Wilson vs. Cactus

Well, Little Willie did it again. I swear he's magnetized. If there is a dangerous item within view, he will find it.....read on..

This weekend my wife and I figured it would be a great idea to take the pups to the beach. Dogs are not allowed on the sand during the summer, as no one needs to be stepping in sand coated dog poops. The sign went up a few weeks ago stating that dogs would be allowed on the sand after such and such a date.::::COOL:::::

Now..... we got the dogs ready for take-out and headed to our favorite beach located just 15 minutes away from home. What a beautiful day it was. There were a few pondering clouds, yet the sun was casting it's warm rays politely on the bathers below. The late season tanning index is quite a bit lower, so the fear of toasting the hounds was not an issue or even a thought. (Do they make sun block for dogs?). I gotta tell ya, the dogs were having a blast. Wilson's nose was plowing through the sand like a snow plow in a blizzard. Trixie was in awe, looking at the vast body of water, churning and spraying mist in her direction. I was walking Trixie and I must say she put up quite a fight as she barrelled through the sand like a blood hound. They were both speechless to the point that neither dog, as much as, made a single bark. Our stay on the sand was brief. We made a quick visit to the waves just shy of getting wet, and returned back to the small concession area slash board walk.

Wilson however, was not ready to pack it in. He continued to mosey along the perimeter of the dunes. He gets this way sometimes, as he really likes to absorb his surroundings and take it all in by putting his nose to the ground and sniffing EVERYTHING. Just then my wife spotted Wilson limping on 3 legs.

"Oh no, Wilson has something wrong with his foot, he's hurt" she said.

Let me just fill you in briefly about his previous foot episode. He managed to get his foot caught in a metal grate that surrounded a tree. He ended up with a nice little cut and almost ripped his foot off trying to escape the clutches of the iron grid. No vet visit was necessary for this injury.

Back to the story....... My wife quickly lifted him up as I focused in on his tiny little paw. Off to the edge of his paw was, what seemed to be, a small pea sized, round thing with spikes sticking out if it. Good lord!! A baby porcupine? No..it was much smaller than that...it was a cactus of some type. Wilson let out a low audible yelp as I quickly, without hesitation, plucked the intruder from his foot. He then crawled further into my wife's arms seeking comfort and safety from the unknown dangers that could be waiting for him in the sand. He was ready to go home. The dogs were completely silent on the way home. My wife actually asked me to check to see if they were OK as there was no movement in their carry bag. I quietly peeked in and saw them both napping from exhaustion.

Sorry, but there is no picture this time. I was unable to open my cell phone and perform the extraction at the same time. The funny thing about this object was, the place we took the dogs is a retired military sight with buried land mines, left over from who knows what war. You are not allowed to stray from the walking paths because they don't want anyone finding one, the hard way. This thing that was stuck to his foot also resembled a bomb, the kind you would see in the ocean floating around waiting for enemy sea vessels...... phew..... Even if it was a little bomb, I dought it would have done more than blow off a patch of hair. Wilson takes care of hair removal simply by licking his feet. No bombs required.