Sandburs in dog paws can ruin a day at the beach
Tips for how to safely remove sandburs from your dog's paws, your clothes and human feet
It was another day of beach bumming, and I was ready to relax. I’d visited this beach a gazillion times — for date nights, strolling with my own dog and occasionally with a few other neighborhood dogs (as a dog sitter and dog walker). Somehow, I’d always managed to avoid sandburs, the seed heads of Cenchrus. Usually spotted in sandy soil and found in clusters, they are obvious to the eye from those awful spikes. If you’re unlucky enough to get near the spikes (or spines), sandburs will stick to your skin, clothing and animal fur.
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This past weekend, I’d walked around the colorful rock area of Artists of the Wall and flopped down to read “107 Days” for a few minutes. After getting through a few chapters and taking my second lap around the artwork, I was turning to leave when Junee (my Hound mix) pulled me toward a weeping willow tree that I’d never paid much attention to. I didn’t want to get my almost-new beige gym shoes dirty or filled with sand, so I took them off to stroll over to this tree.
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What I did not know was that sandburs grow underneath or close to weeping willows, especially near sandy areas, open fields and beaches. I turned around and eight sandburs attacked my khaki-colored shorts, my bare feet and one ankle. Painfully pulling one out of the bottom of my foot, I immediately looked at Junee standing next to me and groaned. If they had gotten all over me, what was I supposed to do if sandburs got under a dog’s paws or dog fur?