Skunks! DD and I need help

DD (darling dog) got skunked last night for about the fifth time in the last year.

We were just getting ready to go to sleep last night and let our little one out. Then that hideous smell was everywhere, and when our dog came inside, sure enough, she had been skunked yet again. We had to give her an emergency bath with lots of commotion (fun!) in the house. She’s fine now.

Has anyone found a humane way to keep skunks away? They are truly lovely animals; however, not be rude, but…well… they smell bad.

I’ve ordered some ultrasonic/light-flashing devices which allegedly work well. However, I am curious if there is a low-tech, safe way to get rid of these cute varmints?

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Sorry to hear about your pooch. We had a similar problem that our landscaper solved by saturating the area under our deck where they seemed to live with fox urine and ammonia. We now throw moth balls underneath about once a month.

While it smells bad for a day or two it is better then his original suggestion that we covertly pee around the perimeter.

It worked and worked quickly but keep the dog away the next few evenings at dusk as they will likely be on the move.

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You’re no fun.

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Given that I used the word covertly perhaps I was just being discreet :grinning:

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While I despise when others use this phrase, I guess it’s ok when I say to myself: “Google is my friend”.

I found this guidance online, which clearly says the human p-word is indeed a solution, so to speak:

How Should You Use Human Urine To Repel Skunks?

I think you already know the answer to this one, and you probably know what I’m going to say here.

Well, go outside and pee. Some scholars say you need to or could dilute the mixture, but I don’t think we need to overthink this.

Depending on where you live has a factor to this and the area you’re trying to protect.

Essentially, it would help if you thought of this as “marking your territory” the same way that a dog or other animal does. Does Human Urine Repel Skunks? - Pest Pointers

Might be a workable remedy if this were a one-time thing. But apparently, you have to do it often. I will mercifully end this paragraph right here :grinning:

Other suggestions are coyote urine, or as you suggested, fox urine. The problem is that, where we live, there have been coyote and fox sightings, and I’m thinking this might attract these critters to our place. I guess, in the scheme of things, that a skunk tangling with our pupper is more desirable than a fox or coyote doing so. But great suggestions anyway.

Wll try the ultrasonic devices and perhaps, on occasion, more “covert” measures, Worst case, I suppose we can peacefully co-exist with our skunk neighbors. After all, I guess we’re squatting on their land rather than vice-versa.

Since this is probably the only time I will ever use this emoji, I might as well go out all skunks blazing! :skunk: :skunk: :skunk: :skunk:

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The urine thing won’t keep the critters away. It also doesn’t keep the deer from eating your hosta.

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I’m not sure I can handle what passes as “fun” in the CateCAParent household.

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All solutions welcome…as mentioned, I ordered a few of these motion-sensing ultrasonic/light-flashing devices from Amazon. I have no idea if they will really work, but at least I have a good return window with Amazon.

We have tons of deer too, but are lucky to have a fully fenced-in yard. So we haven’t had a problem with them.

Skunks seems to be our bete noire, but if that’s the worst it gets, I guess that’s not too bad. We have a wonderful skunk scent remover that we now keep with our shampoos and body wash, since we seem to be using it more and more frequently.

I bought a bottle of ‘rodent sheriff’ (peppermint) to deter squirrels and chipmunks from our screened in outdoor greenhouse. They had eaten through the screen to get to the tomato!
It worked extremely well spraying at the base of the greenhouse perimeter. I then tried it at an area outside that I think mice were getting into the basement of our house. Again worked well. I read that skunks don’t like the smell either. I know it is really strong peppermint smell but outdoors it is really not.

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I am going to playact as a mod and respectfully demand we get this thread back “on stream”. :rofl:

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Have you consider renting a mountain lion?

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I had a friend who had a skunk family living under her deck. They used I think ammonia rags to drive them out and then shored everything up so they couldn’t go under again. My husband puts cayenne pepper on the fence to keep squirrels,rats, etc… out of his vegetable garden. I am not sure if that would work for skunks.

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When using peppermint oil, make sure cats or dogs don’t get into it.

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Thanks for the info. Our cat is indoors and I did not think about that. We do have a dog though and she never seemed interested in it.

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Great! There should be no “outdoor” cats - other than maybe barn cats on a real farm to keep mice and rats in check.

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Hmmmm…you might be on to something.

We use an IPM (or integrated pest management) service to deal with outdoor insects. For several years, they’ve been using an organic spray that has a large amount of peppermint. After they sprayed, it strongly smelled like peppermint outside for a few hours.

AFAIK, we really hadn’t had too many skunk problems with our dog, but we certainly had skunk sightings.

I believe this past fall the IPM company switched formulations to a non-peppermint one that they felt was better for outside insects. I might ask them to go back to the original formulation.

ETA: We have had sightings of those here too!

We have had sightings of those too in the Bay Area, but I don’t think all that close to us.

The more I think about it, perhaps having the Skunks as our neighbors might not be the worst thing!

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Oh wow…didn’t know this. I thought peppermint was fine for domestic friends like dogs and cats.

The best thing you can do is eliminate grubs from your yard. If they don’t have a food source, they will go to other properties.

Skunks also have terrible eye sight but good hearing. Make lots of noise before you send your dog out in the yard and wait 10 seconds or so to be sure you give any skunks time to move on. They would rather avoid than spray.

(We have skunk all over our neighborhood. I’ve learned a lot since moving here)

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Agreed. We keep skunks at bay by eliminating grubs. If you are seeing lots of birds on your grass, you probably have grubs. Have your neighbors treat at the same time for it to be more effective.

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My sister in law had a skunk sighting in her backyard few years ago. Being a city girl, she hired an exterminator to get rid of the skunk. They put a cage in her yard to catch the skunk. Next day they saw a skunk in the cage. The exterminator came to take the skunk to free it some where else and charged my SIL $100. Next day they saw another skunk in the cage. The exterminator came and charged her another $100. After the fifth one, I told her that she was paying for the whole neighborhood’s skunk remover (or maybe it’s the same skunk). She stopped.

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