Found a tent nail in my dog's paw last night and now I'm paranoid about my whole setup
We got back to the car around 9pm after a three-day trip in the Whites and I was packing the gear into the trunk when my dog started limping. Thought maybe she stepped on a rock but when I checked her front paw there was a bent tent stake wedged between her pads. Not bleeding but def embedded enough that I had to pull it out with pliers from the glovebox.
The thing is, it was one of mine. I counted when we packed up that morning and came up one short but figured it got buried in leaves or I miscounted. Turns out she stepped on it in the parking lot after I tossed the stuff down to load the car.
I've been camping for like six years and never thought twice about stakes. Now I'm realizing I'm kind of sloppy about how I pack them. They just go loose in a side pocket of my pack or sometimes in the tent bag itself and I guess one fell out while I was sorting things.
She's fine, but I spent an hour last night thinking about what would've happened if she stepped on it on the trail or if a kid at the site next to us found it.
Do you guys have a system for this or am I overthinking it? I ordered a little mesh bag but honestly I feel like an idiot for not having one already.