Dog protection

[ChrisT]

Hey all, I just returned from a trip to SoDak and we had a bit of a tough time both with finding birds and keeping our dogs healthy. On the first day one of our dogs got hit by a porcupine ended up having to go to the vet and have 40+ quills removed. The owner is still finding quills that are migrating from the front of his chest all the way to behind his shoulders. I was wondering if anyone hunts with wither the neoprene vests or some other type of chest/ body protection. I am concerned about my dog getting to hot as well.

[mwal]

Neoprene would not help with porkies at all plus it would trap so much body heat you may cause heat stroke for your dog. You could try some of the courdura chest belly protectors. They worked for by Britts but I could never find one that did not make sores on my drahts armpits. I still do not know if they would stop porkie quills. I hit a porkie with a boat trailer and the quills penetrated the tire and it had to be replaced. A tire is much thicker than any vest.

Mwal

[rundrave]

I was wondering if anyone hunts with wither the neoprene vests or some other type of chest/ body protection. I am concerned about my dog getting to hot as well.

A vest wouldn't have made a difference with the porcupine, sure you may have gotten less quils but the vest is not a cure all.

I don't run vests or any sort of protection on my dogs in any type of weather situation for upland hunting. You still get chaffing etc that would rub my dogs raw and I never found a vest that avoided that.

Its part of being a bird dog, after a day in the field their gonna be red, raw and bloody in some areas. I found if you run your dogs in that type of cover during the off season it helps reduce some of the irritations and toughens up the skin but not everyone has that option.

It doesn't seem to bother dogs at all, they just sleep good at night and get up and do it again the next day. They will look like a wreck but it wont slow them down or cause any harm.

The only time I would consider a vest would be for waterfowl hunting in cold water.

[ChrisT]

I was kinda thinking that there aren't many good options out there. Sounds like there are more disadvantages than advantages. Dealing with this freaked me out a little cause a couple days later we were pulling quills out that had gone all the way from the front of his chest to behind his shoulder where we had to puncture the skin with the tip of the quill. Some had moved upwards of 6-8 inches, and I am sure there are more still diggin' in.

[Ryan_V]

I've tried a couple different vests for my gsp. with the amount of exercising they do in the fields, it rubs them raw under the front legs, which is lots worse than what they get from a day afield with no vest. as was stated above, that's part of the games with being a good bird dog, often come home a little bloody.

[Ufatz]

Chris T: if your dog has quills working THAT deep into him please take it to a vet!! If you think there are quills still IN the dog that you can't see please take it to a vet. Quills that are not removed can KILL your dog.

Please call first thing today and get him to a vet.

Okay.....I now see the dog was taken to a vet. But does the vet know you have quills working their way that deep into the dog? I don't want to over-react here, but quills in dogs can be serious business.

On the vests: they can be too hot, they can be to restrictive. I've trid them and ended up tossing them, although I DID like the chest protection feature.

[walleye18]

Ditto to what UFatz said....take the pooch to the vet if quills are still present. Be proactive on this.

Vests.....What I do with my dogs is: When waterfowling - put the vests on when we get to our destinations. This helps eliminate chaffing in the armpits on my dogs. The neopreme vests I have cause alot of chaffing...therefore I try to make it best for the dog - dog doesnt need to walk run with me to the waterfowl spot with the vest on...just needs it when I get there and needs the added warmth, bouyancy when on the water.

Vests for upland....have the cordura material kind. With my dogs and these particular vests, there is no issue with chaffing. They wear them when in the field right out of the kennels.

After a long season of running my dogs (upland), I was amazed at how "beat up/torn" the cordura chest protectors get. But when you think of it, you got barbed wire, sticks, weeds, etc..that the dogs crash thru.

My dogs gotta have them....for both cold water waterfowl hunting and upland hunting. I think they are indispensable and well worth the money.

They will not protect the dogs from porky quills!

[ChrisT]

Thanks guys, I want you all to understand that the dog has been to the vet 3 times now and hopefully all the quills are out, but even the vet could not be sure. There was a vet that lives on the resort we were staying and he did the best he could. After getting home the owner took him to his vet and they did x-rays and could not see anything else, but they don't show up well on those. After seeing what happened with all this I would not wish that to happen to anyone/thing.

[Ufatz]

Okay Chris. Did not want to sound all hysterical but spent most of my life in AK and MT and have seen MANY dog and porky encounters. They are never much fun for the dog or the owner. Had to remove some quills from one of my Labs in the middle of Yukon- not a vet within a hundred miles or more- and it was really tough on me. I think it was less hard on Mike than it was on me!!

At any rate: for those seeing this I want to emphasize that a serious encounter with a quill pig can be dangerous. Don't take it lightly.

Oh! And one further thought: it seems that some dogs learn the FIRST time and some NEVER learn.