STINKY SITUATION: Kamloops great Dane gets skunked

It isn’t uncommon for dogs in Kamloops and the Okanagan to get hit with the spray from a skunk, and it’s a challenge to get rid of the putrid odour.

Kamloops resident Kimberly Hickey had her hands full last week after her dog, Pippi, was sprayed by a skunk for the first time.

“It smells nothing like I always thought skunk spray smelled like, it smelled like burning tires,” she said. “It was very strange. It took us over an hour to figure out what it was her.”

The family lives on an acreage and the dog went outside for a few minutes and returned as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Once Hickey identified where the unpleasant odour was coming from, she put the dog on a stand used for washing sheep and tried several things to get rid of the stink.

“It was very hard and very gross,” she said. “Tomato juice doesn’t work, it didn’t do anything. We did mix of peroxide, baking soda and dish soap and it worked pretty good. Then I did a few more baths with dog shampoo.”

Skunks are active at dawn and dusk and human conflicts with them are rare, however they spray when they feel threatened and dogs are often the first to approach them, which can trigger a spraying incident, according to WildSafeBC.

Skunk spray is not a vector for transmittable diseases but it’s foul smelling and takes a considerable effort to get rid of.

Skunk spray contains smelly sulfurous chemicals, and oil in the spray gets into a dog’s coat with odours lingering until the dog is completely clean, according to American Kennel Club.

The most common household remedy to get rid of skunk odour is a tomato juice bath but it has limited success. There are skunk shampoos for dogs and other de-skunking products on the market.

A do-it-yourself recipe, like the one Hickey used, is made of one quart of a 3% hydrogen peroxide solution found at a pharmacy, one quarter cup of baking soda and one teaspoon of liquid dish soap. The process will need to be repeated a few times and while helpful, it’s not as effective as diluted white vinegar.  

The dog should then be shampooed with regular dog shampoo or skunk dog shampoo, rinsed and towel dried.

A week following the incident Pippi the Dane is smelling normal again.

“Every time we bathed it did get a little better but it took time and many baths. She has a yellow stain on her neck where she was hit the worst, but there is no more smell.”

Skunks can spray as far as 15 feet and it’s common for dogs to get a blast in the face, so it’s important to flush the dog’s eyes out with cool water following a spraying incident.  

Keeping your dog on a leash can minimize the risk of a skunk spray incident.