Burr Magnet

My neighbor and I took the dogs to the regional park today to walk. On the road leading in, there is an area off the side of the road where I often see people walking their dogs. I thought it was private property, but thought the owner must not mind because so many people go there. So we decided to go there and walk the dogs. When we got there, we found that it is also part of the park, and that dogs can be off leash there. There weren't any cows in sight, and it looked pleasant enough, so we let the dogs run off leash. What I didn't know is that there was a ravine that we couldn't see from the road. Down in the ravine there is a pond. The dogs did go in the pond, but I didn't mind that. What I didn't like is that wherever the stream was dried up, there were HUGE burrs growing! My dog got COVERED with burrs! Her feet were totally covered, and there were even burrs in the pads of her feet. She had burrs in her beard, and burrs wound tightly in her arm pits. (If dogs have arm pits). :) Her hair is very cotton like, and it twisted around and around the burrs. The only thing I could do was bring her home to work on cleaning her up. I did let her run for quite awhile before I brought her home though.

On the way home she got about a dozen of the burrs out. They are about the size of a small pecan. She pulled hair and all out. I had to keep reaching back while I was driving to pick up the ones that she spit out so that they wouldn't tangle back in to her hair. Then when we got home, my neighbor came and helped me comb out the rest. What a chore! It took one hour! There is still one in the pad of her back paw, but it was so tender that she wouldn't let us get it out. So I'm going to let her have a shot at that one. I will never take her back there again!! We almost filled a bread sack with burrs and hair!