We got a puppy to help out as a farm dog when he gets bigger.  Farm dogs have to be trained.  Sometimes they self-taught, not by choice.

Dusty started out to look like a furry, football.  But today, he is a long-legged bundle of energy.  He jumps and runs and barks and nips at my pant legs.

Yesterday was a big day for Dusty.  First off, the vet came and gave him two immunization shots.  That quieted him for a bit.  He was not happy with that.

Second, later that day after he got over the pain of the shots, he made acquaintance with the electric fence.  Now he knows not to brush with that zinging boundary.  

Last but not least, after dark, Dusty was still outdoors.  My husband went out to do a few chores with the cows.  He also planned to take time to put Dusty in his “kennel”, the barn. 

Dusty sensed something was different on the farm.  He was right!  Ambling around the farm yard was a black and white beauty that had just woken up from hibernation...A SKUNK! 

Dusty likes to nip at strangers and he snuck up on the skunk.  You can imagine the rest of the story.   Dusty learned not to mess with skunks.  He rolled his snout in the grass trying to clean himself off.  

The incident must have happened very close to the house.  While I worked with some food in the kitchen, I noticed the smell.  At first I expected it was the sour smell of the fresh yogurt I had made.  But the faint odor grew stronger and stronger.  I recognized the musky smell of a skunk.  I called upstairs to ask my daughter if she smelled skunk.  “Yes,” she answered back. 

Needless to say, she and I both had to do some odor-control.  It hung around and inside the house for a long part of the night.  I slept fine, but I wonder how well Dusty did.

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