IDave and his family, on vacation in northern Wisconsin, were sleeping soundly when their dog, Midnight, began whining. It was five o'clock in the morning. Dave got up, stumbled to the door, let the dog out, and then stumbled back to bed. About half an hour later he was awakened again, this time by loud thumping from under the cottage—as though someone was hitting the underside of the floor with a board. Dave pulled on some clothes and went out to investigate.

At first Dave didn't see anything, but then Midnight slowly rounded the house toward him. Bending down to the dog, Dave could make out about a dozen quills sticking out of the dog's fur, mostly on the side of his neck and near the back of his head. Evidently, Midnight had gone after a porcupine under the cottage, gotten nailed with quills from its tail, and the tussle that followed explained the thumping noises on the floor of the cottage.

Stunned, but not in any real pain, Midnight submitted to Dave's handling. But when Dave got the pliers and tried to pull out the quills one at a time, Midnight howled and pulled back. Removing the quills caused excruciating pain, and the dog wanted no part of it.

Dave finally took Midnight to a veterinarian in town, who anesthetized Midnight and then surgically removed the quills. The vet explained to Dave that although Midnight felt no pain from the quills, if they were not removed they would eventually work their way further into his body and head and kill him. Although the surgery was painful, the only way to save Midnight's life was to remove the quills.