Newbie and need advice

[countryguy]

I'd sooner pull quills out of a 1600 pound animal than my Rottweiler.LOL

[WoolyBear]

We pulled quills from a 550 lb calf (give or take). Put it in the squeeze, pulled up a straw bale seat, brought out some hemostats and went to work. She didn't move a bit (Guess I got lucky), and 50 or so later I was done. Gave her a shot of Pen LA, and Boroform on the nose. Gave her one last look inside her gums with a finger and let her loose. Boy was she glad to get back to her mom.

[grassguy]

Always seems to me people make too big as deal of porcupine quills. A headgate is sure handy though, snub them so they can't swing their head.Dogs are tougher I think, but if you put them in a calf cradle with their head out the headgate you are way ahead.

[cakadu]

Little dogs are tougher to do than big dogs. Our Jack Russell got into the porcupine and the Maremma came to save her. Of course the Jack got a few in her nose and the Maremma took the brunt of it and had quills everywhere. It took us about 2 hours to get the quills out of the Maremma, but at least he was relatively easy - he just wanted the things out. The Jack on the other hand, was snapping, snarling and wiggling the whole time.

Kato, you can probably attest to this - our vet said that there are far more bites from small dogs than big ones.

Fortunately for us, the sheep never seem to bother the porcupines. Touch wood, the dogs haven't been involved with one for quite some time either.

Welcome to the site feathersrun. I hope you find it an enjoyable, informative experience.

[feathersrun]

I have decided after this experience that if I see a head gate come up at auction for a reasonable price I'm buying it.

[kato]

The only dog that ever bit me was a Cocker Spaniel.

As for tricks to get the quills out, there really aren't any. Steady pressure, try not to break them, and on a dog, always check the paws, chest and legs. Sometimes if they are in the lips deep enough, we just pull them through the other side. I've seen them almost into the inside of a dog's throat, and it's very common to be lodged in the gums and tongue.

Some dogs are smarter than others, too. We had one client with an Akita that we swear kept going back for revenge every time he saw a porcupine. He never learned. The only thing that stopped him was that they moved away.

Two of our own dogs have come home with just one quill sticking right out of the end of their noses. You could tell that they had just taken that one sniff. They were smart. They learned, and never got close to one again.