Yes, you're reading that right. In general, I believe our bloodhound is a pretty darn smart pup. Whatever she lacks in brains, she makes up for in beauty.
But when your neighbors have a (probably rabid) skunk living under their side porch, eventually things are bound to go wrong. Last night, things went wrong. Mitch's sister and her family left for Florida yesterday, and we hadn't been dog-sitting her two beagles for more than 3 hours before all this went down. I had just finished putting Rafe to bed when the girls came down the hall saying something smelled bad. As soon as I stepped out of my room, I was hit with the strong smell of skunk. It permeated the house. I remembered hearing Barkley whining at the door while I was putting Rafe down and--knowing my neighbors are harboring a filthy skunk--correctly assumed she had been sprayed. Mitch was going to be back from kickboxing soon, so I just waited for him to get home.
Mitch let Barkley in, and as soon as she turned around in her kennel once we had all the confirmation we needed. Poor thing smelt horrible--of course, the day after we spent $43 getting her groomed. Luckily, Chiquita and Ginger have a very strict schedule and at that time were inside the house in their kennel. I have no idea what I would have done with three skunk-dunked dogs. So Mitch put Barkley back outside and took the kennel into the kitchen to clean it. He opened it up to find blood! Barkley was still standing by the back door, and sure enough her nose had either been clawed or bitten.
We couldn't really do much else at that point besides move Barkley's kennel to the garage and let her sleep out there. This morning, Mitch called Animal Control. Her last rabies vaccine was in November, so she was good there, but they told us she needed a booster. The College Hill vet closed at 12pm today, so Mitch had to take off work at 9:30am to take Barkley in. In addition, she has to be kept away from other dogs for 45 days--how convenient when we've got two extra dogs at the house! Mitch was too busy to take the rest of the day off and went back before 11:30am. Tonight he's going to wash her with a baking soda, vinegar, and Dawn soap mix. Hopefully it helps. We wanted to send her back to the groomers, but they don't do it!
Have I mentioned Ginger has already bit Rafe's fingers twice? The kids are used to sticking their fingers in Barkley's kennel and getting their fingers licked. I guess my little boy is going to have to learn quickly that these are nervous little pups that miss their home!
So, my house now smells of baby chickens, mixed with angry skunk, mixed with vicious beagles, mixed with bloodhound. I'm feeling fairly overwhelmed. Only 13 days until Mitch's sister gets home...... :-/
*I think I can; I think I can; I think I can*
My dogs got sprayed this summer a few friends' dogs of been sprayed since. Skunks are terrible lately for some reason. Anyways...we used hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and Dawn. Vinegar may work too though. Skunk is the WORST thing to try and get rid of and it will take a lot of baths and a long time for your house to quit stinking. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteYou're right about the peroxide. Mitch asked the vet and groomer and one said peroxide and one said vinegar. I buy vinegar by the 5 gallon at Sams, so that's what we were going to use. Mitch ended up buying some dog skunk smell cleaner from Gupton's. She did really good in the tub and definitely smells better, but who knows when the house and especially garage will smell better!
ReplyDeleteAwww poor pup! And you! I was just thinking about her because I saw a bloodhound at the dog park. Hopefully you can get rid of the smell soon!
ReplyDeleteI know I feel bad for her. Don't feel bad for me though, Mitch claims I've spent more time writing about the ordeal than helping clean it up--I disagree!! :)
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