April 23rd was the day we met Merle. It was not under the most ideal circumstances.
We were up at Beaver’s Bend for a weekend away with “the crowd” and following breakfast, the “kids” (i.e. Simon, Jorge, Grace, and Drew) decided to go for a wander. After walking along the creek, the gang found a snake coiled in the sun (note, a checkmark for Simon and his “hopes to see” while in the US). The snake – which we identified as a Cotton Mouth (or Water Moccasin) – started to sliver towards the creek. At this time, a small white puppy started to bound towards the group, and – as the tale was told – after passing where the snake had been, this puppy caught a smell and started to follow the still-slivering snake. Being a puppy, with no commonsense at all, he invaded the space and the snake was kind enough to strike him twice (on the paw as we found out later) while the gang watched.
The puppy, now named Merle, started to screech which was the first thing Chris heard when we received the phone call. It was seriously like a child screaming.
After identifying the snake, and consulting the Googs, we rinsed Merle’s paw in the running water of the creek and then bundled him in the car to find the nearest vet. It is a Saturday just past 12 noon.
After 3 vets, a fire station, an Emergency Room (for people) and almost 90 minutes of this screeching child (er, dog), we found help in Hugo, OK. Twice along the ride, Merle fell silent and his breathing became very shallow, and with four young people in the back, we tried to reassure them that no matter what happened the “kids” did everything right and as well as they could. We were unclear if Merle was going to survive, especially on the ride to Hugo.
At the vet, it was discovered that he had been bitten twice “in the best possible spot” for a dog (as the vet explained, if the snake had bitten him on the chest or the neck/face, he would have died).
We left him at the vet for care, and then we tried to find his owner near our cabin. We suspected the house that he may have come from and twice tried to make contact. On one of those visits, we were sure they were home but didn’t answer the door. Chris also emailed details and pictures to the company we booked the cabin through. After no responses, and as we headed out from OK, we swung through Hugo, OK, and picked up Merle.
Remarkably, we were able to get him back to the house in Frisco, without the other two dogs (Sophie or Cabbie) knowing he was in the car, thanks to Merle’s crazy ability to simply pass out in a car.
The next step was to introduce Merle to the girls, which we did later in the week. Things were a little tense, but as we’ve discovered, Merle and the girls (especially Cabbie) have settled into their own little pack. The most surprising is how well Cabbie has adjusted to Merle (not something either of us expected in any way).
So Merle is now part of the family, and life continues to evolve with a 10-year-old, 8-year-old, and (then) 6-7 month-old pooch.
