Skunked tracking puppy - Page 1

My 7 month old GSD pup, who was coming along nicely in tracking, got skunked the other night. He has more courage than sense at this point and kept chasing that skunk until he got it out of his yard, so he got sprayed multiple times. I've tried every de-skunking recipe around and also taken him to a professional groomer for de-skunking. He still smells and the smell seems to be affecting his tracking ability. I assume his tracking ability will return as the skunk smell goes away, but would appreciate hearing from anyone with experience in this.

The skunk apparently got in under the gate and yes, I've tried tomato juice, vinegar, rubbing alcohol, Dawn dishwashing soap, commercial deskunking products...it's almost, you name it, I've tried it. Time seems to be the last cure left. Any ideas?

I'm sorry that your puppy got skunked :(

I honestly can't help you about getting rid of the scent that the skunk left behind but what I can recommend you not do is to continue tracking him with the smell still attached to him. temporarily discontinue his tracking until the smell is totally gone.

My experience as a groomer taught me only time and the following recipe will help.  Bear in mind that when you wash the dog the smell will be much worse and stronger when the dog is wet.  Once he dries it's not as bad.  You need to also keep in mind these are pretty harsh chemicals so don't keep washing him over and over. 

http://petcaretips.net/dog-skunk-odor.html

The peroxide recipe is what I used about 7 years ago when one of my terriers got it point blank, right in the face.  It seemed to do the trick as nothing else worked.  The game commission is actually where I got the recipe.  Although, it took months to get the smell out of my concrete laundry tub!  Note to self:  Never let the husband deal with a skunk emergency!

http://home.earthlink.net/~skunkremedy/home/

The inventor of the peroxide skunk remedy was a research chemist named Paul Krebaum. It' s the ONLY thing I've ever found that really works. My late GSD Tasha, had a knack for getting skunked. The first time it happened the vet hospital washed her FOUR TIMES and she still stank so bad my room-mate had to keep the windows open all weekend.

Then I found Krebaum's receipie. When Tasha got it in the face at 2 am on a horrible stormy night in March, I shut her in the downstairs bathroom for the night, and tackled the problem the next day. ONE APPLICATION was all it took to make her fit for human company again. I did a second treatment on her face, which I hadn't done the first time around, and after that, you had to put your nose right up to within an inch or two of her fur to be able to smell anything at all! (And I have an extremely keen sense of smell. I often can smell cigarette smoke through two sets of closed windows, if the driver in the car next to me is smoking.)

tomato juce thats what i heard anyway

The tomato juice is good if you mix it with vodka and drink it while you are waiting for the deskunk recipe to work.

Sam,

The smell may be only the least of your problems now.    Some dogs once they have had contact with a skunk will repeat the behavior and you now may have to break the dog of chasing skunk.    You wont know until the next time your dog cross's track of another skunk.   You might talk to a coon hunter in your area.

I've had a similar problem with a dog before, he hated skunks after his first exposure to one and would go out of his way to kill one.   Then you have an odor problem...:)

Brent.

Tomato juice doesn't work, don't even bother.  I would imagine that way back when that's all they had, it probably helped the duration but it's no instant fix.  When it didn't work I calle the PA game commission and they gave me "the recipe".  I was thrilled with it!  Like Sunsilver said, if you put your nose right up to their coat you can still smell it, especially close to the face where you're more careful not to get peroxide and soap in ears and eyes.  Other than that there's no smell. 

I worked for a groomer for 4 years and this is the concoxtion we came up with and it worked every time.

Mix 4 c. hydrogen peroxide with 4 tbsp. baking soda and 1 tsp. dish-washing soap. 

If the smell is really bad you might have to do it twice!