Skunked

 Kersey is a very sweet, affectionate and obedient lab.  But she isn’t very smart and she isn’t very fast.  She’s getting up there in age and arthritis has really slowed her down,,, but she was never fast.  Most often, I use two nicknames with her: Old Lady and Dumb Dumb.  Affectionately, of course, because she is looking at me with her big wet brown eyes and slowly wagging her tail from side to side. 

Before we go to bed at night, we take the dogs out to pee.  They normally do their business and then come right back in, ready for bed.  Sometimes, Sage will take off barking at something but she’s never gone long.  Kersey just sniffs the grass, does her thing, and comes back up onto the porch.  A couple nights ago, Sage took off barking in the direction of the compost piles — and Kersey followed.  Sage usually runs off towards the front gate or barn which means she is probably chasing deer.  The compost piles are not a good place — skunks love the compost piles. 

Sage came back pretty quickly and headed for bed.  Kersey did not come back, despite me calling and calling and calling.  Brett came outside and took a turn at calling.  Then he got a flashlight, put on his boots, and headed off in the darkness to find her.  Which he did...by the compost piles.  He brought her into the house and called me over, “take a look and see if you think she got skunked.”  Um, yes.  She had rolled in the compost after getting hit with the oily spray so she was a lovely shade of black where the compost had stuck to the oil.  

We took her to the barn and gave her a bath.  This is the third time that she has been skunked.  She was very pleased with herself.  Thankfully, a mix of baking soda, hydrogen peroxide and dish soap works really well to remove the oil and odor.  I rubbed it onto the top of her head, around her eyes and muzzle, down her back and her left side — she was very thoroughly skunked.  Luckily, we have warm water in the horse wash stall in the barn.  And, I have all ingredients for skunk wash on the shelf because, like I said, she isn’t very smart and this isn’t the first time she’s been skunked.  It didn’t take too long to bathe her, but was not my preferred thing to be doing at 11pm on a cold night. 

And, yes, the house reeked from the brief time Kersey was inside before her bath.  We kept a window open all night and it was cold in the house in the morning.  

Skunked.... Again

Last summer, Sedona and Kersey got nailed by a skunk. The smell permeated the house, coming in the windows, swirling around the downstairs and settling on our bed. We woke to the acrid smell of skunk and found the dogs desperately rolling in the dirt in an effort to get the oil off. We didn't do the tomato juice thing -- they were outside dogs -- just waited for the smell to dissipate. My car, despite being in the closed garage, smelled like skunk all the way into the office and back, for weeks. Skunk spray up close and personal is nothing like the odor you get driving past a road kill specimen. It burns your eyes and your throat and it is inescapable.  You'd think Kersey would have learned.

This evening, Kersey and I went for our usual three mile walk. Our neighbor walked with us and we chatted about skunks, of all things. As Kersey and I approached our driveway, she suddenly started lunging forward, pulling on the leash. I saw something black, the size of a cat, move off the dirt road into the blackberry bushes. I thought "maybe cat; maybe skunk" and told Kersey to get a grip.

I left Kersey outside, on the front porch, while I made dinner. I knew she'd want a good long drink of water and to stretch out where the cool evening breeze could reach her. The water to cook our ravioli hadn't reached a boil yet when the smell of skunk came in the front windows. I stepped outside and saw Kersey down past the oak trees, in the stream bed, chasing something. She came to me, reluctantly, and I gave her fur a good sniff. She didn't smell any stronger than the surrounding air -- which smelled very strong. She had a hard time settling down in her crate and was clearly experiencing some discomfort in her mouth.

I washed her face with clear water and she stopped gagging; poor thing.   I took her out to the barn and washed her with a mixture of dish soap, baking soda and hydrogen peroxide.  It worked pretty well; the smell is greatly reduced.  She's sacked out now in her bed.

Country living at its best.