Copperhead got my dog right in the face Saturday in the mountains. She is right at 60lbs.
I went up early to my cabin Friday to do a little repair work on a fire pit wood rack we use to shovel coals from for a cinder block type cooker that sets off to the side. Cooked pig butts and chickens for the fourth.
The dog doing what she does found her a young rabbit and put the kill on right off the bat. A few minutes later a buddy helping me saw her jump up in the air about 3 feet in some small weeds. She kept focusing on the weed patch with a lot of cautious intent. My buddy had just killed a copperhead beside his cabin chimney the day before so we figured we had better see what she was infatuated on. I cut a thin limber switch from a tree and started carefully moving the weeds around and sure enough, about a 16"er was all coiled up and ready to hit again. One slap behind the head with the switch and the snake was done for.
I looked my dog over real quick and couldn’t see anything obvious at first so I though she may have got lucky. Nope, her natural demeanor had quickly changed just enough that I told my buddy that she got hit somewhere. Still couldn’t tell where until her left eye started swelling shut. I took a good look at her and there was a drop of blood just right above the eyelid at the tear duct. daymn
Off to the vet 65 miles away on a holiday weekend!!...arrrrrgh
Vet done her thing, couple shots and took a good look at the eyeball And said it missed it all together. One fang was above the eyeball right in the corner of her eye and the the other one hit in the eyelid right below the eye about 5/8 of inch apart.
I was afraid she might lose sight in that eye but she seems to be recovering pretty well at this point. Still not her self yet but that could be partly due to meds too.
Another buddy called me on my way home yesterday and he had just killed another one at his place right down the creek from my cabin. That made it a 3 snake week-end, not all that unusual in itself. We have killed as many as 12 on this holiday week end in prime conditions.
I think my four legged friend got lucky this go around, hopefully she won’t ever go through this again.
First dog I have ever had to get bit. At least that I know of. I’m glad it wasn’t a rattler or things might have been a lot worse.
Damn, bro. Glad she's gonna be ok. She dodged a bullet with the eyeball.
