Wickenburg AZ, a couple years ago. How can dogs run so easily through the desert? For years, my miniature poodle scampered between the cacti while only suffering one mild incident. So it isn't surprising that when we came to Wickenburg AZ we weren't expecting anything but some nice desert hikes and scenery. Indeed, we found a nice wide dry wash behind the RV campsite. I took a shortcut back to the trailer, late one afternoon. The little dog went ahead.
When I came out of the dry wash the little dog was bucking violently at something. He had three sticker balls on his forelegs, and more in his lip. He was wildly panicked, and I was just as bad. But at least there wasn't a lot of blood on his mouth even though there were spines inside his mouth.
My only thought was to do nothing that made it worse! Panic is something you have to get out of one notch at a time. A dog goes for stickers on his leg with the mouth, so I flicked the remaining ones off of his legs with a comb, which they say that you should always have in the desert for occasions like this.
The other thing they recommend are tweezers, but they were useless. My only option was to pull the spines out of his lip with my fingers. After that he seemed to calm down a little. But spines were still in his mouth. I couldn't think of what to do.
What came out of his mouth was astonishing--not blood like you'd expect, nor green vomit like in the movie "The Exorcist," although his head was still bucking violently like the possessed girl in the movie. It was saliva that absolutely poured out of his mouth.
He calmed down a little. Either the saliva had loosened the spines and he licked them out, or the saliva softened them and he swallowed them. I didn't stop worrying until I saw no blood in his stool.
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Opuntia bigelovii. It sounds like such a friendly plant. Some people call it Teddy Bear cholla (CHOY-uh) since its arms and legs are covered with fur, just like a cute little teddy bear.
Fur, huh? Look more closely:
Most cactus doesn't mess with you unless you walk right into it. But cholla breaks off in three inch segments. Teddy Bears are almost deciduous with their segments.
It's impossible to run through a carpet like this without being ruined. The segments roll around and blow away from the mother plant. And that is what gets the dogs.
Think of that scene in one of the "Alien" movies when Sigourney Weaver finds the nest, with the Great Mother Alien guarding her offspring. And then Sigourney blasts them with a flame thrower.
This hateful plant produces seeds. Recall Sigourney's dream of an Alien irrupting from her convulsing stomach:
The risk of teddy bear cholla can be managed with needle nose pliers -- included in some mini-multitools, a comb, and a dog leash. There is no reason to let them keep you from enjoying the desert.
When I came out of the dry wash the little dog was bucking violently at something. He had three sticker balls on his forelegs, and more in his lip. He was wildly panicked, and I was just as bad. But at least there wasn't a lot of blood on his mouth even though there were spines inside his mouth.
My only thought was to do nothing that made it worse! Panic is something you have to get out of one notch at a time. A dog goes for stickers on his leg with the mouth, so I flicked the remaining ones off of his legs with a comb, which they say that you should always have in the desert for occasions like this.
The other thing they recommend are tweezers, but they were useless. My only option was to pull the spines out of his lip with my fingers. After that he seemed to calm down a little. But spines were still in his mouth. I couldn't think of what to do.
What came out of his mouth was astonishing--not blood like you'd expect, nor green vomit like in the movie "The Exorcist," although his head was still bucking violently like the possessed girl in the movie. It was saliva that absolutely poured out of his mouth.
He calmed down a little. Either the saliva had loosened the spines and he licked them out, or the saliva softened them and he swallowed them. I didn't stop worrying until I saw no blood in his stool.
_____________________________________________________
Opuntia bigelovii. It sounds like such a friendly plant. Some people call it Teddy Bear cholla (CHOY-uh) since its arms and legs are covered with fur, just like a cute little teddy bear.
Fur, huh? Look more closely:
Most cactus doesn't mess with you unless you walk right into it. But cholla breaks off in three inch segments. Teddy Bears are almost deciduous with their segments.
It's impossible to run through a carpet like this without being ruined. The segments roll around and blow away from the mother plant. And that is what gets the dogs.
Think of that scene in one of the "Alien" movies when Sigourney Weaver finds the nest, with the Great Mother Alien guarding her offspring. And then Sigourney blasts them with a flame thrower.
This hateful plant produces seeds. Recall Sigourney's dream of an Alien irrupting from her convulsing stomach:
Comments
I always carried a pair of pliers. When Paws and Rocky got into cholla, they come back to me so I could remove them.
I savored their exuberant joy at running free in the desert.
Indeed, dogs like running on desert dirt and sand as much as the beach.