My tough dog...

[blume357]

may post a picture later....

Beauregard Breir Dawg our Catahoula Leopard .....

Early last evening a friend who had not been at our house for a while came by to pick something up and I was showing him around and we got out back to my outside kitchen and Bo started acting up over at the corner of the house... had something pinned... look at it was about a 3 ft copperhead... big for around here.... I got him back and decapitated the snake.... then looked at Bo and he had been bitten on the top of the nose.... kind of freaked me out for a little while... but you know what.... did not effect him at all... I'm not even sure it swelled much... we did put about a table spoon of Benadryl in his food.

 

[Cooperhawk]

I got bit by s small copperhead thirty years ago. There was very little effect from the bite for a few hours but I went to the hospital anyway. They said, "Ooooooh you're going to be sick. Go home and take it easy and if it gets real bad, come back."

I did, and it got real bad after about six to eight hours. You might want to take him to a vet along with the dead snake. They want to see the snake before they treat anyone. That's why they did not treat me. I did not even see the damn snake, but I had killed one in my yard the day prior so we assumed it was another copperhead.

 

[FastEd]

We sure hope Bo will be OK.

 

[blume357]

Its been 17 hours and he's still as wild as always.... I really think the snake just nicked his nose and he really didn't git a poisonous bite ..... still, I've heard dogs can take a snake bite better than us..... maybe Contender will chime in... I suspect he knows a good bit about copperheads.

 

[contender]

Glad to hear nobody was bit & that the dog is ok.
Dogs can often accept a snake bite better than humans.
However,
A misconception about snake bites is that they always inject venom. A snake can strike, and miss, or just nick or whatever. All while failing to inject venom. Or, if they do inject venom, it's a very small quantity. Also, the point of the bite is important, as it directly affects how the venom can travel in the body.
Sounds like a "dry" bite here.

 

[Bear Paw Jack]

My cousins dog died of a rattle snake bite. Course it was a small dog JR. Wife was getting ready to go through the gate and the dog went first. He took the bite instead of her. Probably kept her from getting bit.

 

[pisgah]

Snakes don't always inject the venom, dogs are comparatively resistant to the venom and, like Beau, they usually get bit on the snout, which is a very bony structure and lacks a whole lot of vascular tissue. Not to say you shouldn't keep an eye on him, but he'll likely be fine.

Copperheads are beautiful creatures and have their place -- but in my yard close to the house ain't one of them!

 

[Selena]

A local vet told us to feed our snake killing dog a ration of milk when he was bit. He seemed to think the milk helped build up resistance.

 

[Jeepnik]

I don't think they have it for copperheads, but there is a rattlesnake vaccine for dogs. It doesn't remove the need for treatment, but it lessens the damage and extends the time in which treatment can be received.

That and rattlesnake avoidance classes are pretty much the thing to do if you live in their range. Darned cheap insurance for you four legged friend.

Oh, and out my way everywhere is in their range. There's a park not far from my vets. It has an unimproved area and folks like to let their dogs run off leash. They are always surprised when the dog get bit. My vet is darned good (you get that way with practice) at treating snake bit dogs. They usually get it on the snout.

Funny, I've never heard of a snake bit cat. Could be cats are faster than dogs, or just smarter.

 

[Mike J]

Glad to hear your dog is okay. I don't know how true it is but my Grandfather always said if a dog was bit in front of its heart it would live. He always said this when he related the story of his killing a six foot rattlesnake that bit his dog on the face when he was a boy. He said the hair fell off the spot that was bit, its head swelled up for a while & that was it.

 

[pisgah]

Glad to hear your dog is okay. I don't know how true it is but my Grandfather always said if a dog was bit in front of its heart it would live. He always said this when he related the story of his killing a six foot rattlesnake that bit his dog on the face when he was a boy. He said the hair fell off the spot that was bit, its head swelled up for a while & that was it.

Actually, there is some truth to this. Bites to the body are much more likely to cause problems than bites to the head or face.

 

[427mach1]

Our neighbor's golden retriever was bitten on the nose by a copperhead and it definitely had an effect. Her nose swelled up and the vet kept her for observations, saying she might not make it through. Thankfully, she did make it. My personal opinion is that there is the misconception that dogs are immune but there is truth to the idea that poisonous snakes don't always inject poison in every bite.

 

[gramps]

Maybe the dogs get bit more often than we know with smaller snakes, and their immunity gets built up? Blume I am glad your dog is no worse for the experience! How are you holding up? :lol:
gramps

 

[blume357]

Update, we headed up into the mountains yesterday (day after the incident) and dog is fine.... well by fine I mean it is being a pure tee pain in the you know where trying to flush out the ground hog that is living under the back deck..... he will probably get bit on the nose again, by a different critter, before the weekend is over.

 

[smoke-eater]

Bo is one tough (and very lucky) boy! :shock:
Glad he's doing ok.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Quite a dog. Man's best friend.

 

[one bullet]

I sure hope ole Bo is OK. This planet would be less of a place without dogs.

 

[Rancher Will]

Snake bites have various effects on different victims. We fairly often find cows with rattlesnake bites. The cow is usually bitten on the nose. Their face swells up for a week or so and I am sure it must be painful. However the cow continues to graze and the milk is not affected, or least the calf continues to do well. When the swelling goes down, within a few days, there is no longer any sign of the bite.

Over the years some of our ranch dogs have delighted in catching and killing snakes. Some of them even bring the dead snake to our house and lay it at our door to show us. (My wife enjoys this, not.) So far the dogs have been lucky, None of our dogs has been bitten so far as I know. I have seen one or two of our dogs proudly carrying a dead Rattlesnake around for an hour so even playing "keep away" with it with the other dogs.

I had one horse bitten that I know of. I saw the Rattler strike the horse on the off front leg just above the hoof. I kept close watch on the horse for a few days but did not notice any reaction to the bite. The horse was walking when struck and the snake held on to the leg for about two steps before dropping off. I believe the horse actually stepped on the snake before the strike.

Just as an aside, we often see, in a Western Movie, a scene where a horse shies from a Rattlesnake. Usually the beautiful young girl is on the horse, gets thrown off when the horse shies, and the hero in the movie saves the girl.

During my life I have owned dozens, worked with, and been around hundreds of horses. I have never seen even one horse shy at any snake. Horses don't pay any attention to a snake. They just walk right over a snake and don't pay any attention even to the rattle. The horse that was bitten in my view did not even pay any attention to the snake when bit. It just kept walking after the snake dropped off. It makes a good scene in a movie though. I suspect the movie horses are trained to shy.

 

[blume357]

I had a customer a few years back with a Carolina Dingo dog that said the dog loved to kill a snake. It would find a snake and get it to strike and jump back after two or three try by the snake the dog would have it's speed and such figured out and on the next strike it would bite the snake's head off.

Rancher Will... interesting info on horses and snakes.... kind of funny how we are tuned to believe what ever we see on TV or the Movies unless we know better from actual experience.