do dogs get stung by them?, they sniff them all the time? but they dont seem to get stung.  does the nettle know its a dog and not a nasty human?:rolleyes:

They don't see to get stuck on their noses although I always worry about eyes when they are in amongst them but I have had dogs that seem to have their feet irritated.
I don't think nettles are all that knowing :)

My shortcoated dog fell into a ditch of them one year.  Yes, they get stung very badly, within minutes he has swellings all over his body.

my staffy comes up in lumps whenever she runs through them.  it looks like a bad case of cellulite on her legs   it doesn't seem to bother her though but looks really painful.  doesn't seem to affect her feet though.

Some dogs seem more sensitive to them than others, and the nettles seem to be more vicious (nasty, savage things) when they are young.  I give mine piriton if they are hopping about and chewing their feet.

On a serious note, a friend's RR went into anaphylactic (I can't spell it!!) shock when he ran through some and was in a terrible way.  Now she always walks with piriton on her.

If my little JRT stands on one he leaps up in the air and flicks the affected foot a few times, so presume he has been stung but agree the sensitive nose does not seem to get stung at all and my horses don't seem to get stung either if they eat them.

Bev

We were discussing this the other day, and came up with the conclusion that they don't, but as some people have said they do, i have changed my mind. They must just not irritate my dog, or if they do he doesn't show it!!

Poj definitely gets stung by nettles.  When she was a smaller pup we were walking and she suddenly started twitching and jerking her legs.  I panicked and thought she was having a fit, it was only once she was out of the patch of nettles and walking fine again that I realised she'd been stung :-)! She now sniffs them and sometimes jumps back so I assume her nose gets stung too.  I think now her paws are harder so she doesn't seem to notice them underfoot anymore.

And they recognise and jumpover thistles too, even tiny ones.

Perhaps with the hairier dogs like ours Louise, the nettles can't get near the skin!  I've never noticed either of my two reacting anyway.

That maybe true Tyler certainly is hairy. Haven't heard from you in a while how are things? I haven't been around so much as we have had more bad news recently.

I'm OK thanks Louise.  PM me about your bad news (if you want to that is).

I will do this is the first chance i have had to sit down on computer for a while.

I have a hairless Chinese Crested and soon after I got her she was bounding about in my garden when she leapt unknowingly into a bunch of stinging nettles - she yelped and was kicking her legs about.  She was really itching and licking her legs and paws.  I gave her a quarter of a Piriton to help sooth the sting.

sorry to add a coarse note to proceedings but nips has an interestingly "horizontal" preference for taking a dump. thus rather than squatting, he positions his rear end against some appropriately long foliage and "decorates" it. he only once made the mistake of thinking a bed of nettles was as comfortable an experience as long grass or cowslips and while there were no lasting ill-effects he gives nettles a very wide berth and a baleful look nowadays!

Ouch!