I passed on dispatching the last porcupine that my brittany pointed recently under a pine tree. I am afraid if I shoot the porcupine with my dog anywhere nearby, he may associate the gunfire (which he likes) with a new sport shooting porcupines. I keep a shovel in my pickup truck, it was way to far to walk back, leave the dog in the truck, and try to find the porcupine again. Last year cash ran up to a tree with porcupine droppings, I zapped him as soon as he smelled the droppings. We were pretty close to the truck, so I took him back, went back and dispatched the porcupine, then I put him up in the crotch of a tree just out of reach of the dog. I bought the dog back to the area, when he jumped towards the porcupine, I shocked him. We finished our hunt, then I went back and buried the porcupine. My brittany breeder thinks that anytime you shoot anything that the dog might get the wrong idea if its a porcupine. When I shoot and miss a grouse or woodcock (which I do often) he seems to pick up the pace immediately. If I can't bury the porcupine, I won't shoot it.
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