Dogs and porcupines

http://www.2knowabout.com/dog/how_to_remove_porcupine_quills_from_dogs.php?maxi  

Q:  What's the difference between a porcupine and the Fargo dome during a Bison game?

A:  The porcupine has 19,000 pricks on the OUTSIDE

A 223 does NOT bounce off a porcupine....

You do not have to cut the quills before taking them out.  I have done this numerous times. 

Some will say you have to cut the quills to release air into the quill chamber and then they are easier to remove.  This is NOT factual at all.

You have two choices when a dog gets into a porcupine,

1) if there aren't a lot of quills, remove them yourself with a good leatherman or plyers.  Typically you can hunt the dog once the quills are removed.  Will see a little blood, but usually that clots up within 30 minutes or so. 

2) if there are quite a few quills, the vet will want to sedate the animal before removing the quills.  This means taking the dog out of the field for at least a day because of the sedation.

You did the right thing.

 I have had dogs that had them everywhere. In the tongue, teeth, nose etc. I carry a small but good narrow pliers just for that purpose. I have never had any luck cutting them off first. I just get the dog down as soon as possible and start pulling. I just did this very thing on opening day of pheasant season. Luckily Britt's as a rule will allow you to do this without taking your fingers off. My dog was ready to go hunting immediately after pulling them. However she was not too fired up after the mouth full of quills. She seemed almost happy to have them pulled.

As Dan said, cutting the tis off to let the air out is not valid.   Just grab em and pull.  In a pinch you can take a blanket or sleeping bag and wrap the dog in it to control him without injury.   If there are a lot of quills way back in the throat, just take it to the nearest Vet.

Shorthairs point - they dont get close enough for the quillin!!!

my friend has two labs that just never learn...they have had quills countless times and they don't stop until the porcupine is dead....still they are great hunting dogs and listen very well even to me and i'm not the owner...still think labs are the greatest dogs out there

SHORTHAIRSRUS Said:
Shorthairs point - they dont get close enough for the quillin!!!

I had a shorthair that LOVED to kill small furry things.....I remember a couple times feeling extremely lucky she didn't think a porky was furry. 

I think one of the key things, as mentioned above, is to get the quills out ASAP, before the swelling begins and they are harder to pull out.

My shorthair always tries to put a chase on porkies.  This fall has been the worst. Had to take him to the vet three times for the deep quills.

Jiffy Said:
A 223 does NOT bounce off a porcupine....

not even a tsx???

 I managed to pull my dog off  point twice on opening day when she found porcupines. The third time I saw her point under a old log. I was too far away to get her back. She came back on her own with about 15 quills in her. I did have a 55 pound Brittany male once that just seemed to like getting a mouthful. He used to keep me busy pulling quills every trip to the Badlands. 

5 Shot doesn't exactly bounce off the critters either. 10 feet away and they blow up! 

bluegills24/7 Said:
My shorthair always tries to put a chase on porkies.  This fall has been the worst. Had to take him to the vet three times for the deep quills.

I taught my pointers the old fashion way - they point - I flush or if we have a lab in the group - they do the dirty work.    Usually not a problem - however -- if they move on a pine - dogtra ----60% nick once if they dont back off - then hold down the "correct" button.  Works everytime.