If you ever had the chance to kill a porcupine....

.........and didn't...........somewhere a dog is hating on you.

11:30 last night. I've never seen these two attack ANYTHING so viciously !!! The vet just called with an update. First dog is done. Estimated 600-800 quills. This is gonna be EXPENSIVE !!!

My gut feeling is they'd do it again tonight if they got the chance. Anyone have a method to break them ?? E-training ??

Dang!! One farmer's land I tried snaring on a few years ago gave me permission to use their land, with the exception that I shoot every porcupine that I see. Was told they spent thousands of dollars at the vet getting quills taken out of their dogs over the last couple of years! Hope your dogs mend up fine. As far as training them to avoid porkys....I'd guess that if all those quills don't do it, nothing will!

Looks like that one will be easy prey now shouldn't have much ammo left.

When I was 13 I shot a porcupine with my bow when deer hunting hit it in the neck and it got away. Now I'm In Indiana and we don't have them so my porcupine was actually a groundhog. It went into some brush and I didn't seenit come out. Probably went in a hole and died. It was a long shot for me and my equipment back them around 35 yards and I can still see it like it was yesterday. I still get teased by my cousin who was hunting with me that day.

I kill everyone I see. Not only because of what they do to dogs but they girdle my trees too.

Some dogs learn after the first encounter, others spend a lifetime trying to even the score

Vet just called. Dog #1 is done. Estimated 600-800 quills. I know he had them in his tongue, too..........

Surprisingly, the porky has a lotta quills left on it. A lotta quills and a .380 slug.

Awesome now that's my language for all varmints around here. Actually any means possible club, feet, clips a coon last night with my truck on my way home from getting a swarm trap.

Everyone we see dies as they girdle trees especially our oaks.

Was the porcupine in your yard when the dogs attacked it?

How much does it cost to get a dog dequilled?

I learned my lesson with them. I was hunting birds with a young dog and he came out of some cattails with a couple in his nose . I didn’t go in there and kill him because I was worried the pup might think we hunt them. Well the next season in the exact same spot he gets nailed and comes out and can’t even walked right. He had quills from his chest up and one had pierced a nerve that controlled one leg. Got him right to the vet and 2 surgeries later he came out ok. There was another dog in there that had quills removed the same day but he died a week later from one migrating they think into his heart. A year later one poked out the side of my dogs head. I kill them all.

Had a collie as a kid who always had run ins with porky. Dad would pull them out with his pliers while the dog squirmed around but she always went back for more. Porky where always in season on our farm.

I have always heard that it only goes two ways with a dog that has had a run in with a porky. One, they will attack everyone they see from now on. Or, they will never touch one again.

It was.

I'll let ya know.......................


This ain't gonna be cheap.

I caught one in a fox snare one winter. That’s when I learned they have small quills hiding under their fur around their neck.

I bet it isn't. I'm sorry your dogs had to go through this and that you're gonna have to pay a bill because of it.

Well..................vet called again.

Second dog is done. He "only" had 500-700 quills.

I was bracing when she gave me the bottom line. I was VERY pleasantly surprised !!!!!!!!! Total for both dogs (including the shots they needed updated on, Lyme tests, one dog's nails trimmed and all prescriptions) was only $907. I say "only".............but I was fully prepared for twice that or more. Thank the Lord !!!!

Small price to pay for our kids but it still stings! Glad they're aright.

I'm glad your dogs are okay and the vet bill didn't break the bank. Looks like they might be rottweilers? My daughter has a pair of rotties, knowing her dogs it wouldn't surprise me if they go after another porky.

My last four labs got nailed. Each one only once though. They avoided them after that.

500-700 quills? They must have gone back for more after the initial swat! My worst had 111 in his face and mouth. That was from a single swat. We were grouse hunting and I saw it happen.

As Yellowstone mentioned and I'm sure your vet told you, monitor for migrating quills although I don't think there's much you can do about that.

I got a twelve-week-old lab at home right now. I'm sure she'll get "christened" during the many upcoming upland hunts in north central PA. I'm glad we don't have them here in southeast PA.

They make a nice backing for a pair of mitts.(if you need to give someone a backhander)

Yep. Pair of male Rotts................ 7 and 4 years old.

There wasn't an "initial swat" and then another swat. It was a full blown psycho dog attack. I thought they had a bear. The porcupine was tore up BAD. They wouldn't come off of it. I've never seen ANY dog attack as vicious as what I saw last night.

I can't afford for them to go back for too many more tastes.

Yeah, according to my daughter and what I’ve read, Rottweilers have a pretty high prey drive. I don’t understand why since they were initially herders.

Her older dog, a female, can’t come here anymore. Its first visit it killed one of our chickens that just so happen to escape the pen at the worst possible time. She is too set in her killer ways to change.

Her younger rotty, also a female, has been introduced to our outside cats and our chickens and is pretty good around them. She wears an e-collar while she’s here and we keep a pretty sharp eye on her when she’s outside.

The pack:

I'd much prefer the porcupines to dogs that act like that. I guess a mitigating factor is they were in your yard so you might be able to write off that kind of "psycho" behavior to territoriality I suppose. Regardless I wouldn't own dogs that can't control themselves. I'd be concerned they might lose it and kill some innocent person. Just my opinion of course.

Everyone I see dies I have had a couple of dogs that had to be put down after tangling with one, both because it was blinded






Between 4/500 seems to be average around here, one local vet sells a care package that includes a dequilling and general shots for what’s about twice the cost of the shots, cheep if you need the dequilling part and many hunters or farmers do sooner or later

My old walker absolutely hated the things, when we were out if he was on a track and crossed a porky trail he would actually mark it then after we treed he would run back and track it down, didn’t matter if he was shocked no matter how much till he go his porky

He was a real Pro at killing them to, after the first couple times he never got another quill

Those of you looking to break a dog from them it’s best to do so before they get quilled

Shoot yourself a porky and let your dog investigate it, try and urge them to the point they get stuck, because it’s dead it shouldn’t be in deep and come out easily after a while they will loose interest, you might have to do it a few times but it generally works

If your dog is highly excitable and wants to jump full tilt onto everything you might have to restrain them a bit, you can also use the command NO if their broke to it

There’s something about porkys that for some reason seems to set most dogs off, I don’t know if it’s the smell or that slow waddling walk but it does

Hmmmph.
I guess we all have opinions

I usually removed quills from my coonhounds.. It usually wasn't a pleasant experience for the dog . Made sure it was something , they remembered. Most times once was enough. old243

I porky break mine, it’s not pretty, but neither is getting into a porky real bad.

We were overrun with them 10 years ago. We shot 34 of them on 1500 acres in the late winter. We had a permit for a non commercial shooting preserve….bird dogs were getting hammered hard. One morning before a hunt, I could see three different porcupines in the tree line.

They chewed up the hemlock porch floor of a cabin, chewed the tires off a grain elevator, and gnawed the corners of the log sided camp building. They chewed up brake hoses on parked vehicles, and ate the CDX plywood off of a dozen elevated box blinds.

Other than that , they never caused any problems.

I have not seen porcupines in Virginia.

We all know what opinions are like and why.

The porky WAS on their turf. I had already pitched a dead groundhog outta my front yard that morning. The boys have 5 acres inside of invisible fencing and they patrol ALL OF IT.

As for the same thing happening to an innocent person...................two things:

#1. They are well socialized with people. So long as you are here when you are supposed to be here, you are fine.
#2. Where I live, if you are in my yard (which is well marked "BEWARE OF THE DOGS") without my knowledge...............you most likely aren't innocent.

With about the same damage as the top picture, $100 here. On the button.

I never had a dog get after a Porky. But I did have one get after a Doe and her fawn, the dog figured out on her own that it wasn't a wise choice. But If it would of gone the other way and the doe would of stomped the dog i wouldn't be out killing every doe I ran across.

I have a buddy who has a bird dog that has gotten into porkies. She never got more than maybe 2 dozen quills. His dog is poorly trained and doesn't listen to any command unless its mind is clear. I have no sympathy for his dog or him when it comes to Porkies.

Just My .02

For many years porcupines were protected in PA. It's only the last several years that we have an open season on them. I will usually kill them when I see them unless I'm deer or turkey hunting and don't want the shot to spook game.

I kill every one I see around my camp. As Bigbrownie mentioned, they are very destructive. They have killed multiple hemlocks on my property by nipping the ends of branches off all winter long. They just love girdling the beech saplings I planted along the lane back to camp. I had to replant multiple times then finally had put three-foot tall aluminum tubes up to protect them.

They chew siding and about anything you touch with sweaty hands.

I tried skinning a few. They have surprisingly thin skin, like a rabbit but maybe even thinner.

Glad we don't have them here. My JRT would probably attack every one he ran across.

They really like t 1-11 siding. Or at least they did. SSS

Best of luck with it. Seems those invisible fences may not be all they're cracked up to be. Especially with "psycho" dogs with an obvious high tolerance for pain. It's hard to believe a shock collar would stop a dog that can take what that porky dished out.

Hope you never have to talk to a lawyer like this:
“Generally speaking, the electronic containment system is something that is an illusion of containment,” says Kenneth Phillips, an attorney who specializes in dog-bite cases.

In fact, “electronic containment systems usually are not considered to be any type of boundary fence as required by the ordinances of various cities and counties all over the country,” Phillips says. Municipalities that do include information on electronic fences generally state that they cannot be used for any dog with a history of aggression.

Dunno. The invisible fence has worked flawlessly with them for 4 1/2 years.

The two obviously have a high prey drive. But not toward people. Aggression toward a groundhog or porcupine is poor evidence in court. They are territorial toward people who show up at the wrong time (in the dark or when we're not home). But you'll be MORE than fairly warned by them that you are being given ample opportunity to choose a better place to be.

In the presence of any family member here........... I trust them with anyone's kids.

Yeah..you got off easy for sure.lol

I agree with Drasselt-you should muzzle them if you cant control them,before they maul a small dog or someones kid.
Porky is defending itself in its god given way.

Porkies are lost mans food. Its the only animal you can catch with your hands. I dont kill them for no reason.

That said I have several of them migrate through the yard every summer. Twice they got into my dogs yard, the wolf dog ran to it growling but instinctively knew not to bite it. The malamute is a smart dog but she nipped it once once and got three quills in her nose. one is still there it broke off when I pulled them with a plyers.

I pick them up with leather gloves and relocate them away from the yard.

And I'll keep my home protection guns locked up in the safe at night..............


Porky defended itself in its God-given way. It lost to a pair of dogs defending their turf in their God-given way. Just stinks it costs so much at the vet to remedy it.

With skulls going for 10.00 and hair for 19.00 an ounce..last Jerry got.....They'd be on the harvest list if we had em here.

Simple solution; don't let your dog run loose. I am a dog lover.

i shoot every one i see!! every dog i hunt gets into them, coonhound, cur, beagle, Fiest, don't matter. shot 5 in one night, the last one really screwed up a redbone.