To shave him or not to shave him

[Catlady711]

I've never personally tried this one myself, thankfully never needed to, however we recommend this one at the hospital and many of our clients have been fairly pleased with how much smell it cut down. Have you tried it yet?



http://dan.drydog.com/patsyann/skunk.html

http://home.earthlink.net/~skunkremedy/home/sk00001.htm


Either way, if shaving is what you need to do, then do it. Fur will grow back. I'm just not sure how much smell it will actually cut down though.

[molucass]

I've heard you can use listerine mouth wash, or toothpaste with baking soda in it on your dog if it gets skunked. I don't know it works or not, but thats what I have heard. Soak the coat with mouthwash, making sure to get down to the skin with it, and then wash the dog with doggy shampoo.

Dogs with double coats take much longer to get the smell off of than normal haired dogs.

[AdoreMyDogs]

When I say 'shave' i don't mean with a razor, I'm talking a close buzz cut with pet grooming clippers. If I do "shave" him, it'll be a very, very short buzz cut. Like how Poodles are cut in the non fluffy parts. When I've bathed him, I've always let the soap or concoction sit on his coat for upwards of 20 minutes before I rinse it off. When I put the skunk remover on him, I left it on and never rinsed it off (per bottle instructions)

[buttercup132]

lol I know what you mean I'm a groomer.
It still doesn't grow back the same and ruins the coat and it's feel, any groomer on here will tell you that.
GSD's don't have the same type of coat as a shihtzu,poodle,bichon etc. whos coats come back looking the same.
Plus he will be even hotter, the summer isn't over yet.
Shaving him won't get rid of the smell, it's imbedded in his coat and skin.
If a human gets sprayed on lets say their arm, the smell is in their skin it's not going to come out for awhile.
And shaving with a blade that short you could seriously hurt your dog, there are alot of areas where if you even nick them they will bleed and bleed and can die from blood loss. Or you could nick a tendon.

[jenluckenbach]

Shaving would probably not help. The smell is in his pores. And the majority of dogs get the spray in the face (not much hair to shave off of a GSD face).

As you are finding out, nothing helps 100%. And when he gets wet, the smell will escalate again.

Our grooming shop uses a baking soda/hydrogen peroxide mix that works fairly well. But the hair must be totally saturated and must stay in contact for at least 15 minutes. Then rinsed.

The hard part is getting the face soaked without getting it into the eyes.

The best commercial product I ever used is called Skunk Off. EXPENSIVE, but good stuff usually is. http://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Off-32-o.../dp/B0002XJ10K

[Sirrahsim]

Poor baby! I don't know a thing about skunk odor, but I hope you find something that helps!!

And shaving with a blade that short you could seriously hurt your dog, there are alot of areas where if you even nick them they will bleed and bleed and can die from blood loss. Or you could nick a tendon.

She's not talking about going after him with a straight razor, silly

When I say 'shave' i don't mean with a razor, I'm talking a close buzz cut with pet grooming clippers. If I do "shave" him, it'll be a very, very short buzz cut. Like how Poodles are cut in the non fluffy parts.

[buttercup132]

Poor baby! I don't know a thing about skunk odor, but I hope you find something that helps!!



She's not talking about going after him with a straight razor, silly

I know but she said as short as when a Poodle is cut in between the poms which in a show Poodle (which I'm assuming she is reffering to with the big poms on the body) get shaved in a # 30 which is a surgical balde used for shaving off areas like when they are prepping for a spay or IV. It's soo easy to nick the dog with something that short.
lol I think it would be REALLY hard to do any dog in a razor other then my dog it would get hairy so fast.

[lizbud]

I don't think shaving him down will help at all, just make Boone look silly.

Like some others have already said, the smelly stuff has been absorbed into
his skin. Does your Vet have any suggestions? Seems like a lot of good things
to try has already been mentioned. Best of luck with this Leslie.