It was one of the first beautiful days of the summer. The perfect weather for a dog walk in my favourite local conservation area. So Taylor Ann, one of my employees who lives near by, and I took her 2 dogs and my 4 dogs to the park for a walk. We were just commenting on how beautiful and peaceful it was, when things changed in an instant!
This park is a beautiful wooded park with lots of water and walking trails. My dogs are great at staying fairly close by, but with huskies and their strong prey drive, I never know when they are going to follow a scent or chase a wild animal of some kind. I had noticed that 3 of them - Trey, Sura and Jackson - were all suddenly in the trees running circles around a fallen tree. Abby, being the good, slow, sniffing girl that she is, was no where near them. I first thought that they had likely found a squirrel and were having some fun with it before it would dash up a tree, but then Trey barked. Trey NEVER barks, unless he has found a live animal that he wants to chase/kill. Once I heard him bark I took the situation a bit more seriously and followed them into the trees. Sure enough, the three of them were chasing something and circling around and around while whatever it was had taken cover under the fallen tree. Then Sura suddenly leaped over the tree and picked up the animal and I saw her shake it back and forth in her mouth several times... then Trey tried to grab it from her. She then dropped it, and both of them actually left it alone once I got there. They ran off and I took a look to find what I thought was a baby raccoon - it had raccoon teeth. I told Taylor Ann they had killed the poor little thing, and was just thinking of how I could discard it so that they couldn't get it again. I wasn't even thinking about the dogs at this point because the situation seemed to be over. Nope!
I decided to put the baby in a bag and carry it out of the park to throw it in a garbage bin. When I went to pick it up, I got a quill in my thumb. It then hit me... this is a baby porcupine! At the same time Taylor Ann says "I think Sura has quills in her mouth." Sure enough... there was Sura pawing at her pretty face and trying desperately to get the quills out. I left the baby to try to get her because I knew with way she picked it up, this was going to be bad. And then I saw Sura swim... for the first time ever. She kept going back into the water and swimming around, diving her face into the water because it hurt her so much. My poor girl! Her mouth, tongue and muzzle were FULL of quills. This was bad. Very bad. All I could think about was how far we were from the car. After several attempts, I was finally able to loop a leash over her head and get her out so that I could keep a hold of her until we could get out of the park. I knew Jackson and Trey weren't as bad but was concerned about Trey because I saw him grab the baby from Sura's mouth. So I gave Sura to Taylor Ann to hold onto and tried to catch Trey. Around and around and around the tree we went - he did not want to be caught. They were obviously distressed and didn't get that I was trying to help them. I finally got close enough to him to grab his tail and I held on so that he would stay still and I got him on a leash. Phew! All that took a good 10 minutes... and Sura was still pawing at her face.
I gave Trey to Taylor Ann and asked her to walk him out of the park, and I took Sura. Abby and Jackson stayed off leash and kept up with us. A minor miracle from slow poke Abby but I think she knew something was not good. It took us 30 minutes of hauling ass without actually running to get out of the park. I don't think I've ever been so thankful for all of my conditioning from my runs. Taylor Ann was struggling as she had Trey and her dog on a leash and they kept tying her up in trees! But we managed to get out of the path in the woods and onto the main path that is easier to walk on. Poor Sura - I had to practically strangle her to keep her head away from her paws and keep her walking. I had called my vet and told them we were on our way and as usual... they were gracious and said to come right over.
The drive to the vet was fun! I tried to hold onto Sura who was half in the back seat and half in the front, so that I could control how much she was pawing her face. It was a stuggle at first, but then she gave up and just rested her head on the door, panting. I felt so bad for her and got to the vet as quickly as I could. I knew she would have to be sedated but wasn't sure about Trey and Jackson. With a quick look at them before I left the park I could see they both had quills, but only a couple of dozen each. I was hoping they'd let us take them out without sedation. Nope!
As soon as we got to the vet they took Sura and sedated her right away. She was distressed, had blood on her face and paws by now, and quills in her paws from scratching at her face. She couldn't close her mouth she had so many quills! It was determined that Jackson and Trey also needed sedation because of where the quills were. So at 3:15 pm, over an hour after it happened, I left them and took Abby home to wait for the phone call that they were done.
Home is very quiet with only Abby and Oscar. I think Abby was thinking "Finally - got rid of those 3! I knew it would happen!"
At 7:30 pm I hadn't heard from the vet yet but I knew they closed at 8 so I left to pick up my kids. I've never seen such dopey dogs - Trey and Jackson were definitely stoned! They could barely give me a "hello" and jump in the car. But Sura - it was like nothing had happened! It took 2 people 40 minutes to take over 200 quills out of her muzzle and mouth and she came bouncing out of the clinic and was happy to see me. She even wanted to play with a toy when we got home. That dog is incredible!
I know what you are thinking... what was the vet bill??? I was worried about the same thing and assumed it would be about $1000 for all three dogs. But not once was I angry or upset with my dogs. I've had people ask me if I was mad about the situation, and if I would not let my dogs off leash again, and if in that moment I wondered to myself "why do I have dogs?". And honestly I can say that not once was I mad or did I consider not going back to that park. I have good dogs. I have healthy dogs. And I have 4 dogs that need to run. I have very few vet bills for my dogs. I've chosen a life style that includes long walks with my dogs in the woods. I've chosen high energy dogs (well, except for Abby :) who have a high prey drive and I know whenever I let them of leash in a wooded area, I'm taking the chance of an encounter with wildlife that may end up with a vet bill. And the bill was only $727. Incredible! I love this vet clinic - they only do what is necessary, they have reasonable prices, and they are always very friendly. Don't get me wrong, I'm not happy that was a $727 walk, but it could have been worse. And I'm sure some day it may happen again.
The next day I dropped my cell phone and cracked the screen. I was WAY more pissed off about the $50 to fix that than my vet bill.
I love my dogs.
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