One does hate to give a false impression; I’ve always heard tomato juice, and I saw that episode of Mythbusters, but in real life I’ve only ever seen one skunk ever, and it was dead by the side of the road.
Thank you to everyone who gave suggestions. I did the baking soda & hydrogen peroxide. It took enough of the stench out of the dog that I could mask it with Canoe, an old man -smelling cologne.
So for a recap, first the dog wallowed in marsh water and mud and dried himself with dead weeds. No effect. A couple hours later I gave him a vinegar rinse before washing him with ex-girlfriend shampoo, then rinsing with warm water. Repeat all 3 steps twice. Neglible effect. 2 more hours, I wiped his face down with tomato paste. Let dry, repeat. Slightly better effect, although the tomato paste was gone by morning. 16 hours after the tomato paste I used the soda bicarbonate and H2O2 with dish detergent followed by a warm water rinse. Noticable effect, smells like a stretch of rural highway and can be masked with cologne that reminds me of my grandfather in the 70s. He hates the cologne but now he can sleep in the house.
Mixture suggestion:
1 quart hydrogen peroxide
1 cup baking soda
1 teaspoon liquid dishsoap
Use a sponge or cloth to wipe the animal, can do the inside of the mouth but KEEP OUT OF THE EYES! Mix as needed, doesn’t store well after mixing.
You can use a 1 gallon pump sprayer too.
I’m surprised the vinegar didn’t work. When my old dog got skunked, I didn’t have any tomato juice on hand, but I did have a gallon of vinegar that I’d planned to use for pickling. I dumped it on him thinking “acid is acid” and it worked just fine.
Although I didn’t dilute it and he was an outside dog, so my level of “worked” may be drastically different than yours.
Any acid will reduce the smell, but the reaction that occurs is brought about by the pH shift, and once you wash the tomato juice (or vinegar or ketchup) back off, you’ve restored them to their regular stinky form, though there’s a chance you’ve washed a little more off and the dog may actually smell slightly better from that.
A stronger acid could neutralize the smell, but it would probably neutralize your dog, too.
3% H2O2, baking soda, and soap. It works.
“Skunk Off”!!! I wish I was American.
Douse dog with white vinegar (avoid getting it in eyes)
-let sit for 30 minutes
-wash dog with water (warm) and lots of mild shampoo(baby shampoo is best)
-dry dog
Repeat as necessary!
If it’s the acidity that neutralizes, how would lemon juice make him smell worse?
Our dogs have been serial skunk annoyers over the years, so we’ve tried quite a few things. They’ve both been long-haired dogs, which makes it even more challenging.
We gave up on tomato juice early on. Turns the dog orange, and makes them smell like skunky tomato juice. Vinegar was a no-go also. It did reduce the smell acutely, but when it dried, the odor was back as strong as ever. Even with repeated applications and washings. Smoking the dog with creosote was quite helpful, but difficult to get the dog to sit still for.
Finally, we tried skunk-off. Works pretty good. We always keep some in stock now, even though the years have made the current Mercopet a homebody.