Need someone to lead product management at your software company? I create software for people that create software and I'm looking for my next opportunity. Check out my resume and get in touch.

Adam Kalsey

This is the blog of Adam Kalsey. Unusual depth and complexity. Rich, full body with a hint of nutty earthiness.

De-skunking a dog

Freshness Warning
This blog post is over 14 years old. It's possible that the information you read below isn't current and the links no longer work.

27 Oct 2009

Last night around 2am my dog was sprayed by a skunk. Again.

She’s a ten pound mini rat terrier, but she seems to think it’s a good idea to go after an animal that’s not only bigger than her, but has some pretty serious defenses. At least cleanup this time was faster, since I know what I’m doing now.

Skunk spray is a yellow, sticky oil. If you have a light colored dog, you’ll be able to see exactly where it sprayed. If your dog has long fur, you might find it easier to just cut it back so you have less to clean.

Mix equal parts baking soda, peroxide, and liquid dishwasher detergent in a bowl. Don’t worry about exact measurements, just dump about the same amount of each into your bowl. With your hands, scrub the mixture into your dog’s fur where the spray is at. Rinse it, and repeat. And repeat, and repeat, until you can’t smell the spray any more.

Don’t let your dog touch any fabrics you care about. The spray transfers easily from the fur to fabrics and is nearly impossible to get out. The shirt I was wearing the first time I cleaned up my dog had to be thrown away despite a dozen washings and scrubbings with the baking soda mixture. No matter what I did there was still a faint scent of skunk.

Recently Written

Video calls using a networked camera (Sep 25)
A writeup of my network-powered conference call camera setup.
Roadmap Outcomes, not Features (Sep 4)
Drive success by roadmapping the outcomes you'll create instead of the features you'll deliver.
Different roadmaps for different folks (Sep 2)
The key to effective roadmapping? Different views for different needs.
Micromanaging and competence (Jul 2)
Providing feedback or instruction can be seen as micromanagement unless you provide context.
My productivity operating system (Jun 24)
A framework for super-charging productivity on the things that matter.
Great product managers own the outcomes (May 14)
Being a product manager means never having to say, "that's not my job."
Too Big To Fail (Apr 9)
When a company piles resources on a new product idea, it doesn't have room to fail. But failing is an important part of innovation. If you can't let it fail, it can't succeed.
Go small (Apr 4)
The strengths of a large organization are the opposite of what makes innovation work. Starting something new requires that you start with a small team.

Older...

What I'm Reading