Porcupines DO NOT make good play buddies!!

Well, Lenny had his first encounter with a porcupine this afternoon at my girlfriend's near Peterborough, ON.

We were out for a walk through the fields behind her house, and he took off into the woods. Next thing, I hear him yelping . . .wasn't sure if he was hurt or not b/c he also yelps like that when he sees a squirrel in the trees above him. I whistled, and whistled, and finally he came out of the woods (not moving very quickly) and pawing franticly at his muzzle. I thought, oh f***, what has he gotten into . . . .then as he got closer I could see what it was. The left side of his face, his left shoulder & part way down his left leg all had quills, and his mouth was FULL of quills!!! It was horrible. We got back to the house & my girlfriend called the Vet service in Peterborough; the on-call vet called back in about 5 mins and so we were off to Peterborough to get the quills removed.

Lenny was a very, very good boy throughout the whole ordeal. He was very well-behaved and even let the vet take a quick peek inside his mouth to see the damage. We needed to leave him there for about an hour, so we went to the new Costco in town, which my girlfriend had never been to, and looked around there.

When we got back to pick Lenny up, the vet said there were alot in, right through, and under his tongue & there had been a lot of bleeding. She said there is one in his chin & one in his cheek that she had to cut, and she said they will likely abcess & then the quill can be removed which will relieve the abcess. So, I have to keep an eye on those and any other unusual swelling that may occur.

Lenny was a bit like a drunk sailor when we picked him up so when we got back to her house, he snoozed on his blanket while we had some dinner & played cards. He is sleeping contentedly now in his bed upstairs. He has perked up some since we picked him up and should be fine by morning. He is on antibiotics for 10 days.

I told him yesterday that we were going on a big adventure today, but I certainly did not have this in mind! I hope we never go through this again!! My other two dogs, Ranii & Scalla never did run into a porcupine, but they did get mixed up with a skunk a time or two.

It seems to be prime porcupine territory at my girlfriend's so I think I will be much more careful where Lenny ventures when we visit there. I would never have considered running into a porcupine on a cold winter's day!

To the Woods on Boxing Day 2008

Lenny is always on the lookout for squirrels!!

I just love the ice formations on the creek

I think there's something in those trees!

This beautiful woods is only 2 mins from our house!

After our walk in the woods, we drove down to the lake to see the waves as it was a VERY windy day - lots of homes in Ontario lost power for several days after this wind storm!

Unfortunately, the battery on my camera died after just two pics!