Perhaps some of you will recall that my dog got sprayed by a skunk last winter. Well, #2 dog got sprayed last night! We were sitting in our house with a friend, having a beer after the rained-out Red Sox game. I had just let the dog out (into our fenced back yard) and maybe 5 minutes later, I smelled That Smell. My first thought was "ick, skunk in the yard." My second thought was "OH $^#%!!!! The dog is out there!" Sure enough, I looked out to see her frantically rubbing her face on the grass. At least this time, she didn't get in the house (dog #1 came in the house and rubbed all over the furniture, rugs, etc., and we had to have everything professionally cleaned). DH doused her with the hydrogen peroxide/baking soda solution while she was still outside, then put her in the garage for the night. This morning we called a local dog "salon" who took her in and did some kind of de-skunking treatment that was miraculous -- she smells better than she ever did! They said she still might smell a bit when she gets wet, but this is a much easier situation than our first time around.

So my question is -- is there a way to deter skunks from coming into your yard?? I wonder if they are camping out under our porch, but there is no evidence of that, and I'd think if they were "living" here, we would have had other encounters -- not just one in February and one in September. We live in a suburban neighborhood where the houses are very close together, not out in the country. I'm just concerned that, after 7 years of no skunk encounters, now we have had two within several months.

Any advice? Thanks!