Skunked (SOL17 #8)

It was my birthday. A day that should have been full of joy, presents, and laughter. This year, unfortunately, was not like that. I woke up feeling sick. My sinuses were clogged, my throat hurt, and I was exhausted. Instead of all the fun plans we were going to do, my husband and I just stayed home and hung out around the house wallowing in my illness. Little did I know, being sick was going to be the best part of my day.

That night, before bed, my husband went downstairs to let the dog out. It is a nightly ritual that they have, and Maiden looks forward to getting some fresh air and relieving herself right before she goes to bed. I then heard a yell come from my husband that I had never quite heard before. "MAIDEN!!!!!"

Something was wrong. VERY wrong. 

I jumped out of bed and headed downstairs prepared to see him chasing her chasing another animal in the yard. Instead, he was dragging her from the patio into the house with a horrified look on his face. 

Then I smelled it. I had never smelled something so horrific in my entire life. Maiden stumbled in coughing, gagging, and foaming at the mouth. "She got sprayed in the face by a skunk!" Maiden paced around the basement, disoriented, coughing and spitting up. Her eyes were watering even though they were squeezed shut. 

What we didn't know then was that all the spitting and coughing up was spreading the smell into the areas that she visited. She coughed up on the hardwood floors, carpet, and our couch thus making everything we owned stink of skunk. 

Phil sprung into action taking her upstairs to the bathroom to get her right into the tub for a bath.  Meanwhile, the smell began to permeate the house. It seeped into all the rooms until the whole house had this noxious sulfur type smell that can ruin lives. 

Again, having never had experience with skunk spray before we didn't know this then, but we had made a crucial error... We should have left her outside and washed her in the yard. By bringing her into the house we inadvertently spread the stink into every room. 

He must have washed her three different times that night, each time thinking we got rid of most of the smell. Wrong. She still stunk. Our house still stunk. It was horrendous. 

Even worse than the new awful smell that seemed forever secured to our beautiful dog and our house was the fact that this event took place during the hottest and most humid days in September. We could not run the air conditioner for fear that it would stay in the ducts and would just recirculate around the house.  So we spent the rest of the week with the windows open, cleaning EVERY surface of our house. We bought every deodorizer imaginable, and had baking soda and vinegar stationed in each room to suck up the odor. We shampooed all the carpets and replaced the area rugs that were too soiled with the odor.

Just when it appeared thought we got the smell out and the end was in sight, we would open a closet door or a cabinet and a hint of the stench would reappear. This went on for about 2-3 weeks. 

I still have nightmares about that smell. 

3 Good Things Have Happened Since the Skunk Incident of 2016

1. Maiden has a great new nickname: Maiden McStink 

2. Our house has NEVER been cleaner. 

3. We learned what NOT to do when your dog is skunked.