Dog saves Monrovia teen from rattlesnake
A dog is being hailed as a hero after trying to protect a teenager in Monrovia from being bitten by a rattlesnake. Instead, the dog was bitten, but he has since fully recovered.
The Whitman family rescued Boone, a 5-year-old Siberian Husky mix, from a shelter about five years ago. Daniel Whitman, 14, said Boone's snout was damaged when the dog saved him from a rattlesnake.
"I was actually cleaning up after the dog and I heard him run to the corner, out of the corner of my eye," Daniel told KTLA-TV. "I looked over and I saw the rattle of the rattlesnake start going off."
The rattler was coiled up in the corner of the backyard, and Daniel and Boone ran back into the house. But within a matter of minutes, it became clear that Boone had already tangled with the snake and in the process, the snake had sunk its teeth into the dog, injecting him with venom.
"[Boone] just started looking up and dozing off," Daniel said.
"The swelling was so bad that the fluid had nowhere else to go from his face, so it went down into his neck and down into his front leg," Dan Whitman said.
The spot on Boone's snout where the snake bit him also began to peel.
"From what I understand, the venom of a rattlesnake, it kills the skin and it will make it almost melt off the face," Dan Whitman said.
Boone has made a full recovery in the week since the bite.
And the Whitman family can't thank the dog enough for protecting Daniel. "I can't say much more other than to thank him," Daniel Whitman said.
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— KTLA-TV
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