Sophie's Sorrow

Our dog, Sophie, usually sleeps inside the house at night, but recently has been waking my dad up early in the morning. On Thursday evening, my dad decided to make Sophie stay outside for the night.

Around 1:00am, I heard Sophie's sharp barking coming from outside my open window. My dad came out of the house to quiet her down. I took a whiff of the night air and immediately recognized the odor of skunk. I quickly shut my window from the invading smell and then rushed to close the windows on that side of the house. It was apparent that Sophie had been sprayed by a skunk.

There were several skunk sightings prior to this occasion. Driving home one day, we saw a mother skunk leading three of her babies down the side of the road. At the time, I thought they were cute. The previous day, we spotted a skunk in one of the pastures and put Sophie in her run before she could do anything.

The next day, July 4, we gave her a shampoo bath in the yard. She smelled pretty rank and seemed to sense that the water and shampoo was for her. It took a lot of trouble just to get her near the tub of water. We gave up on actually getting her in it and used a pail to pour water over her. The bath helped the smell some, but didn't get rid of it completely.


On Saturday, a foxtail became lodged in her paw, between her toes. Lisa pulled it out, but Sophie continued to lick and chew on her paw. The area turned pink and raw. She stopped putting weight on it and hobbled around on three legs. It was clear that the wound was worsening this morning. Lisa brought her to the vet to have her checked out. Sophie is now at the vet.

With the skunk and then the foxtail, Sophie has been moping about. We haven't been petting her as much on account of the smell and she hasn't been able to come inside at night anymore. Hopefully, after she comes back from the vet, she will be feeling better and more like her old self.