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Thread: Tragic loss

  1. #1
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    Default Tragic loss

    A very good friend of mine got a GSP pup from one of the top breeders last year. The pup had natural ability in heaps and it was incredible to see how much time my friend devoted to training the pup. Yard work every day and fieldwork just about every weekend over the last year. Sometimes Saturday AND Sunday on the same weekend. His dog went with him everywhere. And the results were fantastic. Countless points on various species and boundless joy for dog and owner.

    This past weekend my friend was once again doing field training, on this occasion at a farm near Springs. Although some of the training over the last year entailed training the dog not to approach snakes, an extremely large rinkhals was encountered on the weekend and, for some reason, the dog attacked the rinkhals before my friend could stop him. He was bitten on the face - one fang penetrating the eyeball. Carrying the dog, my friend ran to the car as fast as he could. He reached the car in about 10 mins and by that time the dog was already unconscious and unresponsive. They got the dog to a vet within 15 mins of leaving the farm but, sadly, the dog was already dead. A devastating and tragic loss.

  2. #2

    Default Re: Tragic loss

    Sad. But shows you how much courage these dogs have. Not fearing snakes and danger.

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Tragic loss

    My heart breaks for him and his loss. There's nothing on this earth like the loyalty and love of that of a dog.

  4. #4

    Default Re: Tragic loss

    My heart goes out to the owner. As a dog lover and owner myself I can imagine the
    huge loss the owner must be feeling. Snakes are my greatest fear when hunting with
    my dogs.

  5. #5
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    Default Re: Tragic loss

    I'm am so sorry to hear about this tragic loss!!! Loosing our 4 legged companions is never easy...They become part of the family!!
    Sad indeed!!

  6. #6

    Default Re: Tragic loss

    Bad to loose a friend.

  7. #7

    Default Re: Tragic loss

    So sorry about the your friend's loss Dimitri.
    I have a GSP myself ("Patrys", known to some gunsiters.)
    She was bitten by Mozambican spitting cobras twice - first time on the shoulder, second time on the face. Every time a deep ulcer developed, which healed eventually. The Moz spitting cobra is known to have a cytotoxic venom.

    I know the Springs area would imply the snake to be a Rinkhals - a black snake with white throat bands, which is also predominantly cytotoxic. The sudden death in this case, could possibly be attributed to neurotoxic venom.
    Is it possible, that your friend mistook a snouted cobra for a rinkhals?
    Is it even possible for a black mamba, which could easily be mistaken for a rinkhals, to occur there?

  8. #8
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    Default Re: Tragic loss

    Quote Originally Posted by Willie Barnard View Post
    Is it even possible for a black mamba, which could easily be mistaken for a rinkhals, to occur there?
    Out of range they do not occur so far South.
    https://www.africansnakebiteinstitut...e/black-mamba/

    Perhaps the dog suffered an anaphylactic attack. Very sad Dimitri, with all the effort that go into training a gundog it is a double blow. I cannot recall my dad ever losing a dog to a snake, and he ran 4-6 dogs and everywhere across SA. Before he passed he spent winters in Alldays and even there never lost a dog. Hope your mate get a new pup quickly, and get back on the horse.

  9. #9
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    Default Re: Tragic loss

    Thanks Willie.

    I'm so glad that Patrys survived the incidents with the Mozambique Spitting Cobras.

    I too was surprised by how quick my friend's dog died after being bitten. Prior to this incident I thought that a GSP-size dog would have 2-3 hours to get to a vet if bitten by a rinkhals. I agree that the neurotoxic venom played a big role in how quickly the dog died. The other factor that played a role was that it was an exceptionally large specimen and highly likely that dog received the full dose of venom from the snake. My friend says the vet told him that the location of the bite also played a big part. Earlier in the season, the dog of another member of my friend's hunting syndicate was bitten on the chest by a large rinkhals and it survived.

    As far as identification of the snake is concerned I don't think he would have confused the rinkhals with a snouted cobra. Of course, it was an extremely stressful situation and his biggest priority was the dog but there were other members of the syndicate with him and they also identified it as the same. That area does hold high numbers of rinkhals. I have encountered a few myself when hunting in that area in the past. I think Springs is outside of the black mamba's range.

    Here is something heartwarming that came out of the above. Due to all the training that my friend had done over the last year, he met many other GSP owners, breeders and members of the GSP and versatile hunting dog clubs. When I spoke to my friend yesterday to see how he is doing he said that he has been overwhelmed by how much support he has received from the gundog community. But more than that, he has received offers from a number of individuals /breeders to "come and choose another pup for free". Well done, chaps.

    Lastly, on the topic of dogs surviving snakes. I have another good friend who farms in the Dwaalboom area. Like Patrys, Whitey also had run-ins with Mozambique Spitting Cobras. He got spat in the eyes on 2 occasions. The second time the venom did some lasting damage and Whitey was partially blind for the rest of his life - although he coped extremely well with that disability and helped track and locate and also bring down numerous wounded animals on my friend's game farm. The most remarkable incident, however, happened one cold, rainy night. My friend was woken by Whitey yelping. He went out to investigate and found a 3.5m python wrapped around the dog. Surprisingly, probably because of the cold, the snake was lethargic and did not put up much resistance and he was able to uncoil the snake from around Whitey and release it into the bush!

  10. #10
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    Default Re: Tragic loss

    The bond which develops between a hunter and his dog cannot be explained to normal people.
    Time and great effort goes into training a good dog, occasionally we get lucky and receive a puppy with great potential and are able to give it the time and effort to develop it to its full potential.
    What happen to your friend is indeed tragic and very sad.
    My advice is getting another dog from the same breeder immediately.
    Limit your veld training to between early April and early September.
    I know the temptation is to train all year, but in Africa, the temperature dictates when you are more lightly to encounter a snake.
    The trauma and despair that goes with losing a dog in this manner is just too much.
    Also if dogs are transported in trailers. Most people make the trailer air tight to prevent dust entering the trailer. When they transport dogs a vent is left open.
    I have witnessed a hunter/field trailer arrive at a venue, open his trailer and three of his dog had suffocated. Somewhere along the route the vent closed. He had traversed from the Free State to Dullstroom .That day several grown men cried.
    We must learn from tragic situations and adapt our behaviour accordingly.

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