Snakes

I'm getting ready for work, and I have ten minutes before I need to escape out the door. Throwing the dogs outside, I give them a few minutes, and prepare my dinner to take with me. I finish fixing my hair, turn off the television, and open the back door to let the dogs back in. My Whippet, Flash, greets me with a copperhead snake hanging out of his mouth. It's dead, luckily, and it takes about a minute before I can encourage Flash to drop it. He comes inside depressed and upset that I've taken his toy away. He can't understand why I'm checking him all over, opening his mouth, and feeling his body for a venomous bite. We were lucky. There are none. Heading outside, I find a place to dispose of the dead snake, throwing it over the fence and into the woods.

I'll be on snake watch for the rest of the spring and summer. My dogs are vaccinated with a rattlesnake vaccine, but there is some controversy to if it has any secondary properties for other snakes. Snake watch entails walking the yard with an ax or hoe prior to any trips the dogs make outside. Last year a nest of copperheads hatched beneath the back porch, and I was killing snakes all summer. It doesn't matter to me, just as long as my precious pooches are protected.