The rattlesnake bit her on the nose. Meg required only antibiotics and time, and should recover completely. She was luckier than Barker. Several years ago, Barker was playing at Doggie Disneyland and was bitten by a larger rattlesnake. He had a spectacularly swollen leg and spent a few pretty miserable days in the hospital.
Northern rattlesnakes are small and most dogs, with proper treatment, survive their bites.
Barker survived his snakebite, and many other adventures, before finally succumbing to kidney failure in his old age. She pointed out his grave, in the shade of a tree, covered with river rocks, and marked by a finished marble slab etched with his name. I come here and talk to him a lot. The tears in my eyes were not only from thinking of Barker, but from the sudden appreciation of how very deep the affection was between that big old Golden Retriever and his adventurous and fun loving humans.