# Mom, look what I found! A porcupine!



## finch (Sep 19, 2011)

We took Finch on an off-leash hike yesterday and a few miles in, we suddenly heard her scream off in the distance. (She tends to let out a scream rather than a bark at things - the first couple times she did this in the woods I thought she was injured or attacked!) Anyway, we called for her a couple times and she came running back but immediately turned around and ran back in the direction she came from. We decided to follow her to investigate. We saw a ton of birds up and fly away so we assumed that's what the fuss was about. But then after several minutes, we found her pointing at a porcupine up in a tree! Boy were we lucky that it didn't shoot any quills at her. We quietly grabbed her, put her leash on and walked her far away before she could run free again. Close call!


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## Aimless1 (Sep 25, 2011)

Porkies are no laughing matter. Even though they don't "shoot" quills, I've had the pleasure of removing quills from three dogs in the field. After the first go round I started carrying surgical forceps to do the job.

Dogs fall into two camps with porcupines. 
Some are like the English Setter I had. The first porkie only made him madder the second time he came across one. The first encounter were mostly supereficial injuries with a few in his mouth. The second encounter I was literally pulling quills from the back of his throat. 
Others are like the two Gordon Setters. Bite once, and that was enough. Stayed clear after that.

You're very fortunate that Finch didn't try to bite the porkie. They kind of waddle, can't see more than a few feet in front of them and are tempting bite targets for field dogs. Hope you never encounter another


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## finch (Sep 19, 2011)

Ahh, I always thought that the quills kind of shoot out of them... that's so good to know. I'm not sure if Finch would try to bite a porcupine or not. She is not a scared dog at all, but she is very slow and cautious when approaching new, strange things. 


We should probably think about putting together a dog first aid kit to keep in the car, and maybe a small one to keep on us while hiking.


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