Chat
09-06-2019, 01:24 PM
Well, we HAD two stanchions. I got a big metal stanchion a few years ago because the wooden stanchion we bought from a friend in 2013 was a little too small for our full-grown girls and (hopelessly small for our boys), but the wooden one still got used on a daily basis and was a good little workhorse.
Not any more.
Yesterday Pluto and Daisy came in with porcupine quills in their faces. Daisy's weren't too bad and since she's smaller I was able to pull the quills out while Phil held her down. Pluto was another matter. Not only did he have a lot more quills, but they were more deeply imbedded, and he had scratched and clawed at them to the point where quite a few of the ones inside his mouth were broken off. There was no way to hold down a dog that size by force, so I put him on the wooden stanchion, locked his head in, and got to work. We were doing pretty well but the pliers I was using were too clumsy to grip some of the smaller, broken-off quill stumps. I ran into the house to grab my assortment of needle-nose jewelry pliers and some hemostats. I thought I could leave Pluto safely on the stanchion for a few minutes, but apparently I was wrong.
I came outside to find Pluto running loose and the headpiece on my little wooden stanchion turned to matchwood. He had literally gnawed his way out of it. It looked like a werewolf had got hold of it! I knew he had powerful jaws, but the way he splintered my stanchion in just a few minutes has given me new respect for those teeth! That board was almost 4 inches wide!
We finished the operation on the metal stanchion, and I was very careful where I put my hands! I got most of the quills. There's still one in his muzzle which is broken off inside and I can only just feel the tip coming through inside his mouth. Hopefully it will work its way in a little more and I can pull it through later today or tomorrow. Silly dogs! Never thought I would have reason to put a dog on the goat stanchion!
Not any more.
Yesterday Pluto and Daisy came in with porcupine quills in their faces. Daisy's weren't too bad and since she's smaller I was able to pull the quills out while Phil held her down. Pluto was another matter. Not only did he have a lot more quills, but they were more deeply imbedded, and he had scratched and clawed at them to the point where quite a few of the ones inside his mouth were broken off. There was no way to hold down a dog that size by force, so I put him on the wooden stanchion, locked his head in, and got to work. We were doing pretty well but the pliers I was using were too clumsy to grip some of the smaller, broken-off quill stumps. I ran into the house to grab my assortment of needle-nose jewelry pliers and some hemostats. I thought I could leave Pluto safely on the stanchion for a few minutes, but apparently I was wrong.
I came outside to find Pluto running loose and the headpiece on my little wooden stanchion turned to matchwood. He had literally gnawed his way out of it. It looked like a werewolf had got hold of it! I knew he had powerful jaws, but the way he splintered my stanchion in just a few minutes has given me new respect for those teeth! That board was almost 4 inches wide!
We finished the operation on the metal stanchion, and I was very careful where I put my hands! I got most of the quills. There's still one in his muzzle which is broken off inside and I can only just feel the tip coming through inside his mouth. Hopefully it will work its way in a little more and I can pull it through later today or tomorrow. Silly dogs! Never thought I would have reason to put a dog on the goat stanchion!