake, but I figured the lake water smell wouldn’t be a great mix with the skunk, so instead we piled in to the vehicle to go for a walk in the provincial park.

The Blackstrap Provincial Park is one of my favorite spots to check out in the winter, but I have been keeping a distance for the busy summer season. I lucked out to find an empty parking lot and the dogs and I had the trail to ourselves.

Last week was my boyfriend and I’s second anniversary and to celebrate we bought each other Fitbit Versa 3 smart watches. I’ll probably write up a better review later, but so far I can let you all know that the watch bands will retain skunk smell. This is likely not something that the manufacturers anticipated, but the problem can be remedied by soaking the band in Skunk Off for a day or so.

After our trail adventure, the dogs had the rest of the morning to relax while I set out on my kayak to do a little fishing. The perch were so feisty that I was catching one on nearly every cast, but they were so voracious that they were swallowing the hooks in ways that took some extra time and care to get them off of. I decided try for bigger fish instead.

I have found a perfect spot on the lake where the wind usually isn’t too bad and the fish are often biting. Sometimes I get to watch the deer make their way down to the lake side for a drink. It is paradise, especially when the sun is warm. I was hoping to match my luck from a few days ago and catch another good sized jack fish, but it wasn’t in the cards for me that day so I packed up my rod and paddled home.

I arrived back just in time for my cousin to stop by for a visit. We ordered a pizza for supper and then set out once again on the lake, this time my cousin took the kayak and I grabbed the paddleboard. Piper, who is not a huge fan of paddling, enjoyed some snoozing time at home while June was eager to join us.

The water had calmed down even more than when I was out by myself earlier and we had a relaxing paddle.

We returned home as the sun was setting and Piper was glad to see us. The day before I had purchased a few plastic shower curtains to act as a skunk barrier and hopefully save the fabric seats of my car. It worked out well and I then transferred them to her favorite spots in the house with and old sheet over top as a cover. It worked like a charm.

The rest of our weekend was filled with baths, and more baths, and even more baths.

Happy adventuring!