You know how to get your heart rate up?

Step 1.  Decide to take your dog out for one last walk before bedtime.

Step 2.  Put on his leash, and walk out the back door.

Step 3.  See a startled skunk come running straight at you, because apparently he lives under the porch, and was running to his safe spot - which happens to be exactly where you are standing.

Step 4.  Forcibly drag your dog back inside, because at this point all he wants to do is chase this fantastic animal he's never seen before.

Step 5.  Realize how lucky you are that neither you nor the dog got sprayed.


So that was fun last night.  And now every time we go for a walk, Skwissgaar wants to go sniff at the porch.  I have a feeling this isn't going to end well for us.  And no, I'm not going to do anything to chase it off - if it lives under the porch, it was there first.

When I was at the zoo, I got to work with a skunk they have in their education building - her name is Lilly, and she is an absolute sweetheart.  However, she has a really wirey, short hair coat, possibly due to some endocrine disease.  The skunk that came running at us last night had the most glorious fur, like it was in some sort of skunk pantine pro-v commercial.  As startled as I was, I couldn't help but marvel at what must be the Portia De Rossi of the skunk world.  Lilly would be jealous.