Dog's Nose Meets Porcupine

Poor Teddy is Rose's golden retriever. After the hunting trip, Danny and Hannah had brought him from Colorado up here to South Dakota for a few weeks to be around our dog, Aspen, so that hopefully in a couple months there will be puppies.  

Teddy did his job well, and we assume there will be puppies down the road, but then--there was last night.

 

  When the family arrived back home from church, this is the sight that met their eyes at the gate. Teddy, like a nosy busybody, had stuck his nose into business that did not belong to him.

We don't know where Mr. or Mrs. Porky went, but Teddy was escorted into the house--where he isn't usually allowed.  

The sheer number of quills sent the children into despair. 

"Could we take him to the vet?" they asked.

"It's closed," I said. And that was that.

We had to figure out how to do this job ourselves.

Danny became master of quill pulling!

We had to pull out over fifty quills, not just from the poor dog's nose, but from the roof--yes, the roof of his mouth.  

You try to pull porcupine quills from the roof of a dog's mouth when he is hurting like crazy! 

My three brave braves and bravesses (is that a word?) or shall we say squaws, did a fantastic job, one quill at a time.

Teddy was totally amazing.  

After each quill pulled, we'd cheer, and Teddy would get a little break to shake his head and trot around the corner of the kitchen, into the hall and back again. Once those quills inside his mouth were out,  he was able to drink water from a bucket and enjoy a few bites of table scraps. 

The whole family worked with that poor dog for nearly two and a half hours. Occasionally, Danny would be able to yank two quills out at once, and once he got three at once. Did we ever cheer on that one! We finally got to bed about 11 o'clock, with still a few quills not pulled out, but we were exhausted, and so was the dog. The dog had been jerking his head away as soon as he sensed the pliers coming near, but he had become so tired that his eyes were closing, and while his eyes were closed in between each pull, Danny was able to yank just a few more quills before giving up for the night. 

 In the morning, a fat stick in the dog's mouth did the trick so that Danny could pull a few more quills.
"A stick is like Teddy's security blanket!" Rose laughed on family Signal chat. 

Danny deserves a gold medal, but so does Teddy!

As for the quills, they are sitting in Danny's room, ready to take to a Lakota native who does quilling. He makes expensive jewelry and other things from porcupine quills, and our pastor's wife suggested we take the quills to him. He has taught quilling in the local native college. 

Hopefully Teddy will behave himself after this, and not stick his nose where he has no business sticking it.