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A skunked doodle's lingering scent...

3650 Views 19 Replies 11 Participants Last post by  tuckerdoodle
Hi all. This is my first posting after lurking for a while. I'm hoping that someone might have a creative suggestion to an unfortunate problem...

Tucker, our 18 month old doodle was sprayed by a skunk two weeks ago, directly on his right ear. I managed to get the worst of the smell off with a bunch of baths, but he still smells noticeably bad.

The first bath was the emergency one in tomato juice. Man, it looked like a homicide occurred in our tub. On the bright side, I always wanted a red doodle.

The second bath was with a mixture of liquid dish soap, baking soda and peroxide. It was very foamy and seemed to work pretty well.

The third and fourth were with various shampoos, conditioners, and something called "Skunks Etc." that is supposed to be an organic, odor removing solution. It only intensified the stink, not exactly what it was advertised to do.

Anyway, can anyone suggest anything else to do to get a fresh smelling doodle again? Am I doomed to renaming him Pepé Le Pew? :shock:
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G
Welcome Tuckerdoodle! Tucker is adorable!
OK, never had the sknk issue yet but here are some things I found on the internet:

1. Summer's Eve or Massengill douche work great :oops: (I have heard this from real people, too)

2. The peroxide has to be unstable and make the mixture foam up. It's very hard to find unstable peroxide any more and the mixture won't work without it.

3. Tomato juice does not work.

4. Oxyclean, then Febreze spray, then rinse and bathe with dog shampoo and conditioner. (Not sure if this is safe for dog?)

5. For a small area: Toothpaste worked into the area, don't rinse and just leave there to dry to a paste and eventually fade away on it's own.

Good Luck and let us know if anything works.
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This seems to be the consensus of the on'line google search.......
http://www.lowchensaustralia.com/grooming/skunk.htm

Good luck!! Oh, and welcome by the way,,,Tucker's a good looking boy. Good thing this isn't a scratch and sniff forum! :oops:
Welcome to the forum Tuckerdoodle!!! Here's something that might work.....my daughters golden retreiver was skunked one night, and she called me the next day in a tizzy! We drove to Petsmart, and inquired about 'de-skunking' products...the clerk pointed us in the right direction, but kinda whispered along the way to go to Wal-mart, and buy 4 or ..ahem.. :oops: feminine douches!!! (They were cheaper) My daughter decided to buy six, and when she put them on the conveyor, explained to the cashier that SHE didn't have a problem, but the dog id!!! :shock: :shock: Bwahahahaha...we had quite a few laughs over that one, but it worked!!! (I think vinegar would have worked too, except then he would have smelled like a salad!)...good luck!

_____________________________________
Kathie,Raleigh & Molly! :D :twisted: :?
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Hi and Welcome Tuckerdoodle to Doodleland!
The things you learn on this forum my oh my
I did not know this!!!!!!!!!! :oops: :oops:
OMG my friend's French MASTIFF got sprayed HEAD on by a skunk last Friday
they said this mixture cut the smell big time:but he does have a few spots on his coat that turned color but NO ODOR what-so-ever anymore

MIX BAKING SODA WITH HYROGEN PEROXIDE ALSO ADD DISH DETERGENT AND WATER

I just went back and reread your post ...guess that one didn't work on a doodle?
Hey Tucker, what a way to welcome yourself to the forums, you sure are a handsome guy

Hope your mom found something to get rid of that skunk smell, hard to make friends when you smell like pepe' le pew :shock:

our neighbors dog had been sprayed several times, you'd think he would have learned, anyhow tomato juice did Not work - they never tried much else, just kept bathing him - I had some dry shampoo powder I used on him once, poor thing smelled so bad, it helped to mask the smell for a bit - I have heard of the soap and peroxide thingy = thankfully I've never had to try it.

Good luck
Hi all, thanks for your replies about Tucker's skunk issue. I thought I'd post back the results for anyone else whose dog is unfortunate enough to meet up with a skunk.

Tomato juice did not really seem to do much. Granted it was the first thing we tried and at that instant you're not going to be so picky. Watch out because your dog might just turn red and you might develop a craving for a Bloody Mary.

Specific skunk odor removing products seemed to make things worse.

Repeated baths with scented shampoos or conditioners helped a bit later on, if only by masking the lingering scent with their own.

The hydrogen peroxide/dish soap/water/baking soda solution seemed to work the best. I think it seemed to neutralize the odor. I did this twice. (Please be cautious about getting this stuff in your pet's eyes though.) Here is a good site with some recipes: http://dogs.about.com/cs/generalcare/p/skunk.htm

Time seems to be the best solution. :shock:

We never did try vinegar or massengill products, so I can't comment on that creative solution.

Thanks for the ideas.

-Michael-
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Yikes!!!!!! Denver has been barking up a storm
at some critter in our yard for the last couple of
nights and we kept thinking it was a raccoon. We have lots of raccoons and coyotes around here.
Well hubby saw it in the garbage last night and yes it is
a skunk so I have printed out a copy of the deskunking
just in case. In the meantime Denver is not allowed out in
the yard unless one of us goes with him.
I could use some positve thinking vibes from all of you
to ward off a skunking. Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey Denver!!

Go for the skunk when nobody's looking, but stay upwind, buddy!!

Dakota
seazr said:
Hey Denver!!

Go for the skunk when nobody's looking, but stay upwind, buddy!!

Dakota
you've gotta admire such sweet sincere encouragement! hahahhaaa
I was kind of imagining everyone wishing the skunk away.
Bahahaahahhahaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now Sue ... you know a disappearing skunk would not make for entertaining forum reading :twisted:

However, for your sake I will hope the skunk goes away and Denver is then free to roam the 'great'? outdoors.

I have no experience on this situation and can offer no advice, but I do want to WELCOME :D Tuckerdoodle and thank you for the entertaining first post! Douches?!? :oops: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Good Luck with your fragrant furry friend!
Thanks for posting the recipe that worked for you..I too will keep it handy.


I have found that a large, natural, sea sponge works really well to rinse products through a doodles coat and to keep it away from their eyes. When Tanner gets wet and I put Best Shot Conditioner in the water and sponge it through his coat...works great!
In my experience the best and only thing that really works for removing skunk odour is - TIME
Our previous dog was sprayed by a skunk and we tried all of the above methods with varying success. I agree, that tomato juice is the least helpful, and found that "get the odour out" and similiar products worked the best.

But that smell will linger on and on - for weeks and weeks.

We found that it went away gradually, but did take time.
Welcome Tucker and Michael!

We used to have horses. An arab cross named Sunny was one we'd raised from a weaniling, and became almost dog-like in his behavior. He was bombproof in that he didn't get riled by anything and you could stick the most green of riders on him and he'd just walk along like he was on egg shells. Sunny also played well with our cats and dog. He'd let the cats sit on his back, and we often saw him bump them with his nose gently.

One morning we heard a horse scream and come crashing in the wooded part of the pasture. We ran out to see what was wrong, half expecting to find a coyote with a death grip on a leg... and saw Sunny come charging through the trees shaking his head and making sounds he'd never made before. As we got closer, we noticed the smell of skunk. Our best guess is that Sunny tried bumping a black/white "kitty" with his nose and got sprayed for his friendliness. His eyes and nose were running, his mouth was open with saliva dripping freely... He'd obviously been sprayed right in the face.

At the time we had 9 horses. Sunny was always happy to be part of the herd, so when the others banished him for his smell, he was heartbroken. He stood far from the others with his head hanging...he didn't get ridden or pet like normal, which just added to his sorrow. It was only with time that he became acceptable again.
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Awww . . . poor Sunny--it must have been like adding salt to the wound!! :cry:
that is such a heartwarming story and i feel so bad for Sunny in the past
I was just remembering this post the other day after coming inside from a cold, rainy winter afternoon walk. It has been what, six months since the originally posted skunk incident?? Today, after Tucker got a bit wet outside on the walk I got a whiff of skunk. Bleh.

This after about four or five groomings and haircuts, and countless baths.

So to the last poster, yep you're right. The only surefire fix to fully eliminating skunk scent is time... more than six months it would seem. Maybe a shavedown too.

-- Tucker's dad 8)
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