The dogs and I have had a pretty good routine this summer.

Thanks to G’s automated duck door, which is set to open promptly at 7:15 a.m. every day, the dogs had to get up and out of their door by 6 a.m. most days so that they got a good hour of play time in the yard before it became the ducks’ domain. This worked out well since neither of them enjoys being outside in the heat.

A quick walk on the leash around lunch time and again in early afternoon to relieve themselves, and then another longer play time after the ducks closed up shop for the day, and it was conveniently cooler, rounded out most of our days.

Since E had to be out of the house early for morning swim practices, and then the rest of my day was taken up with work, this was a good system, and we all benefited from its predictability.

However, with the start of band camp, I no longer had to be the first person out of bed in the morning, and I may have taken a day or two to sleep in. This, of course, disrupted everyone’s schedule. The ducks had to be rounded back up so that the dogs could be turned loose for a bit, but since it was already warming up, they had little to no desire to be outside any longer than necessary, and that meant they were pent up all day with excess energy.

And, there was someone else whose schedule I disrupted, and that someone was small and black and white and striped. And, he definitely did not appreciate having his morning ablutions disturbed by the canine.

There are many things that I can be thankful for, among them that I don’t believe Mr. Skunk was a mature adult. I did not actually see the critter, just happened upon the aftermath. Henson was definitely skunked, but it wasn’t insanely overwhelming like the time that Duncan got sprayed in the face by an extra-large, fully mature skunk.

That happened on Steve’s watch, and he made the mistake of calling me to tell me they were coming home. When he arrived, all doors were locked and the internet’s solution to skunk spray was sitting on the porch waiting for them.

This time, I had to go it alone. Dunc seemed to have remembered that this didn’t go well last time and kept his distance, from both the point of contact and Henson when he returned from his smelly jaunt, which was a good stroke of luck, as one dog was enough of a handful.

Honestly, by the time we got back to the house, a lot of the scent had dissipated, and I was wondering if I had imagined it, but the kids were quick to assure me that someone definitely had been skunked and I was just nose blind. Since the last encounter, I’ve kept the ingredients (extra-strength hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and Dawn) handy, and it didn’t take long to mix up a batch and dump it all over the unsuspecting pup. That was his second nasty surprise of the morning.

Unfortunately, he got some of the scent in his mouth, and well, that stuff just sort of locks in there. I wasn’t about to further torment him by trying to make him gargle. So, for the next few days, instead of dog breath, I got skunk breath. It might have been my imagination, but he seemed overly affectionate as long as he stank.

I know I’ve been lucky, especially with two dogs that spend as much time investigating the woods around us as they do, that we don’t spend a lot more time stunk up by skunk. Since that fateful morning, Hens has given that particular field a wide berth, content to stay close to older, wiser, less smelly Dunc. We’ve also returned to our regular routine. Sleeping in isn’t worth the aggravation of upsetting the local wildlife.

One of the benefits of this skunking was to bring back the memories of Steve and Dunc’s skunking. We all had a good laugh about it, and I was kind of proud of the fact that the kids said I’d handled it much better than Dad had. It’s not often that that ever happens.

Henson was long overdue for a good bath as well, having evaded one by getting regular swims in this summer. I don’t think of myself as much of an optimist, but turning a skunking into a good thing? Maybe I’m more of one that I thought I was.

Liz Pinkey’s column appears on Saturdays in the Times News