A Walk To Forget....Two Bulldogs And A Water Snake

Alice Kable

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Community Veteran
Dec 17, 2010
4,423
281
Joseph, Oregon, United States
Bulldog(s) Names
Ruggles and Buster
I'll start by saying we have had wonderful weather once Summer actually started. Lots of sunny days with high temps. mostly high 70s to low 80s. Perfect. My husband and I like to get our dogs out for a walk every morning. We walk up a USFS paved, one lane road that follows a creek and leads to a trailhead. We are surrounded by the Wallowa Mountain Range with many peaks close to 10,000 feet.

One morning in the recent past my husband was not available to join the boys and I on our morning walk so I took them by myself. Now I have taken the two of them on walks by myself many times. What was different this time? We were walking along and I always look at what is ahead of us on the road so I have time to tighten up the leashes (examples: horseshit, dead rodents, etc.) so they can't dive and get a mouthful. About 30 feet in front of us in the middle of the road was a snake sunbathing on the asphalt. I saw it first, grabbed their leashes close to their collars, then Mack spotted it and started pulling forward, then Ruggles joined in and I was overpowered. I was trying to walk backwards but we were getting closer to the snake. I started yelling at the snake to move; not knowing if they have ears I started jumping up and down on the pavement. I could see both of the dogs getting a hold of the snake and playing tug with it or what if one of them swallowed it! I have fished many things out of their mouths but honestly didn't think I could a snake. We got within 5 feet of the snake when it finally moved in to the grass. Of course I got drug over to the grass but it was gone.

We completed our walk and I went home feeling like both arms were longer.

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KMARINO

I couldn't make this sh*t up if I tried!
Jul 21, 2010
7,219
728
Bradenton Fl.
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USA
Bulldog(s) Names
VEGAS and REBEL
YIKES!!!! I hate snakes!! Good thing it moved on. Now your arms are just longer to hug two bully's instead of one! lol
 

JeannieCO

Queenie
Mar 11, 2011
12,680
873
Tip of the Mitt, Michigan
Country
USA
Bulldog(s) Names
Emma, Charlie, Milo, Peekaboo and Jack
That is beautiful where you walk. I'd be more afraid of bears if it was me walking there, but then of course because I'm so afraid of bears I wouldn't be walking there. :lol: We have rattlesnakes where we camp. I had an encounter with one 2 years ago with my other two boys (Ace and Orion - Orion's passed now). It was about 3pm and I took them both to the end of the trail from our campsite after we got back in from boating and I was about 15 feet away from them as they were off leash. Then I heard it!!!! The sound of a rattle. To my horror Ace was on one side of it and Orion was on the other and it was coiled up getting close to striking. Well that morning since it was our first morning there I had taken them both down to the water and gave them a 10 minute brush up on sit, stay, come, etc. like I always did on our first outing out during for the summer. Well I hollared ACE ORION COME!!! And immediately they did just that. From that point on I was more on guard. Snakes are scaryyyy!
 

Davidh

Head Pooper Scooper
Staff member
Mar 21, 2011
13,407
848
Katy, Texas
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USA
Bulldog(s) Names
BeBe, Hazel, Lucy Lu, JLO, Hillary, Henri, & Katie
WOW, beautiful country you live in. I'm [MENTION=2014]JeannieCO[/MENTION] I would be more afraid of the bears.
 

izstigspunks

Moderator
Sep 16, 2010
5,939
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Toronto, Ontario
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Canada
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The Stig Racecar Driver and (Sweet Angel) Punkin Brutus
omg, way to scary for me. But the part where you mentioned that you were jumping up and down made me chuckle. Can really picture it. lol.

@JeannieCO - I'm terrified of bear encounters too ... and foxes which are more common here. :*(
 

JeannieCO

Queenie
Mar 11, 2011
12,680
873
Tip of the Mitt, Michigan
Country
USA
Bulldog(s) Names
Emma, Charlie, Milo, Peekaboo and Jack
@savemejeebus and @Davidh , my fear of bears has kept me from wanting go camping up in the beautiful mountains that I have in my backyard, ok not literally but I have a view of the Rockies every single day. I used to jeep and was on Ted Turner's ranch in New Mexico about 11 years ago and low and behold we came across a mother and her cub. The cub scooted up the tree and the mother just stood there. Our jeeps were topless at the time too so we had no protection. That was scary. Rattlers though, we're always watching for those when camping. A dog in the campsite next to use last year got bite and luckily it survived due to anti-venom after being rushed to 2 vets, one 40 miles away. Poor thing was in bad shape but alive.

We were at the lake this weekend and the bluffs/shoreline are 100 feet from our campsite and my husband saw a fox. We went looking for it but didn't find it. But BEARS, no thanks, me a chicken!!!
 
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Alice Kable

Alice Kable

New member
Community Veteran
Dec 17, 2010
4,423
281
Joseph, Oregon, United States
Bulldog(s) Names
Ruggles and Buster
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  • #9
[MENTION=900]KMARINO[/MENTION] I also am very afraid of snakes. [MENTION=2092]JAKEISGREAT[/MENTION] it is too cold for rattlers here but 30 miles away, down in the Imnaha canyon there are lots of rattlers! [MENTION=2014]JeannieCO[/MENTION] we have bears but other than scaring the horses and eating fruit off the trees they haven't been a problem. I'd be afraid of a mama bear with her cub because she'd be protective. I am scared of the Mountain Lions or Cougars. They are very agressive and do kill lambs, calfs, dogs, etc. We do have lots of deer so the cougars are rarely hungry.
 

JeannieCO

Queenie
Mar 11, 2011
12,680
873
Tip of the Mitt, Michigan
Country
USA
Bulldog(s) Names
Emma, Charlie, Milo, Peekaboo and Jack
I keep coming back here to not only check the post but look at your picture again--just a beautiful place to walk! I think I would rather encounter a bear before a cougar. They've already been stalking you if you see one-no thanks. :)
 

anatess

Well-known member
Jul 26, 2011
1,758
398
Country
US
Bulldog(s) Names
Bullie (RIP) & Angus (RIP)
Jumping up and down was a good idea. Snakes really don't have external ears like we do. They do have internal ears and they hear through vibrations which is then passed to their body muscles which then gets passed to their internal ears. So banging on the asphalt is much "louder" to the snake than somebody yelling - because the vibration on the ground would be felt much better by the snake's very sensitive body muscles.

Interestingly, Bullie pays no interest to our pet snakes. We just got 3 new pet birds. Bullie sniffed them through their cage and decided they're not very interesting. What gets Bullie pulling on the leash is frogs! I don't know what it is about frogs but she likes chasing those guys!
 
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Alice Kable

Alice Kable

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Community Veteran
Dec 17, 2010
4,423
281
Joseph, Oregon, United States
Bulldog(s) Names
Ruggles and Buster
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  • #12
[MENTION=2874]anatess[/MENTION] thanks for the snake info. Sounds like you have quite the zoo, your pets are lucky to have such diversity at home!
 

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