A hero dog named Marley saved his owner’s life by intervening during a rattlesnake attack and surviving bites from the venomous serpent.
Alex Loredo was doing laundry at his family’s home in California when he was confronted by a rattlesnake ready to strike. After hearing the snake’s rattle, his seven-year-old Labrador retriever came to his rescue, according to a report by NBC San Diego.
“I was walking out of my door because I heard the dryer buzzer go off,” Loredo recalled. “The dryer is behind the house so I had to go out and walk around.”
As he walked out, Loredo recalled hearing something that was “really loud.”
That’s when he was confronted by a rattlesnake.
Moments later, Marley arrived on the scene and stood between his 18-year-old owner and the threat.
“Before I could even turn, Marley had run out the door, pushed me out of the way, and gotten in between the snake and me,” Loredo explained.
Marley was then bitten twice by the rattlesnake.
“My heart just dropped,” Loredo said. “My first thought was, ‘Oh no, I’m going to lose my best friend.'”
After that, Loredo and his mother rushed Marley to the vet.
“It was complete panic,” he said. “My heart was racing and I didn’t know what was going to happen next. To be completely honest, I thought he was just going to die in the car.”
The vet gave Marley a few doses of antivenin and admitted the dog into the pet hospital for two days, NBC San Diego reports.
Within two weeks, Marley fully recovered from the snake bite.
“That’s the longest I’ve ever been away from him, so it was a really sad experience for me,” Loredo said.
Now, the hero dog is back to being his playful self.
“Marley is no longer in danger but suffers nerve damage on his tongue and jaw and will require medication and weekly therapy visits,” Loredo wrote on a GoFundMe page he created to help cover his dog’s medical expenses.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.