My dog kills snakes

"Stay away from them," I told him when we passed these two halves of a king snake he killed last night. "Leave the snakes alone", I fussed.

He got bit by one last week during our walk to the pond, though I didn't witness it. I did see that he killed a speckled king snake during our walk, but his symptoms of being bitten by a poisonous one came on way before that. I recognized them because he was bitten by a copperhead (my husband saw it) last year, and was rushed to the vet where we were relieved of $90 and got useless pills for him. He was fine the next day, both of those times.

I have no doubt my woods are full of snakes, but I don't encounter them often. When I come upon some fallen trees that I have to walk over, I announce to the unseen that I come in peace. Sometimes I clap and walk hard too, so we won't surprise each other and cause them to have to bite me. We have copperheads and water moccasins in these parts. My son swears he and my nephews came upon a rattle snake out on the road. To this day, he tells me about it if he is walking with me and we reach the point where he saw it. It has been at least 4 years since that happened.

Chip won't leave the snakes alone. He chases after them senselessly. King snakes are good for us here. They keep the rodent and venomous snake populations down.