What do retrievers do? Retrieve.
Bronson is a retriever extraordinaire. Ducks are his specialty, and sometimes cell phones and other out-of-place odds and ends.
But this 11-year-old black lab recently came up to his owners with a startling quarry: A deadly copperhead snake.
His owners were able to use his excellent training to help them get him out of his scary situation alive. Deborah put a chaff bag on the ground and pulled it up over the bottom of the snake and released its coil from Bronson’s snout. Then she gave the command.
“And as soon I said ‘Give’ he dropped it right into the bag and we sealed up the ends,” she says.
Good grief... I think I'd have gotten a good hold on the snake's head with a pair of vice-grips first. :mg:
They rushed Bronson to their local vet, where tests showed he had been bitten at some point during his adventure. He spent four days on a drip at the vet’s, and is now fully recovered.
linkStay tuned when next week Bronson retrieves a (fill in the blank)!
Stay tuned when next week Bronson retrieves a small semi-detached house!
We graduate from turduckhen to snakeador. Par boil prior to grilling.
Yarragon, where Bronson & co live, is not far from us. We have copperheads and tiger snakes on our property too. We've been planning to train our new labradoodle pup not to approach them, but haven't got round to it. This is reminds me that we should do it sooner rather than later.
Our snake rule is: if they're in the paddocks or by the dam, they can stay. If they come into the garden - and especially near the house - they're dinner. No, really, dinner! Last summer we killed a big copperhead on our veranda. We peeled him and cured the skin. And then when he was nekkid, my other half said we may as well eat him. So we marinaded it and fried it up... mmmmmmistake! Tastes like chicken, but with the consistency of bicycle tyre. He was showing photos of it to his colleagues that week (he's a "new Australian" so this was his first big snake encounter) and the Chinese and Vietnamese colleagues almost pissed themselves laughing at the way we cooked it. They said snake has to be chopped up small and stewed. We now have a waiting list for the next snake dinner (Chinese, Vietnamese and British/West Indian). Strictly speaking, all snakes are protected in Australia, so this is the only way for them to eat snake. (Okay, take it away Sheldon!)
I do not eat serpents, Sir. may I say: Yeeeee - Uck.
We secretly replaced Bronson's leash with a deadly copperhead snake. Let's see if his owners notice....
Yarragon, where Bronson & co live, is not far from us. We have copperheads and tiger snakes on our property too. We've been planning to train our new labradoodle pup not to approach them, but haven't got round to it. This is reminds me that we should do it sooner rather than later.
Good idea. Our Aussie Cattle Dog got bit by a Eastern Diamondback late last year.
Thus we see the very beginning of the new copperhead retriever breed.
This is exactly why some of us prefer to live in a little cabin at the North Pole. Why would anybody want to live in a place where poisonous things are slithering on the ground, waiting to bite you?
This is exactly why some of us prefer to live in a little cabin at the North Pole. Why would anybody want to live in a place where poisonous things are slithering on the ground, waiting to bite you?
exactly. I fee the same way about alligators and crocodiles. They're always wanting to bite you.
Stay tuned when next week Bronson retrieves a big-ass can of snake repellant.:thepain:
I cannot wrap my mind around " look honey there is a snake! Lets eat it!":greenface
I cannot wrap my mind around " look honey there is a snake! Lets eat it!":greenface
Well, he's Dutch, and is very partial to eel, and he said the nekkid snake looked like an eel, and it went from there. But I tell you what, just after we had killed snakey, we were both pretty shaken... until we decided to skin it for the leather, and then eat the meat. Then we felt on top of the food chain again. Since then we still keep a careful lookout for them, but we sorta look forward to the next one. Oh, and we have seen some again (big tiger snake recently) but away from the house, so we're sticking to the deal.
Good grief... I think I'd have gotten a good hold on the stake's head with a pair of vice-grips first. :mg:
And then cut it off with tin snips!
We secretly replaced Bronson's leash with a deadly copperhead snake. Let's see if his owners notice....
Major haggis. Game For A Laugh nostalgia.
I cannot wrap my mind around " look honey there is a snake! Lets eat it!":greenface
Well, he's Dutch, and is very partial to eel, and he said the nekkid snake looked like an eel, and it went from there.
I'm with you there - maybe it's a European thing. I'd definitely eat snake. Possibly not the Chinese way, where they skin it live, but if it was dead anyways...
Sandy, I'm going to Amsterdam (finally!) in March. Too early for the really good raw herring, but I'm hoping to have my fill of seafood. Not sure about seamen... but Dutch men are pretty hot!
Not sure about seamen... but Dutch men are pretty hot!
For me, one of those led to the other :joylove: and now I have my own Dutch treat, with his Dutch uncles, and Dutch ovens. Have fun in Amsterdam, Sundae!
Rocky, my lab mix, was bit on the nose by a snake once. Fortunately we don't have venomous snakes here (except water mocs); it was a rat snake. He looks dumb as a rock (ha) but he's actually pretty smart. So I don't think he'll be doing that again.
Rat snakes, apparently, do sometimes behave like rattlesnakes -- that is, they use their tail as a rattle, shaking it against a leaf or other crackly thing to make the rattle sound. Therefore, my dear hubby truly thought our dog had been bit by a rattlesnake and it took a lot of convincing on my part to prove otherwise! Whew!
Spexx, yer supposed to BITE off the head. Real Aussies do it that way!
Spexx, yer supposed to BITE off the head. Real Aussies do it that way!
Ozzy Osbourne is an Aussie?
Ozzy Osbourne is an Aussie?
Aussie Osbourne?:headshake
Is he an Aussie, is he, Ozzy, is Ozzy an Aussie, is he, eh?