How to Get Rid of the Skunk Smell on your Dog and in your House

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Last night my husband got up in the middle of the night to put a log on the woodstove and one of our dogs wanted to go out.  Our dogs are generally  great about going out, and coming right back in, so he thought nothing of it.  However, last night we had a nocturnal visitor in our yard, unbeknownst to my husband, and our pup, curious as to who this new black and white creature was, went to investigate.  Naturally he got sprayed in the face for his efforts!

Anyone who has dogs and lives in a rural (or even somewhat rural) setting has probably experienced having their dog “skunked.”  The smell is quite unpleasant and can linger for a while.   This was a first for Murphy (he’s only a year old), but I am sure he won’t learn his lesson.  I say that because we have two other dogs who have been “skunked” multiple times.  In one instance, our dog actually caught the skunk and then couldn’t get it out of her mouth fast enough.  Her fur around her face turned yellow.

Since this has happened so many times to us through the years, we’ve tried many “recipes” to neutralize the smell.  The Skunk Remedy Recipe, © 2002 by Paul Krebaum, seems to work the best for us and it involves ingredients you probably already have in your house…hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and liquid soap (we use Ivory).  Follow directions in the link for the best results.  It really does work well, although we have found we do have to bathe our dogs several times.

Now the other issue was the smell in the house.  Although in this case Murphy never came into the house and was bathed in the garage, our house still reeked.  Perhaps it was because it happened in the front yard and my husband did open the door to let the dog in before he knew what had happened. Past things we’ve tried, such as air freshener and candles, have taken a while to get the smell out.  In my online research last night, I noticed in this particular post on the best way to de-skunk a dog, that it was suggested heating apple cider vinegar on the stove might work.  Desperate to go back to sleep, I gave it a try.  And it works!!