Ever hear of the old wives trick for de-skunking a dog? It’s one where you use tomato juice and give a good dunking/soaking with it; then rinse, soap, rinse, repeat and…voila! Odor’s gone!
Well, many, many dogs ago, my Great Dane “Tee Jay”, took a ‘direct hit’ from a skunk—to her face, her mouth, her chest and front legs. I barely saw what happened, but do remember a surprised look, frozen on Tee Jay’s face, as a skunk with its tail held high, bounced merrily away.
The STINK of course was AWFUL!
I quickly grabbed a hose and rinsed Tee Jay’s face and mouth, then briefly left her outside in the back yard and raced to the store to grab tomato juice—6 BIG cans of it—and dog shampoo. Driving back up the hill from the store, I could smell the skunk attack from over a block away. Yikes. This was NOT going to be fun—especially since the necessary warm water is in the house—not outside.
I led Tee Jay to the bathroom and to the tub. She never cared for bathing before and usually had to be BEGGED but this time she jumped in on her own.
Very carefully, I poured the six cans of tomato juice on her from head to tail, avoiding her eyes and ears. Okay. Now you’re supposed to let it soak for a minute or two, so I told her to “stay” in the tub while I went to the closet to get more towels.
BIG MISTAKE.
Just as I reached the closet, she jumped out of the bathtub and shook as hard as she could. A Great Dane shaking three full cans of tomato juice all over the bathroom. Add in the smell of skunk, and you have one of life’s more interesting moments. It was a red and gory mess, as if two dinosaurs had gone at it. GORY.
So, no. Sorry. Can’t recommend the tomato juice bath. There are good products at the pet store to remove skunk stink. May the “hoof” be with you!
Well, many, many dogs ago, my Great Dane “Tee Jay”, took a ‘direct hit’ from a skunk—to her face, her mouth, her chest and front legs. I barely saw what happened, but do remember a surprised look, frozen on Tee Jay’s face, as a skunk with its tail held high, bounced merrily away.
The STINK of course was AWFUL!
I quickly grabbed a hose and rinsed Tee Jay’s face and mouth, then briefly left her outside in the back yard and raced to the store to grab tomato juice—6 BIG cans of it—and dog shampoo. Driving back up the hill from the store, I could smell the skunk attack from over a block away. Yikes. This was NOT going to be fun—especially since the necessary warm water is in the house—not outside.
I led Tee Jay to the bathroom and to the tub. She never cared for bathing before and usually had to be BEGGED but this time she jumped in on her own.
Very carefully, I poured the six cans of tomato juice on her from head to tail, avoiding her eyes and ears. Okay. Now you’re supposed to let it soak for a minute or two, so I told her to “stay” in the tub while I went to the closet to get more towels.
BIG MISTAKE.
Just as I reached the closet, she jumped out of the bathtub and shook as hard as she could. A Great Dane shaking three full cans of tomato juice all over the bathroom. Add in the smell of skunk, and you have one of life’s more interesting moments. It was a red and gory mess, as if two dinosaurs had gone at it. GORY.
So, no. Sorry. Can’t recommend the tomato juice bath. There are good products at the pet store to remove skunk stink. May the “hoof” be with you!