It is almost 90 degrees here as I write this. I hate sticky heat, makes me feel tired, sleepy and like I might have traveled back to So. Ill for a visit. But today is the day!
I am going out to Central Massachusetts to try to find a porcupine I can use to teach my dogs to avoid these horrible creatures. When we were skijoring in Maine after the Bridgton Musher's Bowl we found the one in this series of images. Luckily, I could tell the dogs were scenting something and I was able to stop Tikko in time. He shivered and shook watching that thing with intention. I had no doubt he would have gone after it in a second if I let him. In my observations, Tessa follows closely but never close enough to get quilled. She's learned, but it doesn't help Tikko to have an excited quill-wise sister accompany him in the chase but not he pain.
Running in Acadia we found a huge 25 lber. It was right in the middle of the trail. Tikko snagged it by the neck, shook twice and spit it out, minus about 15 quills. Andrew made a frantic grab for a dog and snagged Tessa. I wasn't quick enough to get Tikko, and he went in one more time and got a few more quills. Finally, I managed to grab his collar, and he realized what had become of his mouth- full of quills. Ouch! Quills also in his side, neck and a front and back foot. Porkie pig lay dead. I've had too many huskies now to feel too sad for the things they kill. It's nature's way, I guess.
However, it is not nature's way for me to pay $250 every time my dog gets quilled. It's also not nature's way to let a dog get away with this kind of thing more than three times. So I'm kicking nature out of the picture, replacing it with a high end shock collar (that also vibrates by the way) and going on a quest to aversion train my crazy husky before he gets any older. It's so hot that all the critters might be denned up, but today's my last chance before another work week goes by. Luckily for everyone involved, I haven't seen any around our normal boring running spots in Wayland.
I plan to video as much as I can, assuming I get some porki action.
If it all works, it might be a good small business proposition, though the vets might try to run me out of business. They make good money removing quills!
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