It was a dark, cold and windy Sunday morning, about 4 am eastern daylight time. A whine was heard outside the bedroom door. It seemed tiny and forlorn, but then it became slightly louder and more insistent. Yes you guessed, Rocket needed to go outside! Since it was pitch black and cold I just let him out loose, off chain, alone into the great dark unknown. Quickly he did his business and then off he shot into the night around the back of the house. He did not return when I called. Feeling a bit peeved because I wanted to go back to bed I went back through the house and out onto the deck. A strange scent wafted through the air. I perceived Rocket to be off to the north hiding amongst the pines. Slowly as the scent settled into a cloud about me I realized, Pole Cat! Annoyed and put upon it had released a malodorous smell under the deck onto my dog. I was standing in the remnants of the skunk cloud. I yelled to Rocket to come, hastily retreated back inside and out the front door. As Rocket came around the corner, his new scent preceeded him.
Horrors! 4:15 am and no tomato juice in the house! Now as I said before it was cold and windy, and when the wind comes out of the mountain pass and across the fields, the air temperature plummets another 20 degrees. So it felt about 20 degrees fahrenheit. I was not dressed for this. However, emergency measures had to be taken. The hose was turned on and Rocket was summarily doused until he resembled the proverbial drowned rat, a large one. He was then ushered into the garage where he was then subjected to an impromptu bath of vinegar followed by baking soda rubbed into his coat. Then he was towelled dry because pneumonia would have been inevitable otherwise. Towels were deposited outside, the garage door was shut, he was given water, a rug to lay on and a bone.
As I returned inside, leaving him to whine and howl plaintively if fruitlessly, I discovered my hands smelled AWFUL. I had not used gloves, one doesn't tend to think while sleep walking in a panic, besides, I didn't have any. Into the washing machine went the bathrobe. Into the shower went I. Fortunately the cloud I had walked through did not have enough stick for my hair to remain stinky. My hands however required large amounts of lemon juice and vinegar.
The next morning, (approximately 3 hours later having had no more sleep because I could hear him crying) Rocket received his first official bath. Now, Rocket is a water dog, he loves to play in streams, kiddie pools, under the hose, in the sprinklers. He did not like getting a sponge bath on a tarp in the teeth of a cold north wind with a mixture of vinegar, warm water, lemon juice, and Dawn dishwashing liquid. (A mixture discovered on the internet during a frantic web search). That day when he wasn't outside he spent most of his time in the basement. Before the evening was over however, he was let into the house into his bed with all the other interior doors shut and the window over his bed cracked open and sented candles attempting to re-perfume the air.
He received a 2nd bath the next day and numerous quickie sponge baths using pure lemon juice on the nastiest smelling parts (his face and front legs). I wish to thank at this time those persons I have met through Petsburgh's forum and my guestbook for their quick help with suggestions for solving the smells of Rocket. They know who they are. Woof! Back to Stoats
October 22nd, about 3 pm. My doorbell rings and on my doorstep I find my newest neighbor and Rocket, blood streaming down his face. Apparently he tried to make friends with a woodchuck, known around these parts as groundhogs, the animal most likely to become roadkill. From the eyewitness acccount I received, he tried to play; butt in the air, tail wagging, face on his paws, but he got too close. Suddenly, Rocket flung back his head head and hanging from his nose was a small ground hog. Undoubtedly, surprised at being swept off its feet, the hog let go and became airborne, flying over Rocket's back and running away upon impact.
Needless to say after rushing about for car keys, jacket, wallet, doggie seatbelt, sheet for the car seats, off we flew to his favorite vet to whom, a couple hours later, were paid a large sum of money for a rabies booster, a week's supply of antibiotics, and a super glued nose wound. (Which reopened and bled some more when his sister snuck over unannounced the next day and began rough-housing in the yard.) After that his wandering days were over and the poor boy had to be kept on one of those cables staked to the ground. Back to Rodents
In northern Michigan of course.
Back to Rodents
