Bo vs The Venomous Snake

Bo is such a kind sweet dog he finds it necessary to kill any and all snakes that he comes across or can hunt down. This was a some what gross habit when we lived in Oregon, but here a good portion of the crawling life is venomous so it is a dangerous habit. We know there are venomous snakes in the area and when we returned from our trip in early September there was a dead rattle snake in our yard (presumably killed by Bo, but he was fine).

Yesterday this sweet dog....





















decided that he would kill a snake that was in our yard before it could get to someone he loved. Unfortunately the snake was able to bite him before he had it completely killed. For those of you new to snake bites...the actual strike is so forceful it can actually break bones, so even if the venom didn't hurt him he would be very bruised and sore. The venom caused his neck, chest and lips to swell as well as cause difficulty for him to breath.
So instead of putting on our Halloween costumes and preparing for trick or treaters we rushed Bo to the Emergency Animal Clinic, which we new right where it was because of Bo vs The Motorcycle.
They gave him all the drugs that might help, anti-inflammatory, steroid, anti-biotic, and a heavy shot of pain killer.

Today he is eating again and able to walk around some but mostly sits still and whines. Pretty sad to see the poor guy in so much pain, but we are glad that he will most likely be OK in about a week of drugs and resting.

Bo's major hates in life are motorcycles, killing snakes and chasing high velocity fluids (compressed air, water being sprayed, etc). 2 out of the 3 have gotten him hurt badly, the motorcycles twice. Bo continues to be our miracle dog but has used up 3 of his 9 lives so far so he needs to relax on the high velocity fluids and snake killing.