AFRICAN PROVERB There’s an old saying: “Live and learn.” Annie the dog didn’t get the memo—at least with respect to skunks. Thankfully, the results of her actions were more fragrant than fatal, but they still got her into lots of trouble. Annie was my friend Martha’s smart and sassy border collie/cocker spaniel mix. Martha believes that the first time Annie got skunked, she thought she was approaching a big, fluffy black and white cat. Annie wasn’t pleased with the results. Ever after, she would go into hunter mode whenever she saw a skunk…and would inevitably get the worst of the encounter. Way too often Annie went out in the yard to do her business, only to come in reeking from her failure to learn from past experiences. But perhaps her most intense skunk encounter happened on one never-to-be-forgotten Sunday morning. Martha’s house had a crawl space beneath it. Screens at different locations provided access. Martha had seen a gardener fiddling with one of them, and warned him to be sure it was properly secured in place.
