As any pet owner will know, our furry friends can sometimes bring us unwanted gifts. Decapitated rodents and decaying tennis balls are to be expected, but 3-foot snakes are a little more unusual.
For Kansas resident Casey Newlin, owner of 9-month-old golden retriever Scout, these snaky surprises are becoming a regular occurrence.
"The first time he brought me the snake it was alive but it was sluggish," Newlin told Newsweek. "My husband took the snake and let it go but the next day [Scout] brought me the snake in his mouth again when I was getting out of the car."
Newlin shared footage of the incident to TikTok, where it has received over 700,000 views, thousands of likes, and hundreds of comments.
"He looks so proud," said one user.
"How are you so calm," said another.
The snake in the video is a common garter snake, which Newlin said was very common in Concordia, where they live. The species is non-venomous and can be identified by the three light-colored stripes on their otherwise dark bodies.
The first time Scout appeared with the snake, Newlin said that he tried to chase her with it around the yard. However, the second time, the snake had died, and Scout buried it in the garden.
@pricelesstimes Not your average retriever 🤣 Apparently he is friends with snakes! #dogs #goldenretriever #goldenretrieverlife #snake #puppytiktok #goldensoftiktok #fetch #retrieve #sillydog #farmdog
♬ Funny Song - Mas Gombal
"I do not know if he killed it," Newlin said. "He was just carrying it in his mouth and never acted violent towards it. He did not seem to get bit either. I don't know if something happened to [the snake] prior to him finding it because part of the tail was missing."
Newlin said that Scout belongs to her 8-year-old son, who saved up his pocket money to buy the dog. The family also owns a German shorthaired pointer called Grace, who can be seen next to Scout in the video. "Grace is always with him," Newlin said.
"The dogs are notorious for bringing us stuff," Newlin said. "Scout in particular loves to bring us firewood for our wood pile, metal from our metal pile, he finds lots of bones to bring us, and tonight he found a skunk and was very proud of that as well. He has been seen playing with mice as well.
"He also loves to chew and once chewed up an electrical cord and the wires on my husband's trailer."
Correction 04/06/23 07:55 a.m. EST: This article was updated to correct Scout's age.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Pandora Dewan is a Senior Science Reporter at Newsweek based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on science, health ... Read more
