Friday, March 2, 2012

Stink, Stunk, Stank. Damn Skunk!

Yup!  You guessed it.

Gus, the wonder farm dog got skunked tonight.

That is a stench that just doesn’t “wash” off.  <insert gag reflex here>

Now, as much as I hate to admit it, with life here on the farm, this is not the first time.  Ok, first time THIS year.  But definitely not the first time in the story of Gus, the wonder farm dog, to do the stink-tango with a skunk.  Last year, I think Hubs and I quit counting the number of “skunking’s” the big dope got.  <insert gag>  Or the number of bottles of dog shampoo we purchased.

Usually, I’m pretty lucky in the fact that Hubs does most of the “de-skunking” around this joint.  I just don’t have the nostrils for it.  BUT, he is out of town for work this week, so I am stuck to “de-skunk.”  <again, insert gag here>  So I “cowboy’ed up” and did the washin’ of the stinkin’ stankin’ stunkin’ skunked dog.

And, yes, I did put a clothes pin on my nose!

I will even share my secret, but it’s just between us.  I turned to my faithful, has never let me down, farm resources.  And no it wasn’t the internet.  My Storey’s Basic Country Skills: A Practical Guide to Self-Reliance and County Wisdom & Know-How: Everything You Need to Know to Live Off the Land books.  I knew one of them would have a “de-skunking” recipe that would ACTUALLY work.  (I wasn’t about to waste a couple quarts of prime, out of my garden, canned myself, tomato juice, on that oldie-but-goody de-skunking theory)

Here’s what I found:

BCS gave this recipe: 1 quart hydrogen peroxide, 1/4 cup baking soda, 1 teaspoon liquid dish soap.  Mix together, spread on pet, rub into fur deeply, rinse, repeat if necessary.

CW&K was a very similar recipe.  Slightly more diluted.  (I figured full strength was probably a better option at this particular point in the stink-party)

I used the peroxide, soda, soap concoction.  (I used Lemon dish soap for extra freshness.  LOL  So he will not only smell lemony-fresh, but be anti-bacterial as well.  AND have soft smooth hands and nails.)  And it actually worked pretty well.  He smells significantly better, except for one spot I can’t quite locate, that obviously I missed in the scrubbin’.  :) I think its on his muzzle. 

Dumb dog!

Oh and to put a cherry on the top of my wonderful stunk-cake, the stink is lingering outside.  It’s wafting from every direction.  So not only does Gus the wonder farm dog, idiot, smell B-A-D, but so does my HOUSE!  The candles are burning.  The Febreze is being sprayed.  Windows cracked in the hopes of some small breeze of fresh clean air.

Dumb dog….

Love from Stink-ville Farm