Porcupines 3 Dogs 0

Koty had over 230 quills stuck in his face and on the inside his mouth

Well, it happened again. Our dogs found out that porcupines are nothing to mess with.

Last Friday afternoon I was sitting at the dining room table trying to study when MJ came in and said, “you’re gonna want to kill yourself.” Obviously she was only being sarcastic but, in light of the week we were already having (storms, power outages, snakes in the house, etc.), she thought that what she was about to tell me could quite possibly put me over the edge.

You see over the last couple of years some of our dogs have had run-in’s with porcupines. The problem with that is that “they always lose!” And the result is that they end up with porcupine quills stuck in their bodies (mostly in their faces) and they have to be removed only after sedating them (because it’s too painful to remove them while their awake).

The porcupine quill has tiny barbs all over the ends of each quill that makes
it difficult to pull out once it enters it's victim

The porcupine quill is like a long needle with tiny barbs on the end. So once it pierces into you it’s difficult to just pull it out because all of the tiny little barbs are grabbing hold of the tissue not wanting to let go (kinda like fish hooks). 

And seeing how the most sensitive part on a dog is his nose (and, of course that’s where a majority of the quills are) the dog has to be sedated or it’s too painful to remove them.

Anyway, some of our rescue dogs (yes, we rescue dogs too- like we didn't have enough things to do, right?) found a family of porcupines up near the pavilion and rather than just leaving them alone they decided to try and attack them. And as a result they received 1138 porcupine quills to remind them of the battle! That’s right- 1138 quills! That’s how many had to be removed from their bodies: (

Scruffy was the winner with 238 quills stuck in her face, mouth and head. She even had 2 in her eye!

Thank God we have a friend on the mountain that’s a veterinarian who helps us with our dogs. He came over right away and (after 5 1/2 hours) was able to remove all the quills for us. 

Our friend Michel removing quills from one of our dogs.
It took 5 1/2 hours for him to remove all of the quills from all of the dogs: (

This was the 3rd time that we’ve had porcupine encounters in the last 2 years and each time the dogs have lost. It’s like- “why can't you guys learn!” I mean, it’s painful. It never goes well for you. The outcome is never in your favor so why do you insist on doing the same thing over and over???? 

1138 was the final total of all the quills! Crazy!!!

But if you think about it sometimes we do the same thing, right? We know that there are things that God keeps trying to show us that are harmful to us (spiritually, emotionally, physically, financially, relationally, etc.) that we keep going back to and exposing ourselves to. It’s crazy! Why don't we learn? It’s the same thing as our dogs insisting on trying to battle porcupines- it will ALWAYS be a losing battle.

Well, have a great rest-of-the-week and remember- "Leave the porcupines in your life alone dummy!"

Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly.

        Proverbs 26:11

Love You Guys!

JIm