I was walking the dog to pass the time while waiting for my wife to finish her dance class when we came across a row of trees. Around the base of each of the trees were a large number of these objects – I assume they are some kind of seed pod. Many had already fallen, but this one was still on the tree. Our dog had been merrily walking along when suddenly and unexpectedly he stopped and sat down. I encouraged him to get going, which he did but then after a few steps he sat down again. We repeated this a few times until I noticed that he had one of these things stuck to his backside – must have been rather uncomfortable. After I’d removed it we continued along as usual.