Farm Fresh Blog

Wednesday, May 29 2013

We just got back from the ranch and I'm gonna let these pictures tell the story:

Lessons Learned:

1) No matter how closely you watch a dog, things happen. Life is too short to beat yourself up about it. Live and learn. And Reload.

2) Memorial Day weekend is not a good time to reach a vet at 7:40 PM on a Saturday night.

3) Other Half will shoot a snake until he almost cuts it in half.

4) "Vengeance is mine" sayeth the Lord, but it still feels REALLY good to look through the sights of my lever action Henry 22 rifle and see the peep sight filled with the face of a rattlesnake staring back at me, whisper "Die Motha F*@#r" and pull the trigger for a kill shot.

5) If you live in Rattlesnake Country you MUST get the new rattlesnake vaccine. This probably saved Dillon's life. (and prayer! Prayer too!)

Since time is short today, I'll give you all the details later. Hug your dogs. And if you live around rattlesnakes, call your vet TODAY and get that vaccine. It's cheap. It can save a life.

And get a Henry lever action .22 rifle too.

Bonus Lesson: Nothing will motivate a woman to push a lawnmower for 6 hours like rattlesnakes hiding near her cabin.

Conversational Quotes For The Weekend:

Salesman at Loews: "Good afternoon, M'am. What kind of mower are you looking for?"

Me: "A lawnmower that cuts up rattlesnakes into tiny pieces . . . ."

Salesman at Loews: (Pause) (Nod) "Okay, I can help you with that!"

Posted by: forensicfarmgirl AT 07:06 pm | Permalink | 10 Comments | Email

Comments:

YIKES! Not sure if I want to hear any more details...

Posted by EvenSong on 05/29/2013 - 07:43 PM

Oh no! I'm imagining what a terribly scary episode happened with Dillon and the snake. I hope he is well and feeling like his old self again! Are all rattlesnakes the same -- i.e., does the same vaccine protect against their venom across the country?
I hope you got a sit-down mower. You can cover more space in the same time that a regular mower takes. My neighbor has one with a big grass bucket in the back so he doesn't have to leave clumps of hay lying all over his yard.
Hugs to Dillon and all the 4 leggeds.

Posted by Terri's Pal on 05/29/2013 - 11:34 PM

Poor Baby!!!! He looks so miserable!! Giving Dillon best wishes and prayers. Hope he gets better soon. I am so attached to my lab and border collie, I do not know what I would do if something happened to them.

Posted by Susan B on 05/30/2013 - 07:17 AM

The vaccine works for rattlesnakes and copperheads. It is not effective against cottonmouths and (I think) the mojave rattler.

Posted by forensicfarmgirl on 05/30/2013 - 10:05 AM

Wow. SO GLAD Dillon is going to be ok. Even GLADER that I live in a province where the only snakes are little garter snakes. (and I'm terrified of those, too. Me = not snake person. I respect their place in the ecosystem, but am glad I don't have to share mine with them) Shudder.

Posted by AlbertaGirl on 05/30/2013 - 10:19 AM

Please don't think that living in the "city" there is no chance of your dog coming nose to fang with a snake. While my part of North Texas doesn't have large numbers of rattlers, copperheads thrive here! They can be found in your backyard, in the local parks, or just about anywhere you don't expect to see one. Took all 3 of mine to a "snake avoidance" clinic last summer, they've all had the vaccine, and next week will get the booster shot. Poor Dillon, glad he's going to be okay. Virginia (and I WILL be forwarding a link to these two posts to local agility clubs.)

Posted by Virginia on 05/30/2013 - 01:07 PM

Virginia, let me know when the next clinic up there will be. I need to take my guys. While Trace probably doesn't need it, I'm sure Dillon would wade right into a rattlesnake again.

Posted by forensicfarmgirl on 05/30/2013 - 03:54 PM

Part 1: Will be more than happy to let you know when Dave Jones is in the area again. After the first clinic "refresher courses" are free. A local Visla club hosted the clinic I went to but he also does a snake clinic at his place somewhere out in the back of beyond. I was very impressed how respectful they were of the dogs. The owners stood back away from the snakes while one of their crew took them up to be introduced to the critters. That way the dogs couldn't blame all that drama on us! Here is a link to his website about the snake clinics: http://brittanys.com/snake.htm.

Posted by Virginia on 05/31/2013 - 11:08 PM

Part 2: I don't know how many dogs he needs to have enrolled to make it worth his while to make the trip into a civilized part of TX. I was quite impressed with Dave and all of his crew. I'm going to ask around and see if we can get him back over this way this summer. Be sure and poke around on his website. It's a pretty good representation of the kind of folks they all are.

Posted by Virginia on 05/31/2013 - 11:10 PM

Wow. I have never seen a rattlesnake reaction on dog. We have them East in WA but fortunately not where I primarily live on the west side. So glad the pup is OK.

Posted by samantha on 06/04/2013 - 08:38 PM