Alligators can CLIMB? Omigod, I already had nightmares about alligators..........this is unwelcome new information! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

Speaking of gators... I was walking my dog around a small lake in my neighborhood a lil while ago... my dog was on a long line and sniffing around the lake, silly me thought that living in a nice community with a home owners association meant that the lakes were safe... not 10ft away from my dog i see something jump outta the water, I yanked the long line as hard as I could to get my pup away from the water, I look over to where I saw the movement n there were 2 gator eyes staring back at me, all I could see was the eyes, I don't know how big he was, I'd say young but big enough to be away from mommy. Ofcourse, fish & game won't do anything about it, I warned another dog walking neighbor about it n she said "oh yeah we've been trying to get that gator outta here for a long time".... I think the gator found its way over to Big Sand Lake (if anyone is familiar with the Orlando area) because I saw gator eyes staring at me over there too about a month later.

So yeah that was my close call with gators and my dog, the gator wasn't trying to get my dog but he was close enough to him to scare the poop outta me.

The picture of that poor bull terrier is so bad that it's considered an urban legend already.
Here's a link to a site with more information about that poor dog:
http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/porcupinedog.asp

QUOTing Will: The picture of that poor bull terrier is so bad that it's considered an urban legend already. END

I had heard rumors that she was doing OK after long surgical procedures, and it's great to have this link to some details. For a long time there was only the terrible photo.

Certain breeds have two things working in them: a greater tolerance for pain than usual, and the characteristic of perseverance. APBTs and (for example) Border Terriers are both known for both qualities. In the case of run-ins with porcupines, these qualities can backfire. I have mentioned that my daughter's BT (from a line of working champions) had to be pulled out by two people when he tried to go back in after the porcupine, even after he had a faceful of quills. I think the only reason he didn't end up as bad as that poor APBT was that he had two humans with him who didn't let him do what his rage and adrenaline urged him to do, which was to stay in there and fight.

Our 15 year old dog, Khan, got into it with a Porky one night (his 7th fight) just as we were hitting the sack. I asked my husband if that was Khan barking and he couldn't hear anything. I was sure it was him, but the barking wasn't coming from his kennel. To make a long story longer, I jumped out of bed, put on slippers and ran straight out of the house. As I neared the barn I could hear his frantic snarling. I was sure he was being attacked by a pack of coyotes. I ran back to our shop, grabbed an axe and headed to the timber.

There is a huge wild plum thicket and I could hear mucho noise under the limbs. I crawled under until I could see Khan and he was using his shoulders to hammer a porky against the ground. By this time my husband showed up with a flashlight and pistol and was shocked by what he saw. Khan was so full of quills that he couldn't walk on his pads or bite the thing any longer. So, he was using his shoulders and hips to hammer away at it.

I clipped on Khan colar and my husband began to drag him out of the thicket as I shot the porky. What a mess. We got him to the vet and it took 7 hours to remove the quills. He had them jammed into his juglar and completely through the tissue in his legs. God it was horrible.

He continued to pump out quills for 3 months and seemed to get slower and slower. We were worried. One day I was laying down with him and felt a sharp point right above his breast bone and below his neck. It kept going away, so I marked the spot with a marker. We took him to Washington State Vet School the next day and they did emergency surgery. A quill had managed to make a tissue passage b/n outer layer of skin and inside of his lung. Air was amassing in his chest. The quill was removed and he rapidly improved.

Our other GSD won't touch porky's. Smart, since he watched what happened to Khan. The vet said it was the worst case he had ever dealt with. We had to put Khan down a year and half later due to failing liver, but at least he got the best of that porky. A great dog, but not so bright when it came to quills. He would have been better off never learning to climb out of that kennel!