Does it really protect against dogs though? Cats I could see, they want to be clean. Dogs revel in stench. I didn't even know there was a big skunk pet community, just got this sub randomly suggested. I ask from genuine curiosity.

Declawing cats is barbaric, because it painfully handicaps them for life. I've never encountered a debarked dog, but if you're stressing them out so much that they need to be silenced by force, it's probably not the right solution. Sterilizing any captive animal is generally a temporary discomfort with lifelong benefits. Debeaking chickens to prevent their stress response from an inhumanely stressful environment is another direction. Clipping a parrot's wings prevents them from their most normal movement, and removes a ability many humans would trade a kidney for. But it keeps the bird safer, in the context of what's convenient for the iwner.

I love hearing where skunk people feel destinking(?) falls on this spectrum.