We don’t live in the country, but there is a lot of wooded area in and around our neighborhood. There is a town park that consists of 183 acres that links up via trails to the park at the top of our street.
Most encounters are casual and by that I mean, from a distance. Yesterday we walked out the door and started down the drive way when Sampson noticed a deer across the street. Of course that set him barking, which got Delilah barking and so we waited until the deer had moved along and then continued on our way.
Living in the area I do it’s a given we will encounter wild animals. To date I’ve seen a coyote, lots of deer, a rafter of turkeys, a fox, raccoons, owls, chippies, snakes.
Surprise Mutherfucker!! He, he, he, you should see the look on your face. (Photo courtesy of Animal Pictures.)
Like I said, most of these encounters are casual. But when I see something that has the potential (in my opinion) to cause harm, well let’s just say the hair on my body stands on end and I shiver.
Then I beat feet.
The one thing I hadn’t seen that I’d been dreading was a skunk. I’ve sure smelt them in my area, but hadn’t seen them.
During the fall, winter and spring months our morning walks often take place in the dusk/dark, and my dogs love to shove their heads in bushes.
Nah, nothing can hurt you in the bushes. Stick your nose in a little further.
After Storm from 2 Brown Dogs got skunked, I really started to think about this more. Then someone posted on Facebook that their dog got skunked, then another. I started to wonder….is my time coming?
Sampson is usually the one who chooses the path we walk and he usually gets fixated on one route, we do that route frequently until he gets fixated on a different route.
Oh shit, does this mean he’s obsessive compulsive? WTF Sampson!
So one day last week we’re traveling his little route and the dogs are doing their sniffing/peeing business and one of them shoves their nose into a bush. I see a bushy black animal with a white stripe push it’s way farther back into the bushes.
I Thought I saw a Skunk.
Go, Go, Go
The hair on my body stood on end. The exact words out of my mouth were, “Jesus Christ, Go, Go, Go”, and I started walking as fast as I could away from it. Thankfully my dogs understand the concept of Go, Go, Go, which by the way, most of you will have an emergency recall, but I also think it’s important to have a command for when you really need to hustle with your dogs, for whatever reason. Somehow ours has become Go, Go, Go and it works.
Afterwards I was unsure if I’d seen a skunk or a cat, I mean it happened so fast. Did it push it’s way through the bushes or did it jump? Do skunks jump?
I had to find out if skunks jumped, so I turned to Google.
I found a website with info about skunk that actually made me giggle. I know, right? Who giggles about a skunk?
From the Wildlife Hotline Website:
“Skunk versus anything – Skunk wins. The thing to remember is that they KNOW it. Many of us in the wildlife management community sincerely love the skunks. Even when they a little babies, they have the ego of a skunk. Skunks do not care if you see them at night. These are not animals that you shine a light on and they scatter. They just don’t care about you, or your dog, cat, or even your car for that matter. To a skunk, nothing is a threat. Do you know why you smell skunk when one gets hit by a car? It’s not because they naturally release their scent upon death. You smell them because the skunk saw the car coming, and they sprayed the car to make it stop. It never occurred to the skunk that the car wouldn’t back down – everything else does.” Source
I’m not sure about you, but that last bit about the skunk spraying the car struck me funny.
Alternate titles: Get Your Skunk On, Pepe´Le Pew, Who Giggles at Skunks?
It seems I wasn’t quite clear in that post regarding blog hops. I do hope to cover the topic in a post next week, but in the meantime please go back and read the update. 🙂
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