Always put the welfare and safety of the dog before dispatching a skunk, advises Dan Griffith, a German wirehair owner from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. "I'm more concerned about using the e-collar to discourage my dog's interest in skunks than I am in killing the skunks. When we have a skunk and dog confrontation, the first priority is to keep my canine from getting sprayed. And if the dog gets sprayed my first move is to get her away from the skunk so that a fight and more spraying won't happen," Griffith says.

CONCLUSION
"What's with Zeke?" Bob Osgood's hunting partner asked about the big yellow Lab as the dog walked up to a bunch of cattails, sniffed them once, then quickly turned and trotted in the other direction.

"We've been working on skunk aversion," Osgood said. "I'll bet there's a skunk hidden in that cover and I'll also bet Zeke doesn't want to meet it up close," Osgood added as he and Zeke kept moving on past the cattails.

Gun dogs and skunks obviously don't mix, but, when they do, there is almost always an unhappy ending. Though the problem of a skunked dog is treatable and curable, the best practice, of course, is to avoid the dog-skunk confrontation in the first place – something often easier said than done. With a little effort, however, most hunters can train their dogs to avoid close encounters with skunks, something everyone will appreciate, skunks included.