Dexter, the dog who adopted me, also adopted my parents and loves nothing more than to visit them.

On a recent evening, I opened their back gate and Dexter raced in as he always does, except this time, he found another visitor already in their yard.

It was too dark to see clearly, but it looked like Dexter had something in his mouth, and that something moved. My first fear was that he had caught a neighbor cat. While I could see him chasing a cat, I would never expect him to hurt one.

As the visitor crossed the yard with an odd, rambling gate, I caught a glimpse of white in the moonlight and a pungent, musky scent hit my nose, eyes and throat.

Dexter had just been skunked.

He caught most of the assault on his face and neck, and his eyes were shut tightly against the stinging spray. I whisked him quickly inside and into the tub where I began rinsing his eyes with cool water.

From the back of the house, I heard my mother say, “What on earth is that smell?” as she came to investigate. We’d always heard that tomato juice would get the skunk smell off a dog, so she grabbed some V8 juice, and I slathered it on his nose, head and neck, following it with some shampoo. But the smell got stronger.

When we returned home, it was back in the tub for more shampoo and a Google search that recommended a mixture of baking soda and hydrogen peroxide, which may have taken the edge off but was certainly no cure for the noxious scent.

I realized that Dexter had taken a shot full in the mouth, so I gave him some canned dog food to try to dilute the spray, although once his eyes were rinsed, I seemed to be far more affected by the incident than he was. For the next 24 hours, I was nauseated. My eyes, nasal passages and throat were affected for at least 24 more.

In the days following the encounter, I read dozens of articles, many of which debunked the idea of tomato juice to reduce the odor. I tried diluted apple cider vinegar, another Google-recommended treatment, but that also failed to completely remove the scent.

Yet another article told me where I had gone wrong. Water alone actually does make the smell worse. I should have added a teaspoon or two of liquid dish soap to the 1/4 cup of baking soda and 1 quart of 3 percent hydrogen peroxide mixture. The soap would have broken down the oil that holds the smell.

The article warned me to mix this in an open container and use immediately, as the effectiveness wears off over time and the mixture in a closed container could explode. It also warned not to get the mixture in the dog’s eyes.

From my research, I understand that we were lucky. According to Veterinary Centers of America, immediate veterinary care should be sought for an animal showing distress following a skunk encounter. Had Dexter been a smaller dog, he might have been more deeply affected.

He showed no signs of nausea or of having been bitten by the skunk. My being able to rinse his eyes thoroughly and immediately may have saved him from corneal damage.

Now here is my advice for you — since skunk encounters usually occur before or after normal veterinary hours, keep the ingredients for skunk wash handy. Also, wear gloves. I fought for days to completely remove the smell from my hands.

You know you love your dog when you fight nausea just to be in the same room with him. But then, he’d do the same for me.

— “Pets and the People Who Love Them” is brought to you by your friends at the Athens Limestone Animal Shelter. To adopt a dog or cat, please visit the Athens-Limestone Animal Shelter at 1701 U.S. 72 (behind Limestone Veterinary Clinic), visit our Facebook page or call us at 256-771-7889. E-mail your questions and story ideas to me at PetsAndPeople@charter.net. I’ll check with the experts (veterinarians, animal behaviorists, etc.) and get back to you in a future column.