[quote=RimfireArtist][quote=T_Inman]
As far as birds running out in front of the dogs, I am talking the long distant runners. The ones that won't let a dog within 1-200+ yards from him and they flush that far away if they run out of cover. They often do that with just people pushing them too, however there's pretty much no chance of a dog getting that kind of a bird cornered, no matter how good that dog is. I guess I could be wrong but I believe some educated birds can sense a dog actively tracking them, and act differently than they do when a person is just walking by. Maybe it has something to do with whatever wild dogs there are in China or wherever they originated from. I dunno but it is something I have come to believe after hunting them for so many years in so many places and situations.
You know, you're saying some pretty weird stuff. I have never seen a bird that would not let my dog within 100 yards of him. But even if such alert and skittish birds did exist, how are you going to get within shooting range? If the dog can't get up on them, you sure aren't.
Porcupines....ya....normally we just cut the quills and then yank them out and go about our day, but the example I gave was when my springer landed on one. He had quills jammed up in his lungs, not just in his mouth/snout/ears. Luckily we were only an hour or so from town when that happened.
"Jammed up in his LUNGS?" So the quills penetrated the skin and rib-cage and were into the LUNGS. I'm sorry but that is the most ridiculous thing I've heard in a long while. The only reason I can think of for you to say something like that is that the vet TOLD you the dog had quills into his lungs. But if so, that happened during the ride to the vet. Right after the encounter there would have been no quills far into muscle, but the barbs on the quills make them work in fast. This is why I tell people you better be ready to extract all the quills yourself, on the spot, because waiting until you can get to a vet may have a very bad result.
I did have a shorthair accidentally come down on a porcupine once while bounding through high grass. He had quills in his side, leg and foot, but those quills were all much, much easier to remove than ones in the mouth of a dog that has bitten a porcupine.
I've heard of cutting quills and even tried it once years ago when I was green at it. I don't do it now because it is a waste of time, and time is a very valuable commodity when you've got a dog with quills in it.
