# to shave or not to shave



## Sasha2008 (Feb 19, 2008)

Our boy was sprayed by a skunk 5 days ago, we have washed him about 5 times with the peroxide formula that most people recommend. We can still smell it. He normally sleeps in our bedroom but we've been putting him in the basement. He's upstairs right now and you can still smell it. It seems to be just on his chest. We were wondering if it would help if we shaved his chest. He's an indoor dog so he is not going to be exposed to the "elements" for any length of time. We are just at a loss at how to get rid of this smell.

Any advice would be appreciated.​


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## arycrest (Feb 28, 2006)

Don't have an answer ... but maybe if you contacted a professional groomer they could do something to help you???


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## Pioneer53 (May 5, 2006)

Sure, the hair will grow back there fairly quickly. No different than if it needed clipped for an injury or hot spot.

Here are a bunch of products for skunk odor on Amazon:
Amazon.com: skunk deodorizer

Good luck!


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## Apoolutz (Jan 19, 2013)

Have you tried natures maricle skunk odor remover? That's the only thing that helped when Niko was sprayed, I can't see shaving the spot really help all that much because of it being on his skin too,just so you know the smell can last up to two years. Good luck with whatever you choose


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## zyppi (Jun 2, 2006)

not sure shaving would rid dog of odor... check with your vet.


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## Debanneball (Aug 28, 2014)

When Stella (RIP) got skunked, it was in her ear. Took her three times to the groomer, no more smell! Just slightly on a damp day, but not bad, and not for long.


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## Wolfenstein (Feb 26, 2009)

I wish I'd seen this a month ago!!! Just for the sake of anyone who might be browsing the boards for info (since at this point I'm sure the OP has done whatever he was going to do) I would NEVER EVER EVER shave a double coated dog unless it was absolutely, medically necessary!! I've been grooming near a decade, now, that skunk smell is definitely NOT just on the hair. You're still going to have the same problem, only then you'll have a broken coat to deal with.

Like I said, just for the sake of education for future readers, shaving a double coat seriously screws it up for a very long time. The coat has the rough guard hairs that shed minimally, and it has the soft undercoat that blows out and regrows fairly often. The undercoat helps the dog maintain its temperature, and the guard hairs protect and weatherproof the undercoat.

The problem is, if you shave off the guard hair, the two coats don't grow in at the same rate. Since the undercoat is meant to cycle through pretty quick, it grows back a LOT faster than the guard hairs do. So you end up at best with a coat that soaks up water like crazy and is super hard to dry (and looks pretty funky!) but at the worst it causes matting and makes it insanely hard to brush. It takes a long time and diligence on maintenance to get back in to working order. This is why you so often see people with dogs that "need" to be shaved down. It's not that they really NEED it, but rather that the dog was shaved down at one point and the owner either doesn't know it needs to wait it out, or doesn't have the patience to wait and correct the coat.

Again, I totally understand that the OP's situation is probably long taken care of, and that they were only talking about shaving a belly. But I just figured with the title of the thread I might as well throw the info in here!


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