A woman in Nashville, Tennessee, has her pit bull to thank after it protected her from a copperhead snake.
Haley McCormack told WTVF that it's typically dark when she gets home after work, and she didn't see the snake in a corner by the stairs leading to her front porch, but her 4-year-old pit bull, Arlo, did.
"It was in this leaf-like area over here, and it was recoiled back so it was going to strike, he got there before I could go any further, he grabbed it by the tail, and then just started kind of shaking it," McCormack told WTVF. "While he was shaking it, it was biting his face, it got him three times for sure, possibly four."
The snake was killed, but Arlo's face and neck became swollen. McCormack took him to a pet hospital.
"I turned on the light and looked in the back seat. He looked like a completely different dog," McCormack told The Tennessean. "I had to take his collar off because his throat was swelling so bad."
WKRN reported that Arlo's breathing became heavy minutes after killing the snake. Once at the hospital, vets gave him antivenom and sent him home with some pain medication.
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"To think how much loyalty and love he had for me, to risk his own life for mine, it's really special," McCormack said. "It makes me have more respect for him not just as a dog, but as a family member, somebody that protects me."
According to a Facebook post, McCormack said Arlo is recovering well. She also said he is getting cuddles with her puppy, Olive.
"I could've gotten bit. He could've ignored the snake. He could've run off. But he chose to put himself in front of me," McCormack told WRKN.
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