My dog did something over the weekend that has earned her some extra treats. I’m not sure she realized it at the time, and I’m not sure how much of it is unintentional, but she still gets extra treats.
On Saturday evening, we were taking a little after supper walk down a dirt road when I spotted something a very short distance ahead. The dog spotted it too, and seemed quite interested. In fact, she took off after this thing. But, I gave a quick yell and told her to come. She stopped and came back.
It was not what I was expecting. I had visions of other events taking place. Like maybe even a trip to the vet. The thing on the side of the road was a porcupine.
Porcupines and dogs really don’t get along all that well. I have no idea why. Maybe it’s the fact that porcupines do not get too excited when they see dogs. They just continue on their way. And most dogs seems to have little idea what might be about to happen. Although some of them should.
My present dog is getting up there. She is no longer young, so she doesn’t go charging after things as she once did. In fact, my calling her back may have been just the excuse she was looking for. But she did come back. And she stayed away from the porcupine.
I specify my present dog, because a previous dog was not like that. My previous dog was determined to find a way to get past those nasty little quills. The first time, we were able to clip the ends and pull them out. However, after that first time, you could not get close to her after she had gotten up close to a porcupine. If the dog saw you with pliers, she was out of there. So there was more than one trip to the vet over the years.
So to say I was surprised was a bit of an understatement. The porcupine may have been surprised too. The dog just enjoyed the extra treats. I only hope she knows what they were for. Because it sure made me a happy dog owner.
