West Boondocking with your "stinking" Dog

[Ray Eklund]

I say "stinking Dog" with the affection that we all share for our partners of a camping experience on or off the grid.

We have two Blue Heelers, aka Australian Cattle Dogs. They shed so much hair that they should be bare skin. You wonder why nature gave them the ability to shed hair, while humans go through great efforts to save what hair they were born.

As Blue Heelers are primarily herding and working dogs... they have some quirks that are not in the "job description".

When camped off the grid, we let them out of the Pet Porters and they get some running around to loosen up muscles and catch a breath.

-Dingo will find a dusty section and roll into it until he goes from a black/white/brown natural color to the color of the dirt. Usually in the West... RED. You would not recognize him. Eventually he, or the female Blue, will shake the dust off over time. Into the trailer.

-Whenever there are cattle in the area, beware. They will seek out the freshest cow patty and... roll the nape of their neck into it. Sometimes... roll into it and they become green. Not green in envy... but green in Cow Patty Pie. Disgusting, but it earns a dunk in the creek or get a multiple soap and water cleansing.

Once this cleansing is performed, dried and fresh... you had better keep a watchful eye on a repeat performance.

-If the Cow Patty Pie roll is not disgusting enough... something dead that still retains the smell of a recent road kill, baked in the sun to a ripe fragrant smell of death. Again, the nape of the neck is the preferred spot. Obviously a way to conceal their civilized scent to that of Mother Natures best disguises off the grid.

-Skunks.... for some reason seem to be slow moving and... interesting. When dogs meet they must check out the posteriors for a permanent ID. The well marked skunk is obvious to Humans. When checking ID... the skunk lets them have it. Almost always the face... and if it is a direct shot to the open mouth... the foaming at the mouth is obvious, as one or both Heelers are wanting entry into the trailer or open pickup door left open while unpacking. As if this will reverse the procedure while looking like rabid canines.

Most Trailer owners seem to have smaller or larger dogs that have no interest in these rituals of Dog Camping. Ours... I am afraid are not as cultivated. By the time you discover this quirk of Dog nature... they are in the trailer and rolling on anything to remove the excess...

When you consider how you may "stink" on a carefully planned camp Off the Grid to conserve water... your dog(s) can find a way to add a bit of mystery to their ways to help. Maybe... we should repeat what dogs do. There could be some benefit that we do not understand.

[cameront120]

Even city dogs like to role is the stinky stuff. Come to one of our local beaches during salmon spawning season and you'll see dogs of every breed doing their best to roll in a dead salmon.

[Lily&Me]

Yep. Lily does the same thing, although duck poop is her favorite.

There is a waterless remedy for that, too, purchaseable at Petco, etc. A liquid you can apply with a rag or paper towels....which can be burned ...and which removes the stink and whatever else is clinging to their coats, leaving them smelling sweet.

I always carry it in the Interstate, along with a bar of dog shampoo for when the water supply is ample and bathing is required.


Maggie

[Ray Eklund]

Smells like a Lily... no wonder.

As a kid in the forest we had to fork over 15 cents to get a crew cut at the beginning of School vacation. When school began in the Fall... we were well groomed, clean behind the ears and had a healthy tan that could not be removed with soap.

Wood ticks could be easily discovered and removed.

[ROBERT CROSS]

....PWD's like to bathe themselves.


Bob

[cameront120]

As do Labradors.

[noreen&sal]

Sometimes they just act like animals. Sal

[rmkrum]

Mine are all couch potatoes, but will try to roll in 'interesting' scents.


Sent from my pocket Internet using Airstream Forums

[twolanehwy]

my friends dog is usually white. Petey likes to swim and then roll in the dirt.
Then jump in the camper and sleep.

[Ray Eklund]

twolanehwy... I bet if we all rolled in the dirt with our dogs, we would all be better off today!

[white laker]

Her is a shot of "Eddie" after a good swim at the dog beach at Fort DeSotto park. I told him not to dring the salt water but...... He got cleaned out from the inside out!! Poor Eddie

[Ray Eklund]

I brought up... skunks earlier.

Some of you might have discovered, by trial and error by your dog... that Midwest Skunk and Western Skunk smell differently. If you do not know, you will if you go camping in the other section of the USA for a test.

The Midwest Skunk, by far is the most irritating and noxious. Not that our Western Skunk is deficient in its ability to deter the "dog sniff test", there is a 25% superior KICK to a MWS, for short.

I had to clear this up, so there was no misunderstanding when a MWSed dog is compared to a RMSed dog. Our heelers have sampled both. Although both results will get many options and methods to reduce this smell... when you think it is gone... let them get a little damp and it is not... gone. "Time is your best friend" in these situation. Not your dog.

[Thalweg]

Last spring, Connie was up in the mountains with Porsha and a friend who also has a Black Lab. The dogs found a decomposing, dead skunk. They couldn't resist the temptation to roll in it. That was the worst skunk I've ever smelled. Connie called me to come up mountain with the truck, so they didn't have to put the dogs in the car. It was horrible. I suppose it would have been western skunk, but I can't imagine any being worse.

[batman]

Good one Ray!

Having many dogs over the years. I have been subjected to many different types of out door odor sensations. Why do they always want to get close and share?

As you said, a fresh cow pie or any dead carcass seems to be favorites to roll in for mine. The stinkier the better?

However, skunks just look too much like cats to go unexplored/molested. Hate!!! Try Baking soda, Dawn dish soap and Hydrogen peroxide or Petco has an enzyme thing I have not tried yet. I will also look into that, Maggie.

So on my reno, I added an outside hot and cold faucet with curly hose and spray nozzle inside the rear bumper, just in case, or a quick outdoor shower for me. We have 60 gal of fresh.

The worst thing we have encountered was porcupine and dog interaction.
Always have hemostats handy, and work quickly as the quills are barbed, hollow and will fill with blood. Then you have to cut the ends to get them out.

I would much rather deal with a little bit of odor!!!

Thanks Maggie, I am going to look into the Petco water-less idea.

-Dennis

[Ray Eklund]

I did a Thread sometime back about pulling Porcupine quills from our Heelers. "Porcupine Brothers" I recall was the title, with photographs.

I recommend using a wide pair of pliers to pull them. When there are a number of them, pulling them one at a time will eventually make YOU the bad guy, rather than the Porcupine! These quills that are pulled out... rinse them off the pliers in a bowl. The saliva from your dog makes them stick to anything... and you will discover next that you require a few being pulled out of your hand.

Now Brent (Thalweg)... maybe you have the Buffalo Skunk in mind. Not the typical stinking Rocky Mountain Skunk. Did it have horns?

Those who volunteer to bathe the Skunk Stench from their dog:

Wives... remember... a dog IS "Man's Best Friend". Not yours, during times of duress, which this would qualify. After the washing... your husband will smell worse than the dog being washed. Wear something you can throw away, as when man's best friend begins to shake the water off... you and everything within ten feet are contaminated.

Now I notice whippet201 reading this thread. They are short haired and probably never would stink.

For those evenings in your trailer slumbering in a deep sleep... you obviously are breathing through your nose. Many times your best buddy is laying next to the bed, or for those who are much braver than myself on the bed, have this creature with the hair nape emitting a stink that only a chemist might have created in Transylvania. The... discovered it too late to notice... stink before morning. As a preventive measure while Boondocking... someone give your dog a through sniff test. Once this mystery smell is rubbed against the rugs, yourself, your bedspread... your couch... it is much too late. You are in serious trouble.

Then refer to the Thread... about stinking Airstream owners and Black/Grey water conservation. This stink puts you into the Stinking Dog part of the spectrum, not human. Every dog within the campsite will come to rub your scent to take home. Share it. Those so called friends, like Thalweg... let them figure it out on their own. You, your stinking dog and trailer will fit right into the camping experience.

[Tan Son Nhut]

Thanks again for your posts!

[Lily&Me]

Originally Posted by batman

Thanks Maggie, I am going to look into the Petco water-less idea.

-Dennis

I have never had to use this after a skunk encounter, but it has worked with duck poop....Lily's favorite.


Maggie

[CanineCoach]

The truth, unfortunately, about skunk spray is that it gets absorbed into the hair shaft. You wash the worst off (use cleansing substance of your choice) and the dog is presentable when dry, after a while, but you will still smell it when the dog gets wet. The odor will not be completely gone until your canine buddy has shed EVERY STINKING hair that got sprayed. I found this out the year my shepherd gave me a skunk for my birthday, he didn't smell sweet until my next birthday, cause that's how long it takes to have shed and regrown all of it, and a German shepherd has LOTS of hair. Actually to be accurate, I should say fur.

[Ray Eklund]

CanineCoach... OK smarty pants. You got that one nailed.

But... what about we Hairless Apes? ... and some more hairless than others, I might add. Oh well. It was a bad idea to begin with.

No one has discussed Felines of the World, yet. With their obsessive grooming and coughing hairballs... is this considered a major evolutionary stage of carnivores, exceeding the Stinking Dog situation we have been discussing? With the Canine (Dog to the layman) as Man's Best Friend, it leaves this snarling nocturnal as Woman's Best Friend?

As a wise old man sipping his Jack Daniels was known to mutter in his sleep... "So many cats. So few recipes."

His wife found him dead the next day, buried under hair balls. Need I say any more?

[rmkrum]

Or, as ALF was known to say, "I love cats....pass the plum sauce!"


Sent from my pocket Internet using Airstream Forums