I was out running my dog this morning and she being the typical nosy lab constantly has her nose to the ground sniffing. Which I guess is a good thing since she is a hunting dog. Anyways, she started acting birdy, which is normal since we have a few wild quail in the area. Anyways, she kind of jumped back at first. Then went back to the area she jumped back from. The next thing I know, she yelps real loud and takes off like a rocket. She runs straight for the house and doesn't look back.

I run over to where she was a see a fat copperhead snaked scooting through the grass. The one time I don't have a gun on me! I was looking for a stick and by the time I found one large enough to do some damage, the snake had disappeared.

Well, by the time I got her to the vet her leg had a lump the size of a grapefruit on it! The vet sedated her and shaved her leg and sure enough, there were two fang marks. In the couple hours from the bite til the vet shaved the leg, an area the size of a quarter had already started to slough off and be bloody with an area 4"-5" around turning a bloody blackish-blue color. The vet said he would treat her with an IV, antihistimines, antibiotics and pain medication. Only time will tell if there is permanent injury. It depends on the amount of venom that was injected and if it went into a major vessel or not...

The war is officially on with snakes now... I have always left them alone, but it's war!

Anyone else experience a snake bite from a copperhead on them or their dogs? If so, could you share what you went through?

Thanks!

Good luck CJ. I hope your pup pulls through OK.

Was this in VA or PA?

Hope your pup pulls through with no damage to its leg.
I'll send my wife down to deal with the snakes, when we lived in VA. she found a big black snake by the basement door, when I got home I had to clean up about 8 pieces of snake.

It was in VA, right next to our house. I was like, I sort of expect this in the mountains of PA, but not right next to my house. I was lucky though, the vet is 10 minutes away. In PA, who knows where the closest vet is...

How big was the CH? We have them around here. Most times a dog is bitten it swells up and some local tissue damage but not to bad. I suspect however if bitten in a big blood vessel it could be a lot worse.

CJ, a number of years ago when we lived in Houston, our little Dachshund was bitten by a copperhead snake.
She was bitten on her nose and was swollen so bad she had trouble breathing by the time we got her to the vet.

I don’t recall the treatment but she recovered within a couple of days.

There was a wooded area behind our house and copperheads were common – that little dog turned into a vicious snake killer and afterwards, the only good snake was a dead snake.

She would grab a snake and toss in the air until the snake was dead.

Hope your dog recovers quickly – she may also be a snake killer.

CJ,

If she was bitten on the leg (especially lower leg), she'll probably be fine in a few days. The real concern with a copperhead bite is if the bite is near the neck (swelling can close the trachea) or heart (if venom gets in bloodsream).

One of our labs was bitten on the nose by a cottonmouth. His whole head was swollen for a few days, but he was fine after a trip to the vet.

Of course, it all depends upon how much venom was injected. If I recall correctly, copperhead venom is slightly less toxic than cottonmouth venom all other things being equal. Labs are resilient critters. Keep us posted on how she does.

Thanks guys, the snake looked a hair over 2 feet but darn fat, the typical copperhead look...

I'll keep you all updated, I really appreciate the concern. I am hoping with the bite being on her back leg, things will be OK for her and she won't have any long term debilitation.

Is she at the vet or with you?

They're keeping her over night just as a precaution. You don't realize how attached you are to a dog until she's gone a night! My fiancee was about in tears when she went to bed a few minutes ago...

When I was a kid, our white shepherd mix got tagged on the neck by a copperhead. It made an ugly sore, but no permanent damage. Bites to the limbs aren't as life threatening, but there is always the possibility of a permanent limp if the bite was real close to a joint.

My Uncle got tagged on the ankle, and it was stiff and sore the rest of his life.

Good luck to your dog CJ.

Thanks, that is what has me concerned, the bite is right on her hock which at the major back leg joint. I just hope there is not permanent damage. I will love her with a limp or without, but I want her to be able to enjoy many years of hunting with me and her hunting career is just beginning!

CJ:

I hope the dog pulls thru without any lasting complications. Are there any Quail Unlimited or Pheasants Forever chapters near you? If so, give them a call and see if they know of anyone putting on a snake breaking course. The QU in So. Cal would put on one or two a year, and I think it cost (back then) $35 to put your dog thru it. It was a good thing to do out there, quail hunting usually meant desert quail, and where the quail were, there were rattlers as well. Usually, when a dog went thru the course, they remembered for a year the first time, and in my experience, after the 2nd time, they were set for life. Even so, $35/year is cheap compared to a vet bill, or worse...

Travis, I hope there are no long term effects!

Thanks esshup, a couple guys on a hunting forum I post on mentioned the same thing. Unfortunately, snake bites on dogs around here are so rare I can't find any classes. I am just praying this is a fluke...

The vet estimates the final bill will be between $600 and $1200 depending on what treatments need to be done... OUCH!

Again, I appreciate all of you who have posted! Thanks so much...

I'll bet all 3 of you could book a round trip flight to L.A. and back for the price of the vet bill.

When I lived in Oceanside I went here for the classes:
snake breaking

Great point, esshup. Two of our labs went to a snake class, and it works well.

Any AM update, CJ?

CJ, I've had several dogs that were bit by copperheads as well as rattle snakes, they all came through just fine. I had a border collie that was bit apprx 5-7 times, my dad was to poor at the time to go to a vet(I was a kid)he would melt 2 sticks of butter and the dog would drink it, within 24 hours he was at it again. Good luck, Cody

Sorry to hear about this CJ. Hopefully the dog will have learned not to go near snakes again.

CJ, Hope pup is okay. I hates them copperheads.

Just got her back from the vet. Her back leg is still rather swollen and red but she is able to put a fair amount of weight on it which according to the vet is a very good sign that there will be no lasting issues with the use of the leg. She is on an antibiotic and pain medication with a antibiotic cream to apply to the bite area. The vet said the biggest hurdle with be when the skin begins to slough off and how much of it sloughing off will really depend on just how venom was injected. That process usually starts about 4-5 days after the bite. So we will see... She is tired but still has enough energy to be the goofy Lab she is. It's good to have her home... Not good that I now have to leave for work!

Thanks again for all your thoughts and words of encouragement....

Good news I suppose. Keep us posted.

Thanks for the update, CJ. I'm guessing she'll be back to normal within a week.

Good news and glad to here it.

Glad to hear your dog is O.K. C.J. You sound like you get as attached to them as I do.

I do wish I had more garter snakes here which are pretty harmless of course. The hope is they would go down the holes of the star faced moles that are doing so much damage around my ponds.

I don't mind the black snakes, king snakes, garter snakes and ring neck snakes but it is now officially war on anything with venom! There is a rock cave up on the mountain in PA that seems to be a favorite wintering hole for many of the local snakes... This winter I will pay them a visit and remove those I deem undesirable.

Well sure, it's only fair, CJ. The PA venomous snakes must pay for the transgressions of the VA venomous snakes.

OH NO, Serpent Genocide
Glad to hear the pup is doing ok.

I will certainly be on the hunt for the VA ones as well... And will my dog hunting a lot in PA, the less venomous ones up there, the less I have to worry about her being bit again.

I did check on snake breaking classes with the vet today. He said snake bites are so rare on dogs in VA he doesn't know of any in the area. He did say they came out with a new "vaccine" for rattle snake venom you actually can give to a dog. He wasn't sure if it would work for copperheads and didn't know of any vets in my area who had been using it yet. He said it was a western thing mostly.

Glad to hear your dog is ok. We just killed two copperheads near our house. 32 and 39 inches respectivly. To close to my house, kids and dogs, otherwise I leave them alone. But my oldest now has a nice mounted snake skin hanging on his wall.

CJ: Is she still doing better? Thinking on the snake breaking courses, I don't know if it'll work if they don't use snakes that are common to your area. I know that they have to use live defanged snakes because dead ones smell different to the dogs. I don't know if different snakes smell differently to a dog.

With an sensitive as a dog's nose is, I suspect they do smell different, dead and different species...

She is doing better than I thought to be honest. She's bringing toys and wanting to retrieve. I have to keep her on a leash when doing up an down stairs as she just wants to tear up and down them. I'd say the swelling is down to maybe 50% of normal. She also seems to be putting more weight on the leg as well. All very good signs! Only time will tell how much skin and flesh dies due to necrosis. Then what is anything will be the long term affects? That is going to be the big question....

She's young, and I'm amazed at how resilent the dogs are. One of my Springers dislocated her hip and I about had to keep her tied down the next day because she didn't show any ill effects from popping the bone out of her hip, and chipping the socket in the process. I took her out to the trap range one night, and before I could stop her, she took off after the "birds" that were being shot. She ran right past the trap house just as a bird was thrown. She caught it full in her side, and I don't think she even broke her stride. I haven't seen another dog with as much drive to retrieve something, not even Field Trial Labs. She'd even dive down to retrieve stuff that sank. I really miss her!

Yeah, my lab is pretty wild when it comes to retrieving... It is amazing the drive dogs have to do what they were bred to do. This is the first lab I have had and first dog I bought for hunting. I had two golden retrievers and an Irish setter growing up. They were bred as family dogs, but the setter and one of the goldens did do some hunting. But my dog now is just so birdy with such desire compared to them. I am really look forward to getting her out in the field this fall for some hunting. Tonight, I am going to give her a luke warm shower and clean her leg more. She seems like like the warm water on it...

The warm water might stimulate some blood flow and help it heal faster. If you don't have her on any, you might want to get her on vitamins during this time of stress. My vet said those Pet Tabs were just fine. I don't know if there is anything better on the market, Anna should know.

Thanks for the idea... We'll check into that pronto!

Sorry I am late to the party. You definitely want to get her on an immune supporting supplement. Pet Tabs are OK, but not my favorite. If you will PM me with your address I will send you some of my super secret immune boosting formula. It's a combination of several things and works like a charm. In the meantime start her on Vitamin C. I'd give 500 mg twice a day and work up to 3000 mg a day for at least a month. It can be hard on the stomach so get a buffered type and increase the dose every 3-4 days until you get up to 3000 mg total.

Also, get lots of fresh protein into her diet and lay off anything with grains. Cereal grains actually add to inflammation. Check the ingredients on your dog food. Right now she needs good anti inflammatory foods like fats and proteins. Easy additions are cottage cheese, yogurt and eggs as well as any raw meat and or canned fish like sardines or mackerel packed in water. I can do up a homemade EASY diet for you and email it to you if you would like.

Also start her on Fish Oil Capsules. 1000 mg per ten pounds of body weight daily or I can shoot you out some in a pump bottle if she is not good at taking pills.

A friend recently sent me a list of homeopathic remedies for snake bites. I will see if I can dig it up and will post it here if I find it tonight. Homeopathy is not my forte but I have seen it do some amazing things. I've also seen it do nothing, so it's a crap shoot. When it works it WORKS when it doesn't...

Sorry I am late in getting here. I am glad she is recovering and if you need anything for her please do not hesitate to ask.

Hugs to both of you.

So how is the dog, CJ?

Thanks for asking...

She is doing VERY good! Just a couple small scabs left and everywhere else has healed up nicely. Looks like all that will be left is a nasty 3/8" by 4" scar with a couple little off shoots. I guess the areas that died are those that got the higher amounts of venom...

I was up at the hunting land and trout creek in PA on Thursdays scouting for the upcoming archery season. Covered 7 miles according to my GPS and she was tagging along the whole time. Never showed a sign of limping nor any pain. She was swimming around in the creek with my buddy's lab who was also along for the trip.

I guess I really lucked out! Duck season starts next week. I am hoping to get out and let her do what she loves to do most and that is hunt birds.

Thanks for the advice Anna. I'll send you a PM.

Anna, That is some great information!!! Are those home remedies???

Hang, these are home remedies to use after you seek veterinary treatment. I've heard of people using as much as 30,000 mg of injectable Vitamin C immediately after the bite. Most of the evidence on this modality is anecdotal but it does seem to work. However, I'd seek veterinary intervention first.

This same formula is good to use after any stress, surgery or injury or for a dog with a chronic illness like tick disease or arthritis.

The better the food you feed the better your dog will do. Food is the most healing substance we can offer our dogs and making sure that they get good quality, high protein and low carbohydrate foods is key. Thankfully CJ had already been doing this. This is the main reason Shanny has had such a good recovery.

The products I like best are Bertes Immune Blend
Immune Blend

And the Ultra Probiotic Powder
Probiotic Powder

Both these products were developed by a dear friend of mine Lew Olson. She has a PhD in Natural Health and is a wealth of information.

But I sometimes add Nupro to the mix as well.

Nupro

Of course other supplements can be added for specific conditions. However, this is a good foundation to start with and add to as needed.

CJ, PM sent and care package will go out tomorrow.

Good to hear she bounced back CJ. Scary when something like this happens to your pup and you feel helpless to make her feel better. Glad we don't have to worry about those buggers up here.

Jeesh, sorry Travis, I just caught this. Glad to hear everything turned out okay...I'm glad we don't have venomous snakes in NE with the exception of Western Diamondbacks out West.

I've already privately thanked Anna for her kindness but I wanted to thank her publicly as well...

She sent me a care package a couple days ago for Shanny my dog which was bit by the copperhead and it was quite impressive! Her generosity, genuine kindness and caring is a true sentiment to her character!

If you have a dog, I would highly recommend you check out her website. It is top notch with many great items for dogs. http://wholesomehound.com/

I just wanted to openly thank Anna for her kindness even as she is going through a tough time herself...

Oh my gosh:
What happens when a dog gets bit by a copperhead? He lives?
I wouldn't have thought so. I'm thinking of Anna too.

Yup, Shanny survived... Just a nasty little scar on her leg. You can read the prior posts. Most of the details are in them. She is all healed up now and doing quite well. We got lucky!

Aww shucks CJ! It was my pleasure and I'm so glad that Shanny liked her duck and chicken feet and that you got one over on Sarah with the Bully stick. You've got to send me a picture of Shanny when she has her spa day. I can see her now, relaxed in the bubble filled, lavendar scented tub, soft jazz playing in the background, candlelight, and a nice fat steak! LOL!

Anna kind caring people are always entitled to more praise than they get. That surely includes you. Thanks for helping CJ's pup and for sharing the info with us.

I read back on this thread, and learned a lot. I'm happy it worked out - and I think everyone can conclude that the dog world is really better off with Anna in it.

Here is a pic of a "copperhead" taken last weekend. If it wasn't for the neighbor's dog alerting us to this snake, my wife would probabaly have been bitten by it.

Hopefully the copperhead is headless now... HAHA

Hopefully he is underground by now. We purchased this property last summer after looking at numerous for more than a year. The undisturbed eco-system was a major factor in our decision. This particular piece of land has never been lived on,drilled on, no cattle, just trees underbrush and all the critters that go with it. I caught a bass a couple of days ago that was defecating a small snake.

Sounds like you found a real gem.

It is to us. I am very thankful that I can steward and enjoy this piece of land for a few years. Hopefully, my children will take the reins someday and enjoy also.

Unfotunately for me, this land has never had an agriculture exemption for taxes. Tried to get a wildlife exemption but that did not go to far with the county. They all need money these days.

Wow, I bet your taxes are a real killer. What you might do is lease the grazing rights to someone. If it is fenced, you might let them run 3 or 4 cows on it. Keep at it for 5 years and keep a copy of the written lease agreements. Once you get an AG exemption, transfer over to wildlife and get rid of cows.

Wow, talk about camouflage, that snake definitely blends right in.

Sorry, I can't get past "defecating a snake". UGHHHHHHH

Anna, for a free rubber duckie, I'll send you a photo of me with the same stage props. jkidding
Sorry, couldn't resist.

ROFL!! Send me a picture without the stage props first! Then I'll let you know if I want to see the other. Too funny!

Burger with a fan

Sorry, I just got over the swine flu, pretty puny right now.
I'm the one without the.....I'm the one with the shorter hair.

burgermeister, If you just got over the swine flu, be careful with that "copperhead" you're playing with!!!! She'll kill ya.....JK

Swine flu, ouch. Is that why you're hallucinating?

Ok Burger! I'll take the picture, no actually, it had better be a youtube video so we can be sure that the music is playing in the background. BUT, you have to post it here and you have to eat the steak RAW, just like Shanny would! I double dog dare you! LOL!

If you do it I will send you ten rubber duckies.

Shucks, double dog dare! Now this has become pretty serious.

Geez, Burger, I guess it's true that everything's bigger in Texas!

You are quite the strapping young man, burger, and seemingly quite the lady-killer to boot.

I was sure we met at PBII, but maybe I was just too hammered to remember what you looked like.

I could have sworn you wore a goatee.

I know Burger and he’s no little Timmy.

Theo , B'ski , Burger , Bill & Dave D.


Get well soon Burger.