what can wash away my skunk?

so, my brilliant dogs (at least two of them - the german shepherd & the golden retriever) had the brilliant idea last week to chase a skunk out of our yard - after all, it was an intruder. good news: they succeeded! the bad news is so obvious that it hardly needs mentioning: but yes, they got a face-full of skunkage nastiness!


since this happened at o'dark thirty, i simply quarantined them to our outside kennel to be dealt with by my lovely wife amie the next day. after all it was mother's day & no mother's day would be complete without removing skunk odor from a couple of large dogs? no way was i going to rob her of that blessing!

i then promptly went to google to search for skunk odor removal options. here's what i found: the standard tomato juice approach is largely a myth - it only masks the smell, and only for a short time; it can't actually remove the stench. so, you end up with a dog that smells like skunk & tomato juice. bonus!

the problem is that the skunk oil is not water soluble. it requires a chemical agent that can metabolize the oil & then carry it away. tomato juice simply doesn't have what it takes - no offense to any and all tomato juices out there reading this.

here's what does work (and it actually did work on our dogs, btw): baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, and dawn dish soap.

you can read about the recipe here:
http://www.aaanimalcontrol.com/skunksmellremovalrid.htm

and here:
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/gaston/Pests/skunks.html

apparently (i'm no chief scientist like my friend chris wagner), the combination of the hydrogen peroxide and the baking soda oxygenates the oils & then the soap carries (washes) it away. tho' i can't fully explain the science of it i can attest to the effectiveness of it. it just plain worked! happy dogs - happy humans living with the dogs! (and no, i didn't have my wife do this on mother's day - i had my kids do it!)




i couldn't help but make the connection between the stench and stain of a skunk and the stench and stain of sin. people have been trying for millenia to deal with the ever-lingering effects of sin. all attempts to do so in essence amount to the tomato juice approach: masking it, hiding it, making up for it. cultures have looked to animal sacrifice, human sacrifice, even self-flagellation to attempt to remove the lingering effects of sin.

the question is obvious: what can wash away the stench of sin? well, as the old hymn says, "nothing but the blood of Jesus." our attempts to remove sin are impotent because we simply do not have what it takes to neutralize it! only the blood of Jesus can do so.

to drive this point home, God instructed the israelites to day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, decade after decade, century after century to bring the blood of a sacrifice to "cover" sin - knowing that those sacrifices couldn't actually remove sin. the writer of Hebrews puts it this way in chapter 10:

For the law [all those animal sacrifices], having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. ^2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. ^3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. ^4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins...

...And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ^12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, ^13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. ^14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

only the blood of Jesus can neutralize the potency of sin! i am so thankful for a God so gracious that He has provided the antidote for the stench and stain of sin. He knew we could never muster the power needed to effectively deal with sin. so, He took upon Himself to provide the recipe: once and for all time! it's His blood and His blood alone that can remove the stench of sin.

so, rejoice and be glad this day - for the stench is gone! it's the essence of happiness! tho' i can't explain the intricate technicalities of how it works - i am just so glad it works!!!

blessings!