BoxerRock
Super Boxer
We lost our Carley this past Saturday in a most tragic way. We were camping in a remote part of the Mojave desert and Carley was bitten by a Mojave Green Rattlesnake. We saw the snake and knew how dangerous it was. We got Carley into the trailer immediately and my husband grabbed his gun. A few minutes after my husband destroyed it, we realized that Carley had been bitten. We rushed her to the nearest vet which was about 25 miles away but she passed away in my arms on the way there.
Saturday, April 22nd was the worst day of our lives. The horror of the event itself, the panic, the helplessness. Driving down that highway at 90+ mph, passing cars in the wrong lane, holding my dying baby in my arms. I could hardly breathe and my poor husband freaking out, trying to get us there as fast as he could. It still seems like a horrible nightmare.
One of Carley's favorite things in the whole world was going camping in that desert. We would always find a nice open space where she could run around free and play with her basketball and collect sticks. She even herded cows out there once. Our little cowgirl. When we would pull of the highway onto the dirt road she would stand up in the truck and start squealing. She knew where we were and she was HAPPY!!!
I always worried about snakes out there. When it came to Carley, I worried about everything. We had her vaccinated last year for rattlesnake bites and she just got her booster a month ago. She was only a couple of feet from the trailer, next to my husbands truck.
We've had dogs all of our lives but Carley was our first boxer. Neither one of us ever thought that we could love a dog the way we loved her. We loved her like we love our children. You know what I mean? It may sound silly but either one of us would have gotten between her and that snake if we had seen it in time. The thing about Carley is, she loved us as much as we loved her. She was such a pain in the butt when she was a baby. She had such bad separation anxiety, we used to hire babysitters just so we could go out to dinner. She had grown into such an amazing dog. She was still young enough that she was learning new things and she was so much easier to teach. She went almost everywhere with us but when she couldn't, she stayed home alone and didn't bother anything. Whether we were gone 5 minutes or 2 hours, she acted like she hadn't seen us in a week. Always happy and always loving us. We miss her so much.
I believe that everything happens for a reason and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why this had to happen to our sweet baby. I've since realized though that she and my husband and that snake were all in the same space when this occurred. I believe with all of my heart that she saved her Daddy's life.
We felt that we were going out of our minds with grief the first few days. We couldn't eat or sleep and the crying was out of control. A couple of days ago, we traveled to a nearby town to look at a litter of boxers. We came home with Molley that night. She's 7 weeks old today. I took her to our vet yesterday and she's very healthy. She weighs 4 lbs. 9 ozs. and is a little knuckle-head like Carley was when she was a peanut. When Dr. Sandy came into the examination room, he offered his condolences. He said that the snake vaccination is usually very effective and that either Carley had an extreme alergic reaction to the venom or that the snake may have been a Mojave Green. When I told him that it was indeed, he told us that snake would easily kill a man. He also assured us that Carley would have been in a state as to not know what was going on or feel anything. That was a huge relief because I could stand the though of her being aware of what was happening at the end. So, she was happy and playing and then she was gone.
I know this is long but I haven't been able to talk about it until now. I have this little boxer ball in my lap as I write. I'm sure she doesn't realize it but right now, she is our salvation. I need to get over to the puppy section now for a refresher course. Thank you all so much for listening.
Kim Rock
Saturday, April 22nd was the worst day of our lives. The horror of the event itself, the panic, the helplessness. Driving down that highway at 90+ mph, passing cars in the wrong lane, holding my dying baby in my arms. I could hardly breathe and my poor husband freaking out, trying to get us there as fast as he could. It still seems like a horrible nightmare.
One of Carley's favorite things in the whole world was going camping in that desert. We would always find a nice open space where she could run around free and play with her basketball and collect sticks. She even herded cows out there once. Our little cowgirl. When we would pull of the highway onto the dirt road she would stand up in the truck and start squealing. She knew where we were and she was HAPPY!!!
I always worried about snakes out there. When it came to Carley, I worried about everything. We had her vaccinated last year for rattlesnake bites and she just got her booster a month ago. She was only a couple of feet from the trailer, next to my husbands truck.
We've had dogs all of our lives but Carley was our first boxer. Neither one of us ever thought that we could love a dog the way we loved her. We loved her like we love our children. You know what I mean? It may sound silly but either one of us would have gotten between her and that snake if we had seen it in time. The thing about Carley is, she loved us as much as we loved her. She was such a pain in the butt when she was a baby. She had such bad separation anxiety, we used to hire babysitters just so we could go out to dinner. She had grown into such an amazing dog. She was still young enough that she was learning new things and she was so much easier to teach. She went almost everywhere with us but when she couldn't, she stayed home alone and didn't bother anything. Whether we were gone 5 minutes or 2 hours, she acted like she hadn't seen us in a week. Always happy and always loving us. We miss her so much.
I believe that everything happens for a reason and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why this had to happen to our sweet baby. I've since realized though that she and my husband and that snake were all in the same space when this occurred. I believe with all of my heart that she saved her Daddy's life.
We felt that we were going out of our minds with grief the first few days. We couldn't eat or sleep and the crying was out of control. A couple of days ago, we traveled to a nearby town to look at a litter of boxers. We came home with Molley that night. She's 7 weeks old today. I took her to our vet yesterday and she's very healthy. She weighs 4 lbs. 9 ozs. and is a little knuckle-head like Carley was when she was a peanut. When Dr. Sandy came into the examination room, he offered his condolences. He said that the snake vaccination is usually very effective and that either Carley had an extreme alergic reaction to the venom or that the snake may have been a Mojave Green. When I told him that it was indeed, he told us that snake would easily kill a man. He also assured us that Carley would have been in a state as to not know what was going on or feel anything. That was a huge relief because I could stand the though of her being aware of what was happening at the end. So, she was happy and playing and then she was gone.
I know this is long but I haven't been able to talk about it until now. I have this little boxer ball in my lap as I write. I'm sure she doesn't realize it but right now, she is our salvation. I need to get over to the puppy section now for a refresher course. Thank you all so much for listening.
Kim Rock
