My dog Grissholm and I were out for a hike today in the desert. It’s a gorgeous day 70 and not a cloud in the sky. He and I have a favorite path we take and on this particular day Griss was chasing the quail around like he usually does and he ran smack dab into one of these . It’s called a jumping cactus, or Cholla. Poor guy had them all over his nose and on his back. He’s a hardy guy being a Rhodesian Ridgeback, but damn…He even bled from it. 
I hope he learned his lesson!
Your picture provided my first brush with cactus porn.
groan
I used to have a little cactus plant. Only about the size of a large pickle. Very prickly. Then one day, I saw the normally very intelligent (in fact trained to do tricks) Fatcat walk up to it, turn his head sideways, open his mouth wide, and try to chew on it.
Of course it pricked the roof of his mouth, his tongue, and his gums. So he snapped his head back with a snort as if to say “Ouch! That’s prickly!”… Then he turned his head sideways, opened his mouth wide, and tried to chew on it.
Repeat.
For about half an hour he struggled to chew a very prickly cactus.
Had to get rid of the cactus, he was wrecking his mouth.
Awww. Poor pooch!
Could be worse. One of my friends, three weeks into the school year, was out biking on some trails, hit a bump wrong, did a complete face-plant, and landed with his arm in a patch of Prickly Pear. He was not happy.
I could also regale you with many tales of very stupid college students going out in the woods and drinking. Invariably, someone who’s very inebriated ends up sitting down on a cactus. :eek:
Just reading the title I knew it had to be a cholla. Evil things, they are. shudders, glad she doesn’t live in AZ anymore
Oh man, poor FatCat, but LOL! Sounds like my Zazou – terribly cute but not the sharpest knife in the drawer, much like certain ex-boyfriends.