Grass Awn's - DEADLY for your dog

Another plant threat -- last season in SD I noticed my shorthair picking something off his lower hind leg. Next instant he's struggling to swallow whatever it was. Pryed his mouth open and it was a pp-cactus bud about an inch long, thorns sticking out everywhere, nearly down his throat. I have a pair of nn-pliers on me at all times when hunting and was able to extract it.

I don't know what would happen if he'd gotten it down farther but it seems like it would likely have caused a major problem.

Thanks to everyone posting in this thread!
 
For a longer, wavier haired dog such as my French Brittany, is it better to keep her hair longer to offer protection against abrasive, pointy and sticky vegetation for my South Dakota trip the second week of November, or should I get her a summer buzz cut on the idea things like grass awns might not entangle as badly in the hair and pull themselves in where they may penetrate the skin? Thanks in advance for your opinions.
 
Thinblueline said:
For a longer, wavier haired dog such as my French Brittany, is it better to keep her hair longer to offer protection against abrasive, pointy and sticky vegetation for my South Dakota trip the second week of November, or should I get her a summer buzz cut on the idea things like grass awns might not entangle as badly in the hair and pull themselves in where they may penetrate the skin? Thanks in advance for your opinions.
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I would go for the shorter fur option. Cockleburs love long hair.
 
I've never had any issues with Grass Awns in NW KS but a couple of years ago my dog got some wheat straw struck in her nose. We were hunting a harvested wheat field across the road from the farmhouse when she started sneezing constantly, about every 5 seconds. I couldn't tell what was going on so took her back home where I got a flashlight and saw the piece of straw wedged in the nose.

I tried to get it out with tweezers but she was freaking out and wouldn't stay still enough. Eventually I kind of gave up and let her have a big bowl of water where she promptly dunked her entire snout under the water, drank some water then sneezed the piece of straw out immediately.

🤷‍♂️
 
One of my springers had a grass awn penetrate her ear drum last year. It ended up getting infected with rod bacteria that was antibiotic resistant. I have about $3500 into treatment with her. We ended up getting the bacteria cultured to test the antibiotic that would work. There were 5 that worked on the culture. The last one we tried with a custom compound finally worked and beat the infection.
 
Im not sure if it was a grass awn or porcupine quill that traveled through my dogs body and existed her rear side. She was exposed to both.
It took the university of Minnesota and over $5K to save her. She's made 15 years so that incident did not affect her longevity.
 
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While in SD, I ran across a WIA Pheasants Forever PATH field that was covered with this grass. I assumed it was Canadian Rye but was not for certain. I did not hunt due to not being able to truly identify this type of grass. I would like to hear your thoughts on the type of grass. If this was a Pheasant Forever PATH field, I would be surprised that they planted grass that would be dangerous to dogs. Thank you.
 
Brimar1991 said:
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While in SD, I ran across a WIA Pheasants Forever PATH field that was covered with this grass. I assumed it was Canadian Rye but was not for certain. I did not hunt due to not being able to truly identify this type of grass. I would like to hear your thoughts on the type of grass. If this was a Pheasant Forever PATH field, I would be surprised that they planted grass that would be dangerous to dogs. Thank you.
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Absolutely CWR. Some seed mixes still contain it. Obviously.
 
BRITTMAN said:
If you are a member - send an email to Pheasants Forever !
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Been down that road. Ineffective, but not necessarily because PF doesn't care. CWR is apparently really cheap & works well for establishing CRP plantings. The USDA makes the rules & holds the purse strings. Money talks whether it kills dogs or not, especially when the guys with the money also have the most lawyers. When I started learning about mean seeds & also learned I was up against the USDA (which PF couldn't beat either), I decided my time was best spent just trying to educate other hunters.
 
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