pointers attack porcupines, counter intuitive .

On my lease in N. Ok., Some of the dogs will attack porcupines ---------- they come out with 50-100 needles ( or whatever they are called) stuck in their face. Pulling them out is a major challenge, stuck inside of their mouths and everywhere else on their face. I would have thought that the dog would learn his lesson and avoid porcupines from now on, but it is the opposite,, they become obsessed and instantly attack again when they see one. Seems counter intuitive to me.

I remember a trip up to North Dakota to hunt sharpies and Huns. There were several of us and I only had one pointer named Peaches. I starve in the truck when the others made a loop without Peaches and me. I saw this big male pointer stacked up on a pointe on a ridge. He held the point forever. Guess what. Lets just say the Letterman Tool came in handy. Never leave home without it.

Sadly the dogs that find them seem to go back time after time. But if you have one take a good pair if scissors and cut off the end of each quill. Don't know if it lets some air out or something else but makes them much easier to pull out.

I had a German Wirehair that was the same way with skunks...you would think that they would learn after 1 or 2 episodes...got to where she would attack, get sprayed full in the face, vomit from the spray, and dive right back in...went through a lot of tomato soup when she was in her "skunk phase"...eventually she/we had killed every skunk in the area...never smelled them around the place again!!!

'Manager of a ranch I leased a spot on had a GSP pup given to him by one of the other hunters. It wouldn't stop hunting porcupines. The 4th time he put it down himself. Sad deal, but some folks don't have unlimited time and/or money to deal with such things.

Painful to watch