A 3-year-old Labrador being cared for by a Kissim­mee, Florida, woman whose son-in-law is deployed to a Madrid naval base is being cred­ited with sav­ing the woman’s life. Gudrun Mas­tri­ano said she was walk­ing Dante, the Labrador, only a week before he was sched­uled to join her daugh­ter, Char­lotte Eierle, and son-in-law, U.S. Navy Cmdr. Carl Eierle, in Spain when the pair found them­selves face-to-face with a cot­ton­mouth snake. Mas­tri­ano said the dog leaped to her res­cue when the snake lunged toward her and dragged the rep­tile away. Dante was bit­ten on his face and leg while strug­gling with the snake and Mas­tri­ano took the injured canine to an emer­gency vet­eri­nar­ian. Dante was treated with antivenin and was given seven treat­ments in the Soci­ety for the Pre­ven­tion of Cru­elty to Ani­mals Hyper­baric Oxy­gen Ther­apy unit over the course of two months. Dante is now on his way to Spain as a “trav­el­ing hero,” Mas­tri­ano said.

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