# Dogs catching snakes



## julie allen (Dec 24, 2010)




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## julie allen (Dec 24, 2010)




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## julie allen (Dec 24, 2010)

Usually the dogs catch and kill them, but this one stayed outside the fence, so I got it before they could.


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## David Baker (Aug 31, 2013)

Good thing you did. Don't know how your dogs would have faired from a cotton mouth bite. Water Moccasins are no joke. got plenty of them around here.


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## julie allen (Dec 24, 2010)

Actually, its not too bad on them. I deal with a few bites a year, they swell up like crazy, but Benadryl and dexamethasone takes it down in a day or two.


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## Jon Harris (Nov 23, 2011)

This story will be published in our local paper next week but i thought it was appropriate here.

A cobra? Are you kidding me, a friggin cobra?

A couple days before I arrived at my new location in northern Iraq, we suffered a casualty. One of our four legged partners was very sick and had to be medevac’d to the veterinary hospital in Bagdad. It took two days to get him there from the time the hospital was notified. In that time things went downhill quickly. Things did not look good and his handler was doing what he could to make his friend and partner feel better until he could be transferred to Bagdad for help.
Three nights earlier, they were walking the perimeter as is one of our missions here. In the dark, it is hard to see everything but there is a well-traveled walkway that we stay to. The dogs check gates, doors and places in the perimeter that could be a hiding place for an explosive. The handler presents the area by placing his hand where he wants his partner to search. This goes on time after time around the three or so mile concrete wall.
This night was no different from normal. The handler presented one of countless areas to search and the dog obediently checked. On one of the searches the dog pulled back sharply as he sniffed the area but did not show signs of an alert or anything else. The night checks continued until the shift was over.
The next morning there was something obviously wrong. The dog was not responding well and wanted to do nothing but lay down. He was not drinking or eating. The handler, concerned for his partner, checked him all over and found a large lump on the left side of the dog’s neck. It was hot to the touch and clearly was painful. He washed it off and tried to see if maybe there was a thorn or something. When the hair was brushed back he could see the swollen lump was open and leaking fluid from two small puncture marks. Antiseptic was applied, a Benadryl shot was suggested by the vet and administered by the handler, and the dog allowed to rest. That night the dog became listless and was even more lethargic. A call was placed to the vet in Bagdad and the situation described. The vet immediately ordered the dog to be sent to Bagdad for treatment. Getting the dog from here to Bagdad was no easy feat and it took almost two days to complete. Upon arrival, it was clear the K-9 was in deep trouble and there was little time to waste. Treatment by way of pain relief, fluids, and nutrient support were started as the search for what was wrong commenced. A blood test confirmed the dog had been bitten by a snake. Many of the snakes here are poison and not just a little bit. Most snake bites in Iraq either cost a limb or a life, they are that bad. Further testing indicated the snake had most likely been a cobra!
Now when I took the assignment to the middle east I figured I knew the risks. Snipers, rocket attacks, IEDs, the occasional suicide bomber and all but I was not prepared for this. A friggin cobra!
Yesterday, engineers were out with heavy equipment moving a large dirt pile away from our area. They had been alerted to the snake incident and the vector control guy, (exterminator) had found snake tracks going into the hill where there was a high concentration of field mice. We all stood around as the big machines dug into the pile and loaded it on trucks to be taken away. During that operation, three snakes were uncovered. Two sawtooth vipers and one cobra. All of the snakes were deadly. I say were because they are now X-snakes. 
Wow, just when you thought it is ok to go outside. BTW, the dog survived and should be back in a couple weeks after it is strong enough to resume it duties of an explosive detection K-9. Credit goes to the handler who noticed his friend in trouble and to the vet who was sharp enough to figure out what was wrong.
Watching every step,
This is Jon Harris and this was a 
Dispatch from Downrange-Iraq


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## julie allen (Dec 24, 2010)

Wow, awesome that he survived!


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## Catherine Gervin (Mar 12, 2012)

the Sawscaled viper--i'm pretty sure--is more venemous than a cobra but cobras give very large doses of venom, like 3 or 4x more than most hot snakes...it is very impressive that the dog survived long enough to receive help, not to mention that he didn't even nip or cease to work as the venom went through him which is both painful and strangling. it's excellent that he'll be just fine!


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## Jon Harris (Nov 23, 2011)

we dont think he was envenomed a great deal. but it did kill some of the flesh around the bite site


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## mel boschwitz (Apr 23, 2010)

It really says something about the drive of the dog that could keep working after that. I don't think anyone could fault a dog for wanting to be done for the day after a snake bite!


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## susan tuck (Mar 28, 2006)

yikes, that's scary about the snakes in Iraq. Sure glad the dog didn't die.


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## Ben Thompson (May 2, 2009)

julie allen said:


> Usually the dogs catch and kill them, but this one stayed outside the fence, so I got it before they could.


Don't you want them to focus on two legged snakes instead? They usually have snake avoidance classes in most cities.... where venomous snakes are a issue.


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## julie allen (Dec 24, 2010)

As many as we have here, I'd rather they alert me before the baby finds them, since he has just started toddling. Hannah has never been bitten and kills at least 5 every year. The rest of the dogs have been bitten at least once, Roscoe every year, sometimes more than once a year. They aren't very reactive if we run across one away from home if working.

Greta passed her NAPWDA tracking certification 4 days after a bite with an abcess on her face. I was going to pull her but she had no issue working.


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## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

i trained my house dog to show avoidance partly because i know of two local dogs and a cat that did not survive mamushi bites, and they are not supposed to be that lethal ....
- one reason dogs survive might be because the bite was defensive with less venom delivered

but a MWD trained to avoid a snake like a "canine land mine" could be a liability. they are probably better off not reacting to them the same way they should be animal neutral, but i realize this is not always possible and a lot depends on the type of deployment


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