OTTUMWA — For some reason, I have recently been inundated with requests for the formula to remove skunk smell from dogs. Skunks must be moving their young and running into dogs in their territories. A person can not blame the skunk for defending itself and a dog is just protecting what instinct tells him is his. The situation never works out well. The dog always ends up smelling awful and sometimes the skunk does not have a chance to finish its journey.

I did not think much about the first call I received last week from a reader wanting the recipe. Dogs will be dogs and they can get themselves into trouble at any time of the year. I called my wife who remembers where she put things and got the recipe. I called back the grateful reader. The next day, I got another call from a distraught reader with the same problem. I referred them to my wife because I knew she would remember without even looking it up again. When the third call came in, I decided I might as well write it down and carry the recipe in my front pocket. For some reason, my wife does not consider my being the expert on all things wildlife should include her. The formula for skunk odor on dogs (it also works on radio DJ’s) is as follows:

Mix one pint of hydrogen peroxide, one box of baking soda, one pint of water, and two tablespoons of dish washing detergent together. Rub well into the offensive animal (or person) and rinse thoroughly. Repeat as many times as necessary to make the stench tolerable. One batch will generally be adequate for a small dog. A large dog or DJ may take three or four recipes.

We discovered this recipe when the need arose with Dulce, our standard poodle. She can be such a good dog, looking pretty and being all so proper. She can only tolerate being proper for so long and she has to go hunting. She usually comes back with nothing more than mud and stick-tights. She may also bring back half of a squirrel or rabbit, eaten in haste, knowing someone would more than likely take it away from her. One day she returned stinking to high heaven. She at least was polite enough to not bring the skunk to the house. To be a house dog, she needed the treatment badly. We discovered this worked much better than $50 worth of tomato juice or any other old remedies we had tried in the past.

If you do not keep your dog (or DJ) in the house, I know time will eventually take care of the problem. One day, Hooch and I were checking fence. Hooch was half Mastiff and half Rottweiler. He liked to help by bringing me interesting things he found while I was working. When I looked up from fixing fence or whatever, I never knew if Hooch was bounding through the woods with a stick, a rope, or a snake. It was always something, and he was proud to show me his treasure. This particular day, I noticed him running down the hill toward me with something flopping from his massive jaws. At first, I could not quite make it out. It was limp and looked black. When he got closer, I could tell Hooch had a nice fresh skunk. I yelled “NO” which caused him to slow a bit, but he was sure I wanted to admire his skunk. I ran in the opposite direction. It took only a few strides for him to catch me. He ran along side me, trying to figure out what we were chasing, holding the skunk firmly as he ran. It did not take long to determine I was not going to outrun a really happy dog. I stopped, praised him properly for a job well done, and admired his skunk. I did not stink too badly from the experience, but Hooch lived in the barn for a couple of weeks after being thoroughly sprayed. He seemed to enjoy the aroma but did not make any friends when he tried to share the smell.