Can't stay out of trouble!

[Allee]

This is Reedus. He's an English cream golden retriever, he's eight months old, almost eighty pounds. We started training him at nine weeks old when he came home. He had a traumatic stay at a boarding facility recently so we thought it would be a good idea to change things up a bit, besides it's his dad's turn for his share of puppy training. Reedus is spending his weekdays at my husband's apartment, he's doing great with training, he and my husband are taking up urban mushing, he has also made some new besties at the dog parks.

He came home for the weekend, he was delighted to be home in his own backyard but Saturday night he was investigating an intruder at the back fence and got sprayed in the face by a skunk. We let him roll in the dirt for a few minutes while I searched for something to neutralize the smell. We couldn't let him in the house with the parrots.

We bathed him in the back yard with a bottle of eucalyptus shampoo and gallons of water sprayed on with a sprinkler attachment that worked like a shower head, lots of scrubbing. Then we used Espree Deskunker Deodorizer, he smelled really good by then if you like eucalyptus but we moved his crate into our bedroom in case the shampoo and deskunker fumes might bother the birds.

We all survived but that was a learning curve. Not the first time we've had a curious dog have a close encounter with a skunk but the first time we've had a flock of parrots to worry about.

 

[Anansi]

Aw, man! Poor Reedus! Skunk spray is hard core! How long did that take to wash completely out? Poor guy must've lost his mind! Hope the lesson sticks for the next time he sees one of those weirdly striped critters and is tempted to investigate.

Have I mentioned lately how beautiful Reedus is? Wow!

 

[SailBoat]

Do they remember the visual or the smell of the Skunk? Or, is it both?

Maybe the lasting forever, all afternoon bath!


FYI: Hiding this Thread from Mrs. Boats! She sees that massive English cream golden retriever and we will be adding an additional Wing to the Boat's homestead!

 

[T00tsyd]

HaHa He won't relate the skunk with the bath! He is just as likely to go there again.

 

[Allee]

Thanks Doc! We think Reedus is a handsome fellow too, but still an awkward pup. He loves baths so being shampooed three times didn't bother him a bit. He has been trained to ignore cats and squirrels but for obvious reasons, skunks wasn't on the list of things to avoid. He did go a little nuts after being sprayed, I'm sure a face full of toxic juice provided by nature was quite a shock for a curious pup that just wanted to be friendly.

Thank you, Steven! I can't imagine life without a golden but those first two years are not for the for the faint of heart and they do need their own separate wing of a home until they become good citizens.

Experience tells me TOOtsyd is correct, if the opportunity presents itself, he will do it again.

 

[Aquila]

It sounds like he just wanted to make friends with the skunk!

After working in grooming for so long, skunk smell barely phases me anymore, but it's definitely potent and hard to get rid of. Hopefully you won't have any rain or get too damp, because that smell will definitely creep back up for a little while!

 

[chris-md]

Dang that poor baby! What type of boarding facility did you use?? you might consider rover to board him. Much more cozy experience for the lad!

 

[GaleriaGila]

Beautiful, beautiful doggie...

Gee, at least ONE THING our fids don't get into... skunks!

 

[Allee]

​

Thanks everyone, Reedus appreciates the sympathy and kind words. My kids are groomers so I have a wealth of grooming supplies, I had never used Espree's Deskunker before but I was amazed, it had no smell at all but it worked, he's gone swimming since and still smells like shampoo.

Dang that poor baby! What type of boarding facility did you use?? you might consider rover to board him. Much more cozy experience for the lad!

Chris, I took Reedus to a boarding facility at a local vet clinic. I read the glowing reviews, I don't know if they filter the reviews but there wasn't a single negative comment. I feel awful about leaving him there, he was so hungry and dehydrated but worse, he didn't recognize us at first. I can't prove it but I'm pretty sure he was sedated and the effects had not worn off when we picked him up. The other weird thing was we were there to pick him up when the clinic opened, they told us they like to bathe them first, I told the vet I just wanted my dog, we agreed to give them an hour, they didn't bathe him but they showered him with baby powder. Sorry, I didn't mean to rant, I was just really angry. I'm planning a trip in January and I will do a lot more research before I trust anyone with Reedus again. I will definitely look at Rover if there's one in the metroplex.

 

[chris-md]

Well crap allee. That’s just terrible I’d be lawyering up if that were me. A vets office no less!! >:-( please give them big hugs from us

Rover is like Uber for dog sitting. It’s a network of private contractors, if you will, who dog sit your dog at their home. We are sitters on there in the DC region, preferring to sit smallest dogs due to Parker. You just download the app and locate sitters based on your criteria - if your dog doesn’t get along with children or other dogs you can filter for sitters who don’t have small kids or don’t have other dogs. Assuming you’re reasonably close to a city You’d easily find dozens of potential dog sitters near you.

Because everyone is essentially a private contractor, they set their own rates. But as a rule of thumb you’ll find prices ranging $25-45 per night stay. We charge $30 ourselves.

We’ve also used it to board our dog. Used three different people and all were great experiences. The sitters always send several text and photo updates day so you can see how your dog is doing.

I Encourage you to do some research. Rover has become a significant presence in the US, even see tv advertisements here in the DC market. Most people are sitters because they want to be . For us, we do it as a way to have a second dog without having 24/7/365 responsibilities to a whole third animal. It’s like having grandkids; you get to thoroughly enjoy them for a couple days or so, and then send them home afterwards. It’s a happy medium to having a multi dog house for us. Plus the income is actually pretty good supplemental. This house we bought is a couple thousand dollars a year in maintenance more than we can afford so Rover helps cover a lot of that.

Disclaimer: To be clear, while we are rover sitters I would most assuredly not benefit from you using the company since I live nowhere near you. I just happen to think that rover is a fantastic service. It’s just easing on your nerves knowing your dog is comfortable on someone’s couch being loved on while you are off relaxing on the beach for a week. This is identical to me saying “I am in Uber driver, use Uber in your city where you are located “. Not intentionally trying to trying to violate or circumventany advertising rules on the forum.

 

[Scott]

Aw Allee, with a face like that, Reedus is immune to the awkwardness and alienation of skunkiness!