Rich Lucibella
Staff
One concern I've had with my Catahoula Leopard Dog is snakes. This pup is a born tracker; very "nosy"; by the time he was 3 months old, he'd already brought back rotting deer leg, dead frogs, unknown bones and one self-killed rat snake. Miko Wattah ("Chief Hunter") is somewhat appropriate
I was determined to break him of the snake interest and have used a training collar on two snakes so far; the one he killed and an eagle-killed rattler in Montana. Evidently, I should have offered a few more lessons.
On July 4th, he sniffed up something in a crevice under the garage at my NC hideout. He gave a short yelp and stuck his nose back in, presumably to scold the offending creature. The next yelp was louder and he retreated. Investigating the incident, we saw a few bees and assumed he'd been stung. 15 minutes later we were certain that was no bee sting. We pulled a shortish Copperhead out of the hole. He succumbed immediately to repeated blunt force head trauma and now sits in the freezer.
The rapidity and size of the reaction was truly frightening as we attempted to find an emergency vet in the boonies on 4th of July. Mik had been bit just under the nose and a second time, two inches lower, on his left lip. We were lucky to get an immediate return call from a local animal hospital. After 3 injections, he was released with further antibiotics. Today the swelling is much down and we hope he's out of danger, though he still looks miserable and is quite lethargic.
Lesson offered:
If you have a hunting dog in snake country, do yourself a favor and get a decent electronic training collar. Get that pup on a snake that is either non-poisonous or dead and make it crystal clear that these are not critters to mess with. A few moments of brief pain will inoculate your pup (and you) from the extended anguish we're currently going thru.
Rich
For comparison, here's the "normal" Mik, prepared for a training session.
The rest were taken within 45 minutes of the snake encounter. Apologies for quality; they were taken in the truck, with a cell phone camera as a buddy rushed us to the vet.
I was determined to break him of the snake interest and have used a training collar on two snakes so far; the one he killed and an eagle-killed rattler in Montana. Evidently, I should have offered a few more lessons.
On July 4th, he sniffed up something in a crevice under the garage at my NC hideout. He gave a short yelp and stuck his nose back in, presumably to scold the offending creature. The next yelp was louder and he retreated. Investigating the incident, we saw a few bees and assumed he'd been stung. 15 minutes later we were certain that was no bee sting. We pulled a shortish Copperhead out of the hole. He succumbed immediately to repeated blunt force head trauma and now sits in the freezer.
The rapidity and size of the reaction was truly frightening as we attempted to find an emergency vet in the boonies on 4th of July. Mik had been bit just under the nose and a second time, two inches lower, on his left lip. We were lucky to get an immediate return call from a local animal hospital. After 3 injections, he was released with further antibiotics. Today the swelling is much down and we hope he's out of danger, though he still looks miserable and is quite lethargic.
Lesson offered:
If you have a hunting dog in snake country, do yourself a favor and get a decent electronic training collar. Get that pup on a snake that is either non-poisonous or dead and make it crystal clear that these are not critters to mess with. A few moments of brief pain will inoculate your pup (and you) from the extended anguish we're currently going thru.
Rich
For comparison, here's the "normal" Mik, prepared for a training session.
The rest were taken within 45 minutes of the snake encounter. Apologies for quality; they were taken in the truck, with a cell phone camera as a buddy rushed us to the vet.
Just glad the wife wasn't around at the time 
. Rocky needs another dog to play with.
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. Wyeth Labs made "polyvalent" antivenin, which was supposed to cover all of the Crotalidae and Agkistrodons. Now they're not so sure. It seems that the type of venoms varies wildly even within the rattlesnakes. They now know that the Mojave Green rattler's venom is predominately neurotoxic, with hemotoxins thrown in for spice, where the Southern Pacific Rattler has a predominately cytotoxic venom that causes some really nasty necrosis (similar to the puff adder). I believe (not sure) that antivenin is polyvalent for certain groups of African snakes based on venom similarities, but if you were to cover all your bases, you'd still have to stock a number of different types of antivenin. CroFab is so new that I'm not sure what all species it covers. I note that you're in S. Florida. I'm told that the Miami-Metro-Dade fire department has a special response unit called "venom one". The paramedics that man that unit are experts in snake bite, and stock antivenins for darned near everything with fangs. I think they would be the best available to advise you on what to stock for a particular area, be it S. Florida or S. Africa. I've thought several times of going on a photo safari in Africa and I've always wondered what guide services keep on hand in the way of medical supplies. Academic now though, I fear. Not only would I need a bigger piggy bank, but 9/11 has made me much more reluctant to travel overseas 
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