Rattler

My favourite off leash park has this sign at the parking lot and at a few other places in the park.

It probably explains why this gorgeous place, is usually pretty quiet. I've been walking Coulee down there (and clients' dogs too) for over 4 years, and I had never seen one, until last night. And now I am scared and don't think I want to go back until Winter when all the snakes are sleeping!

Our walk started off innocently enough and as usual we had lots of dogs (10) and not so many people (3). The dogs were having fun swimming in the river and just hanging out. It wasn't until we'd had enough of the barking and decided to leave the river for drier land that we heard it. We saw Sadie pick up a scent trail and wander off the path with a few other dogs in tow, and then we heard the rattle.

Apparently we all suck in an emergency. We stood there yelling at the dogs (4 out of 10 were standing around it) and while I really wanted to run in and haul them out of there, I didn't want the other 6 following me over to the snake. Sandy passed Duke's leash over to Jo and ran and scooped up Sadie - which was probably a good thing as I would consider her the most likely to reach out and bite it. Thankfully no one was bitten (snake included). We were pretty shook up but the dogs were their usual selves as we high tailed it back to the car.

I am leaving you with some random pictures from the time PS (Pre-Snake) to remind myself about how much fun this park can be.