The Unmistakable Scent of a Skunk

We had dinner at our neighbor's house tonight, the kids played, and the grown-ups talked and drank wine.  It was a great time.  Our dog Lucy joined us for awhile, hanging around to clean up the floor once the kids had finished dinner.  After she had gotten every scrap of dropped food she leaned against my leg and gave me a "you really don't pet me nearly as much as you should" look.  I smiled, and obligingly scratched her in her favorite spots.  I couldn't help but notice that she was getting a little smelly, and made a mental note to give her a bath in the morning. 

When we reached the witching hour, and the kids started to fall apart, I gathered our things and the children, and we said goodnight.  We stepped outside into a heavy snowfall, and Tessie caught snowflakes on her tongue while we walked.  As soon as we stepped outside I got a whiff of the unmistakable scent of a skunk.  Keeping my eyes open for the stinky fellow, I hurried the kids up to the house.  As we approached the front door the smell grew stronger, and I whistled for Lucy, who came bounding around the side of the house.  We all hurried inside and I quickly shut the door against the awful smell.  It took a split second for me to realize the smell had followed us in, and the source was my happy, grinning, and covered in skunk-spray Golden Lab.

This, unfortunately, is not the first time I have had to deal with de-skunking my dog, and I hurried to take care of it as quickly as possible.  I sequestered the stinky girl in the kids' shower stall, made sure Tes and Christian were temporarily distracted, and grabbed my arsenal of cleaning supplies.  I covered Lucy, who was now looking quite miserable, in a heavy coat of baking soda.  Then I squirted her with a little hydrogen peroxide, a lot of vinegar, and a liberal dose of Dawn dish soap.  Then I donned rubber gloves, rubbed it all into her coat, closed the door to the shower stall, offering poor Lucy my apologies, and let the mixture sit.  During the waiting period I got the kids ready for bed and  gave them their antibiotics.  Aren't we just a ton of fun? 

Finally, I rinsed off my poor dog, and dried her as best I could.  I put all the wet towels and the bathmat outside, and then put the kids to bed.  I walked back into the living room to find Lucy laying on the rug, looking very dejected.  I sat down beside her and gave her a sniff test.  My nose told me I had done a good job on the dog.  The house, however, reeked.  I will have to wait until the morning to really air it out.  For tonight, I will just have to live with it.  Lucy, on the other hand, looks and smells just beautiful.