Owney’s Encounter with Nature — the Stinky Kind

Hello! I’m Owney. I’m the cute black-and-white dog my Dad, Bobby, is always taking pictures of. My Mom, Wendi, is under the weather, so she said I could write her blog post today.

I know my mom has been telling people about adventures she has had in recent weeks. I want to share one of my own. It happened right here near our home. Mom and I were out for our morning walk. (You know I have to keep the old girl moving or else she’d be a class A couch potato.) It was right about dawn on garbage day. That’s when it happened. I had my first close encounter of the worst kind with one of those black-and-white kitties. I think Mom and Dad call them skunks.

Mind you, I had been trying for weeks to get close to one of them. But Mom would always steer clear. She’d say something like, “We don’t play with those black-and-white cats.” I didn’t understand why, ’cause at our house we have a black-and-white cat and Mom doesn’t seem to mind playing with her.

On that Thursday morning, I had my chance. I had seen something move between a couple of cars parked in a driveway. Mom must have been dozing off (it was 5:15 or so), ’cause I was able to pull the leash right out of her hand. Before she knew what happened, I got up close and personal with the cat. Turns out I got too close to the wrong end, ’cause the next thing I know this really stinky stuff was all over my face! I took off one way, the skunk took off the other and Mom was trailing a little behind.

She caught up to me ’cause I had to stop and try to catch my breath. Didn’t work. I tried shaking it off. Didn’t work. I tried rolling on the ground. Didn’t work. Everything I tried didn’t get that smell off of me! Now, I’m a dog, so I really don’t mind stinky things. Fact is, if I can roll in a dead animal carcass, I’m a happy pup. But this was ridiculous!

Worse yet, is once we made it home from our walk, Mom wouldn’t let me in the house! All I wanted to do was curl up on my chair and forget the whole thing. But no! She made me stay outside while she went in to tell Dad what happened. Then she left in the car … didn’t take me with her, even … and came back with peroxide, baking soda, sponges and rubber gloves.

Before I knew what was happening, I was getting a sponge bath. They put this concoction on my face. Made me wait 15 minutes and then rinsed me off. They did that to me twice! It is a good think I love those two or else I would have left them right then and there.

It’s been about 5 weeks — at least that is what Mom says. What do I know, I’m a dog. If I get wet Mom says she can still smell the skunk on me. Dad thinks she is crazy because he can’t smell a thing. However, Dad does have allergies, so he might not really know what I smell like. Since my adventure with the skunk, I have avoided that side of the street whenever we walk that way. I don’t want to go through that again. And based on Mom’s reaction, neither does she!

If you enjoyed my writing, let Mom know in the comments below. Maybe she’ll let me share more of my adventures. Until next time — don’t play with any stinky black-and-white kitties!