Had a black lab that would chase the ball and bring it back when my daughter and I would play baseball, also would move a soccer ball around with his front legs. Nice smart dog except for porcupines. He and our Sheepdog mix would make their rounds and at least once a week, or so it seemed, they would come home and the lab would have a face full of quills, off to the vet. The sheepdog, who couldn't play ball very well came home once with two quills in his nose I pulled out with my fingers, and he never had another one. That lab was the nicest dog but man, was he stupid when it came to porcupines. I was cooking on the grill by the road and the sheepdog was just lying there waiting for the grilled hotdog. Down the road comes this 40 lb porcupine, the sheepdog stood up and looked, I said something to the effect of don't even think about it, and he laid back down, porcupine went on to the cornfield. Dogs do what dogs do. Our elkhound would bark at deer and turkeys and chase them out of the field next to the house, which was her territory. She had a face to face with a big red coyote once, after that they would talk with a few hundred feet between them.
