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| From:  DonWhie (Original Message) | Sent: 6/11/2008 5:13 PM |
Had to take 3 of my buds to the Vet yesterday...Mon night Mary Ann & I were relaxed watchin' TV & a big ruckus started which sounded like my 3 Blue Heeler females gettin' testy with one of the 2 young (8months) Chocolate Lab males... which they do periodically to set the pecking order, LOL.
Any how, when it happens, it's usually of short duration as even though the Lab youngsters have 10 or more pounds on the Heelers (& still growin', lol) they're still to young to argue back...well this night the ruckus escalated into high pitched yelps from one of the labs instead of abating, so I went outside (abt 8:45pm--just barly light).
I found the whole pack (10 dogs) except the yelping Lab (who was favoring a foot/leg) had a coiled-up Copperhead encircled about 30 feet from our back door...in typical "Pack Attack" fashion they'd take turns lunging & retreating at the snake...making it strike out & thus elongating itself & opening it up to lateral attacks from the rest of the pack.....evidently, the young Lab (Coco), being new to the procedure didn't retreat fast enough & got a good hit on the front leg, just above the elbow before we got outside & was the source of the yelping.
I calmed Coco down as the pack quickly dispatched the snake...it was a biggin' for a Copperhead, a few inches shy of 4 foot & could strike a long way out. Once things settled down, I finished removing the snakes head (with a "brush-hook") where Obbie (short for Obsidian), our 100 pound 1-1/2 yrold Black Lab had it nearly severed already, just hangin' by some skin, on his last & successful lunge. I quickly buried the head about a foot deep as it was still trying to crawl with the 3 inch stub of neck & head, fangs bared. I don't think the "Wild Life Boys" have started issuing citations to dogs yet for killing snakes....but notice I use the term YET!
Upon inspection, I found Peaches (15 yrold Lab/Chow mix) & Elle (1-1/2 yrold Heeler), each got hit in the loose skin under the neck & were pretty swollen. Coco got the first hit & the strongest dose of venom in leg muscle & already had a dime-size abscess beginning the next morning when I got them to the Vet, but the neck/face swelling was already attenuated on the other two....less venom on the subsequent hits, a dogs natural defense/immunity to venom & the loose skin rather than meat. We went ahead with the anti-venom injection too, to assist their immune system & got antibiotics for infection prevention.
Obbie had gotten hit in the neck last summer as a young 6 month old by a young (1-1/2 foot) Cottonmouth that had found & took up residence in our pond during last year's "worst drought in 60 yrs", that had dried the lowlands up. It was the first Cottonmouth we had in our 30+ years here....we're on a high ridge & the Cottonmouths stay in the creek valleys 100+ feet lower than us, & the running water on our land, this high up, comes out of springs way too cold for 'em. Anyway, Obbie learned from that & did good this time & I'm sure Coco will be more apt to handle the situation next time it comes up now that he's been tested in battle, lol.
Don
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