Went for a nice walk yesterday off Green's Valley Road. The air was cold, but the sun was warm and softened the snow on the south facing slope of every little rise and every hill. The road was mostly ice, so we took a detour onto an old jeep trail and followed it along the ridge. We had to leave around 5:15 to drive to Alexandria to meet Julia and Denny at Main Street so we were just about to turn around - we'd gotten to a wide clearing, probably used as a log landing some years ago. Instead of turning around, we decided to take a quick jaunt up a side trail to the top of the ridge and (hopefully) a view of the valley and Pleasant Gap below.
I could see the dogs getting more and more "interested" and even said, "They seem to like something up there..." They did: a porcupine. Luckily, the little guy found his way up a small maple sapling before the dogs could get to him. He kept climbing as they jumped and barked and whined and he made it up onto all but the highest and tiniest branches. We tried to keep the dogs quiet, admired the dark creature peering down from his perch, and quickly departed before we scared the poor thing too much (or he lost his grip and ruined our good luck!). Hopefully that will be the closest encounter we have with porcupines! I've heard dogs react one of two ways to porcupines: Either "That things hurt! GET IT!" or "That thing hurt! Better leave it alone!" I'm content having no idea which strategy my dogs would take :)
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