Cooper post cactus encounter. The spines were actually in his leg and flank.

It’s got to be hard to be my dog. There’s snow on the ground, now, but it turns out that cactus still reside under it and so do their spines. Cooper took a digger yesterday and must have skidded right across one. I noticed a few spines after we were done training but didn’t see the fine hair-like spines that were stuck in his leg and belly by the hundred. When I got home last night, poor Cooper looked like a Shar Pei and couldn’t hold down his dinner. I gave him two Bendryl (to bring down the swelling from his alergic reaction) and started plucking out the spines with tweezers. Three hours later, I’d gotten most of the spines out and the swelling had started to go down. This morning, we went to the vet who said more Benadryl and rest. Cooper thanked the nice man by barfing on his floor. Hopefully the little man’s back on his feet by tomorrow.