Attack of the Rock-chuck!

Today Brutus and Sadie were hunting something in the pallets where the winter hay is kept.  They were really going after it and whining - just bursting to get at whatever it was!  So Mom and I went over there to see what it was and then suddenly Brutus started yelping like he had gotten shocked on the electric line or something.  And we didn't see anything wrong with him at first sight so we pulled some of the hay bales away and tried to see what they were after.  I saw a little nose and it looked like the body of a little 5 inch long porcupine!

Anyways, by that time we had noticed that Brutus's paw was bleeding, so we took him up to the house to clean it off and put blood stop powder on it.  The whole way up there every time he would step blood would squish out on to the road - so there is a trail all the way up to the house.  We cleaned it in a bucket of clean water and tried to put the blood stop powder on it but it was still gushing.  It was sliced deep into his pad and part of the way in between two of the pads.  So we poured peroxide on it and me and mom both had to sit on him to do that because I'm sure it stung like crazy and he is a big hundred pound dog.  Then we bandaged it and made him lay down in the house so he wouldn't make it bleed more while Mom and Caleb went and shot the porcupine.  But it turned out to be a huge 1 1/2 foot long rock-chuck!  Me and Mom had just seen it's head, and thought it was the whole body!  Fat as could be too!  It took 3 shots to kill it, at close range (well maybe it only took one, but Caleb was having fun!)  Poor Caleb was still asleep -and Mom yelled "Caleb - get up and get your gun, I need you to kill somethin' for me!"  We called the vet because we were worried about rabies.  So poor Brutus had to go get stitches and a rabies shot :(

Here is our homemade bandage :) Well you can't tell how cool it is because of the sock over it!

It's gigantic!  Caleb shot it and Mom was so upset that she kept saying "shoot it!  shoot it again!" until he had shot it 3 times :)

 

Here he is after the vet visit - he was zonked out on the floor for the rest of the day from the anesthesia - What a good boy!!   Oh ya and Caleb did pretty good, too!