Rottweiler barked at the couch for days, stopping his owner from sitting on it — then a deadly surprise underneath revealed why
A man owes his life to his brave Rottweiler, who saved him from a danger lurking right inside their home. The unnamed owner from Queensburgh, South Africa, noticed his dog would not allow him to sit on his couch and barked at it for two days straight in March 2023. One day, the man decided to investigate and was left terrified of the deadly surprise awaiting him under his favorite couch.
Every time the owner tried to sit down on the couch, his dog would shove him away. The owner was confused and did not understand why his dog was suddenly acting strange. He sat on that couch every afternoon, but now his Rottweiler would not allow it. While the incessant barking and couch restrictions followed on for two days, the curious owner checked underneath the couch on the third day. Chills ran down his spine when he moved the furniture and discovered a black mamba hiding under the couch. The situation could have turned worse when his Rottweiler charged at the deadly snake, but the owner’s prompt reaction saved a few lives. 
South Africa-based snake catcher Nick Evans was called in to recover the snake safely from the home. In a Facebook post later, the professional narrated the incident with a life lesson for all dog owners. Though mambas were rarely encountered in his experience, the circumstances in which Evans caught the one at Queensburgh stayed with him. “I thought was worth sharing as a lesson to everyone on how to react when a snake is seen,” he wrote. The post claimed that the Rottweiler tried to attack the snake the moment it was exposed from under the couch. However, the owner swiftly grabbed his large dog back just in time before the attack and took him inside, preventing bloodshed.
“That may not sound like much, but I was super impressed by the homeowner's actions. Not everyone could react fast like that in a moment like that,” the snake expert stated. He revealed that several dog owners call asking for help while their pet is fighting off a snake. It only results in a dead snake and oftentimes, a dead dog, too. “I suppose panic takes over,” Evans speculated. He marked the owner’s reaction as “ideal” anytime a snake is encountered around a dog. He advised that a dog should never kill a snake for its owner, as it may injure both creatures. “Unfortunately, dogs do usually find the snake before their owners, and many of the times it's too late to do anything.”
The life-threatening situation culminated in a happy ending for all. The black mamba recovered was 2.2 meters (7.2 feet), a rather smaller version of the average 3.05 meters (10 feet). "The biggest I've seen was 3.05 meters (10 feet). They have been recorded to get a bit bigger, but not more than 4 meters (13 feet)," Evans told Newsweek. The black mamba is the world’s deadliest snake, found in Africa, and has a fatality rate of 100%, per PBS. When left untreated, the venom can take effect as fast as within 20 minutes, according to a report by Kenya Safaris from Nairobi.