Oh dear! I just felt like I wanted to come here again with my friends and share the latest fear with Brandy.

As you know, she has chased squirrels, and caught two (and been bitten by one), and then she caught a mole. Well, my worst fear just happened this afternoon! I came home from work and let them outside in the yard. I was just hooking up the sprinkler, and I had the water running. I heard Brandy barking and carrying on at something, but she barks at everything in the yard. I happen to look over and I saw this black snake striking at her!!!!!! Oh my gosh!!! I was SO scared! Luckily the snake didn't get her, but I was screaming at her to come to me! Finally she came and I grabbed her collar. I ran her and Danny back inside the house and dropped the hose (with sprinkler now attached). After I calmed down and checked her over to make sure she wasn't bite, I looked outside. I saw the snake slitter away towards our garage. The funny thing, I guess, is that the spinkler was aimed right at the back porch door. When I ran and screamed for my husband, he walked out to discover the inside of the back porch was flooded!

I kept telling my husband that I was afraid Brandy would try and attack (bite) a snake if she ever saw one. Then, sure enough, she proved it to me this afternoon. I want to research the internet for something that keep snakes away. We live in the country and have huge woods behind our house, but I don't want them up near the house, or where Brandy and Danny go. This is just the START of the season. This will be a L-O-N-G one for me, I can tell! I am SO afraid of snakes, yet Brandy doesn't seem to be scared!

Thank you friends for letting me share this!

Cheri

Oh dear I sure am glad Brandy did not get bit by the snake. See I said you were going to have to put her in a room lined with cotton balls until she is grown. I hope you will be able to do something to keep the snakes away.

I guess my daughter is lucky her lab does not get into things. Mitzi sure chewed the walls, bed, window ledges, table legs, and those kinds of things. She is much better now that she is 4 years old. And I thought Schnitzel was bad getting into things!
Love, Ann

Hi, Cheri

It sounds like little Brandy is really keeping you on your toes! Thank goodness she wasn't bitten by the snake!

I live in the country also and snakes are a big fear of mine. About 3 weeks ago I was taking Koda (my new puppy) for a walk and he stepped right on a 2 foot long bull snake. I was so thankful that it was a bull snake and not a rattle snake. If had been a rattler, the snake would have certainly bitten one or both of us.

There's a dog training school here and one of the lessons they teach is about snakes. They actually bring in a bull snake and when the dog goes up to sniff it or investigate, they have a whip professional crack a whip on the dogs nose. It sounds a little cruel, but in the scope of learning to avoid snakes or being bitten by one, I think I'd opt for learning a healthy fear of them. I've not signed Koda up for that training session, but I may. If I do, I'll let you know how it goes.

Hugs to both you and Brandy.
Kathleen

Ann, thank you for your response
You're right, I wish I could stow Brandy away somewhere safe until she is at least 2 years old. Unfortunately, I can't. My mother actually made me laugh this morning when I told her about the snake. She said, "Oh isn't Brandy lucky! She has SO many neat toys to play with in your back yard.....squirrels, birds, moles and snakes. What fun!".

Kathleen, thank you also for responding
WOW! I got chills when I read that Koda stepped on a bull snake!!!!! Right now I just can't get that image out of my mind....turning and watching in horror as this black snake is striking out at Brandy! She's a smart girl, though. She jumped back and didn't get bit. The black snakes aren't poisonous, thank goodness. However, we do see a copperhead from time to time! My brother told me not to worry. He said if she encounters another black snake and it bites her, it will teach her to stay away from them. I disagree! Her first squirrel bit her REAL bad inside her mouth, yet to this day, she circles that same tree and keeps trying to catch them. I like that training idea you mentioned much better!!!! I think that is wonderful! I have read too many stories on the internet today (while researching articles on keeping snakes away) about little dogs getting bit and dying from a poisonous snake bite. I'll have to see if they offer any kind of training classes around here like that. Thank you!

You know, after I calmed down later in the night, I had a different thought on the subject. I was horrified and scared for Brandy. Then I realized that Brandy actually protected me! I had no idea that snake was right there. Brandy alerted me to its presence!

Boy, for such a little midget labrador, she has turned out to be a HUGE handful! I thank God (and Rachael, because I feel she had a paw in it too) for having her in my life now. Even with all the traumas, scares and upsets!

Cheri

WOW that little girl is quite a handful! She's a wonderful pup for protecting her mommy but I'm very glad that the snake wasn't poisonous.

I'm not a big fan of snakes myself...I think I would have thrown the sprinkler at in and ran for my life with puppy in tow!

We live in the city and are relatively snake free (aside from little garden snakes..whatever they are called) but we have two racoons, two foxes, FIVE skunks, and about a million squirrels, frogs, and rabbits living in our backyard. I swear it's like a little zoo out there! Riley, the escape artist, has managed to get out and into a good tangle with the foxes one day but didn't get bit thank heavens. She's just a tiny little cat (only weighs 3 pounds) but she's fearless like Brandy and I never know what she'll get into. At least I can keep my little trouble maker inside.....

I'm glad to hear that Brandy didn't get hurt!

Kristie