Years ago, I had a Lassie Collie named Casey.  She got bitten on the jaw by a copperhead.  I rushed her to the vet.  The vet treated her life and death situation,…….but it wasn’t the snakebite that was killing her!!!

Casey was my companion.  Wherever I went she went with me.  She loved me.  She loved people.  She loved riding in the truck.  Shucks, this dog loved everything……… except snakes.  She hated snakes!  With a passion like I’ve never seen.

You’ve seen your dog, or maybe a video of someone’s dog shaking the life out of a snake, literally.  Casey was a pro at it.  She would grab the snake by its tail and shake her head back and forth whipping the snakes body like a piece of spaghetti.  I’ve seen her do this numerous times.  I don’t know if it breaks the snakes neck or what but after a few whiplash sessions with my dog, its over.

I was driving my truck on our farm, stopping at one of the gates to open it.  When I opened my door and got out, there at my feet was a pretty good sized copperhead. (My mother always called them Rattlesnake Pilots, she should know as she got bitten by one as a young girl).  I did what I normally and instinctively do when I’m too close to a snake.  Yep, I danced that awkward dance of trying to lift both feet in the air at the same time, while giving out this scream sounding exactly like a twelve year old little girl.  Well, Casey must have known what it meant as she was out of the truck like a bolt of lightening.

The snake was actually coiled with his tail vibrating as a rattlesnake’s would.  Scary sight to me.  Casey, without hesitation, grabbed that snake and gave it a violent shake back and forth.  Whoa, she slung the snake several feet in the air and jumped on it again.  I got to thinking, maybe I should back up several feet, or yards, or maybe a football field away in case she slings that thing towards me!  Wouldn’t want to do the dance or sing/squeal like a girl again.

Then it was over.  Just like that!  Casey had racked up another trophy in her long list of snakes killed.  She was now riding in the back of the truck.  I honestly thought I saw her smiling.  Look, that dog is smiling.  Her jaw had an unusual bump on it causing her gums to drop and her teeth on one side to show.  Silly dog, smiling like she had just won the Super Bowl of Snake Slinging.  Only now I could tell.  She wasn’t smiling,…… she had been bitten!

Off we go to the vet’s.  When I bust in with my companion in my arms, I holler “snakebite”!  The vet’s busy with his daily routine of wormin’cats, and or giving the latest round of shots to Trixie, Poofie, Scruffy, or whoever the dog is.  Nope, that can wait.  We’ve got an emergency here.

The vet tells me to relax.  Take it easy.  It’s gonna be OK.  He’ll give me a call later this afternoon.  I leave, but I can’t relax.  My buddy, my best friend is in there………and I have to leave and wait at home.

Phone call finally arrives later that afternoon.  “Well, good thing you brought your dog in.  I think I saved her life.”  Those words are still etched in my brain to this day.  I told the vet thanks for what he did.  But he had some news for me.

He said the snakebite wasn’t that bad.  Must have just been a glancing blow, or the snake didn’t really give a good dose of venom.  There was a swelling on Casey’s jaw the size of a walnut and that was about it.  Not going to be a problem according to the vet.  But there was a problem.  A BIG PROBLEM!!!

When the vet took some blood with a needle from Casey, she wouldn’t stop bleeding.  The vet had enough experience with farm dogs to know what this meant.  Somewhere, somehow this dog had been eating RAT BAIT!!!!!  POISON!!

That’s how rat bait works.  The chemical in the bait causes the rat’s blood to not coagulate, therefore the rat dies.  The same thing was happening to my dog.  Another seven days said the vet, and she would have been a goner.

How ’bout that.  I take my dog in for a snakebite, and what’s really killing her is discovered in the process.  Never thought I’d say that a snakebite would actually save a life.

What about you?  What snake has bitten you lately?  Have you had an event happen in your life that’s causing you to do the awkward dance while squealin’ like a little girl.  You break in line and rush to get it fixed, only to realize…… that’s not the really Big Problem.

A snake bite of any kind is a problem for sure.  But if you have been poisoned by accident or on purpose, well, that needs top priority and major attention.

By the way, I’m not sure who your “vet” is.  But somebody (with experience) is telling you to calm down, it’s gonna be OK.  Your “vet” also tells you your little episode is not the problem.  The poison in your life is.  Maybe your “vet” is a close friend, a parent, or even the Holy Spirit heard by you in a still small way.  You better listen.

Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. –psalm 103:2,3

I hope and pray that you never have a “snakebite”.  But if it causes you to realize the “bigger picture” in your life is actually the problem, then maybe just like what happened to me and Casey, it will truly be a Blessing in disguise.

See Ya!   Dan Ainsworth wilderness preacher still dancin’ and squealin’ like a girl