a dog sees her first snake

Penny noticed her first snake the day before yesterday. We were walking along the creek and when we came to the spot where I saw a snake last May I thought she should go on lead because I assumed the snake lives in that area. Sure enough, as we walked along the narrow path, Penny stopped to look at something in the undergrowth. I looked too and there it was, sliding gracefully towards the water. I thought its belly was light green but when I visited a site about tiger snakes I read that the belly is usually pale yellow, white or grey.

I called Penny's attention back to myself and was pleasantly surprised that she showed no interest in investigating further.

Coming towards us were a woman and a girl with a black labrador and I called to them that they might like to put the dog on leash as there was a snake living in this spot and we had just seen it. Her response put things in perspective. 'Oh, yes,' she said. 'That's a good precaution. After all, we are walking through his home.'

Jabari's mum pointed out to me that snakes are not likely to bite unless provoked and that they need to protect themselves if people (or dogs) come close, because their bodily structure is so delicate that we can fatally injure them even if we mean no harm.