Penny meets cactus

This morning I took Penny for a walk around the block.  7am and already 86 degrees out.  I was sweating by the end and she was panting.  I guess I have to get up earlier to take her for her daily walk.
As we're walking, she travels off the sidewalk a little bit to smell.  No big deal - that's pretty normal.  We continue our walk, again same thing, but...this time I see she is standing on a cactus.  Not a growing cactus but a broken off dead piece of cactus.  There are lots of little dry dead pieces lying on the ground at this point in our walk.  So naturally I tug her leash and say lets go.  Out she hops from the side with a 2-2.5 inch piece of thin (probably 1/2 inch diameter) piece of cactus stuck between her chest and into the pads of her paw.

Great.  How am I supposed to grab this with my bare hands and yank it out.  She's standing there with her leg out because there's essentially a stick pushing her paw away from her chest - we're literally as far from our house on the block as you can get.  I reach down and try to grab the cactus as best I can without getting stuck myself.  I successfully remove the large piece of cactus and there are 2 thorns left in her front paw.  I put Penny under one arm and grab a thorn with my other hand - and yank it out.  I try for the 2nd one.  No success.  Penny's in pain - when I grab and yank she opens her mouth and goes ahhhh.... - like a screaming sound.  She thankfully doesn't try to bite me or swing her open mouth around wildly near my face.
I try on the 2nd thorn again and...nothing.  I pick her up and am about ready to walk her home to wake up Sief (not like he can really help because Penny's afraid of him).
Then I decide to try one last time and I got it!
I set Penny down and she walked the rest of the way home as if nothing happened.  Except she got hot and tired.  I had to walk to get the mail by myself.

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Residency update:  We've continued to have orientation for the past 2 weeks.  I have taken a medical Spanish course which lasted 4 days.  I have spent a little bit of time in the hospital just getting used to the system, etc.  2 half days have been spend in clinic where I actually have my own patients!  I love clinic and all of the nurses have been so wonderful so far!  Also, I've become certified in Advanced Trauma Life Support.  No time to blog, because Sunday was my first day off in 2 weeks!
Welcome to residency - it only gets tougher from here....