Gun Dog Forum

Did you ever do something, that was a lot of fun when you were doing it, but later wished you had restrained yourself?

Almost makes you wonder if they will put that poor thing under while they take all the needles out to avoid the "uncomfortable" biting after the first 2 or 3 being pulled.

Corry

Yeah the vet, knocked him out. He claimed there were 700 quills, Wanted to charge by the quill.

DANG that is a lot of quills! Poor dane, I bet it thinks twice if there is ever another encounter. I hope the vet bill wasn't too bad.

Corry

Up in Nebraska a handful of years back the late, great Showtime's Rolling Thunder rolled in a dead Porcupine before we headed out to the kennels. I can still renember Jim and a client holding Ricky down on the tailgate, going after them. Rick took it especially well... he sure was a great dog. Used to kick me out of bed every night! Haha. They showed me how to take then out. The trick is to clip off the end of the quill to release the vacuum formed by the hollow quill. Makes it a lot easier and leas difficult.

Clipping the end is a wives tale.

^x2

birdshot wrote:Did you ever do something, that was a lot of fun when you were doing it, but later wished you had restrained yourself?

Ummm, yes. All the time. Especially in college.

They euthanized him?

When I was young my dad told me I was smart. Sometimes I think that's an ol' wive's tale, too.

I've taken porcupine quills out of dogs over the years. Luckily, we never had anything like 700 quills! One time our red setter, Ruby, got into them two days in a row when we were hunting in NE Montana - the second time she "must" have done it on purpose. Made us wonder what she had for brains.

The first time one of my dogs stuck their nose on a porcupine, I also had heard about clipping the end, then remove. But, after doing that on a few quills, I realized I was "touching" them twice. Every time I grabbed one (slimy and bloody) with my pliers, the dog winced or cried. So, I figured I would just try and pull it out the first time. The quills came out just as easy as with clipping them first and it went twice as fast and was, of course, half the pain for the dog. That first time I wasn't carrying a multi-tool and we had to go all the way back to the truck for the needle nose pliers.

Brazosvalleyvizslas wrote:They euthanized him?

Ricky? He died in his mid-teens a couple of years ago.

Brazosvalleyvizslas wrote:They euthanized him?

No just anesthetized.

Growing up in a vet clinic, I saw a few good cases like this. There was one dog that was getting stuck pretty regularly. That is, until he was sent home with no pain pills after the third or fourth visit. That seemed to cure him.

Brazosvalleyvizslas wrote:They euthanized him?

No, they held him down on the tailgate while they removed the quills with a needle nose. Rick passed away a few years ago at around ten or eleven. From what I understand he was doing just fine then one day Jim got out of the pickup, turned and hollered for Rick, but he didn't come out. That was all she wrote. The thing I liked most about Rick and his pups was the off switch. They could go all day in the field, but take them inside and they hunkered down and weren't climbing up the walls. The line is almost stoic. Ricky was an anomaly. He was raised on a dairy and Jim said that he'd take milk over a big ol' steak any day of the week. Rick's housemate, Gina, passed away not long before he did and you have to wonder if that had something to do with it. Rick was truly a great dog.

Doug knew him, I would imagine better than I did. A lot of folks knew him and people who didn't even like Clown-bred dogs would be taken with him.

Stoneface wrote:

Brazosvalleyvizslas wrote:They euthanized him?

No, they held him down on the tailgate while they removed the quills with a needle nose. Rick passed away a few years ago at around ten or eleven. From what I understand he was doing just fine then one day Jim got out of the pickup, turned and hollered for Rick, but he didn't come out. That was all she wrote. The thing I liked most about Rick and his pups was the off switch. They could go all day in the field, but take them inside and they hunkered down and weren't climbing up the walls. The line is almost stoic. Ricky was an anomaly. He was raised on a dairy and Jim said that he'd take milk over a big ol' steak any day of the week. Rick's housemate, Gina, passed away not long before he did and you have to wonder if that had something to do with it. Rick was truly a great dog.

Doug knew him, I would imagine better than I did. A lot of folks knew him and people who didn't even like Clown-bred dogs would be taken with him.

Ricky was pulled of retirement and returned to field trialing at age eleven and my son of his was born sometime around his twelth birthday from a live breeding.

Stoneface wrote:

Brazosvalleyvizslas wrote:They euthanized him?

No, they held him down on the tailgate while they removed the quills with a needle nose. Rick passed away a few years ago at around ten or eleven. From what I understand he was doing just fine then one day Jim got out of the pickup, turned and hollered for Rick, but he didn't come out. That was all she wrote. The thing I liked most about Rick and his pups was the off switch. They could go all day in the field, but take them inside and they hunkered down and weren't climbing up the walls. The line is almost stoic. Ricky was an anomaly. He was raised on a dairy and Jim said that he'd take milk over a big ol' steak any day of the week. Rick's housemate, Gina, passed away not long before he did and you have to wonder if that had something to do with it. Rick was truly a great dog.

Doug knew him, I would imagine better than I did. A lot of folks knew him and people who didn't even like Clown-bred dogs would be taken with him.

It's off topic, so I apologize beforehand. The spring of 2010 was a somber one at Wild West Kennels. First my Rocky dog who was with Jim for 5 years, developed cancer and had to be put down on Good Friday. Gina, who was the dog that made a name for Jim, had to be put down the following Monday. I'm not sure exactly when Rick passed, but it wasn't too long after those two. I didn't find out until a while later when Rhonda told me. I know it was too much for Jim to talk about. He was already broken up from Rock and Gina.

Rick was definately an anomaly. Slept in the bed with strangers and friends alike, cool as a cucumber inside and a ball of fire in a trial. Some thing else that was pretty cool. Whenever a dog was running loose around the kennels all of the dogs would just go ballistic. When it was Rick running around, there was nary a peep from anyone! They all definately knew he was the king of the kennel even though he lived inside, and showed him that respect. You could put that dog outside to pee and he would just hang out outside in the unfenced yard forever. (How many others have an AA dog or any other dog that they would trust to do that?) Not me for sure!

I could go on all day, but I need to stop because I can't see through the tears anymore. Those were 3 really good dogs that I had the pleasure to be around more than most. When they passed, each one fealt as if it were my own. Broke my heart and still does.

RIP Good Dogs!!

Doug

Stoneface wrote:Up in Nebraska a handful of years back the late, great Showtime's Rolling Thunder rolled in a dead Porcupine before we headed out to the kennels. I can still renember Jim and a client holding Ricky down on the tailgate, going after them. Rick took it especially well... he sure was a great dog. Used to kick me out of bed every night! Haha. They showed me how to take then out. The trick is to clip off the end of the quill to release the vacuum formed by the hollow quill. Makes it a lot easier and leas difficult.

I don't know if anyone told you yet or not, but that "trick" doesn't work. Problem is the black part is really hard and bony. It's the hard part holding in the quill. Under a micro scope it looks like a harpoon. Cutting the end off the white part does nothing other than take the end off the white part. By the way, the best tool I found for pulling quills is a surgical clamp. Stick it in your bird vest and clamp it onto the vest itself. The one about 6" is better than the short one.

Doug - very sad to hear about those dogs, and thanks for sharing a couple of good stories with us!

Corry