Rattlesnake Avoidance Training

[Katiean]

I am thinking about taking my GP mix dog in for Rattlesnake Avoidance Training. I was wondering if anyone has done this? How well does it work? What if your dog doesn't regularly run into snakes of any kind? I have only seen 1 snake since I moved to Nevada and it was dead on the road. That was about 15 years ago.

 

[Gini]

We had our lab trained and it did work. The minute they hear the rattle they go the other way. If you have only seen one snake in 15 years I don't think I would do it. It is tramatic on the dog and also on you while they are in the training.

 

[LittleRibbie]

I had never heard of such training....Gini you mentioned that it was tramatic on you and the dog....do they use real snakes..I would think if they are associating to a sound that they could use a similiar sound or does it have to be the "real thing"

Three of my GSDs have been bitten by the smaller pygmy rattlers and luckily the vet said they were young and healthy they were all treated but only one needed a vemon shots. Vet said extremely painful ( the one that needed the vemon shots nose was so swollen that it completely covered his eyes for a couple days...you just feel so helpless. BUT these dogs learned very quickly that snakes are BAD NEWS!! We have been playing ball and if I throw the ball they will all run to get it but ALL STOP dead in their tracks about 4 ft, from the ball and come back to me. I will always go check and sure as Shot....there will be a snake!! Went to a friends house one time and the dogs would not go in one room because he had a large snake in an aquarium.They associate all snakes as being bad even the little green ones

 

[Marsha Cassada]

The rattlesnakes do not always rattle before striking. And what about copperheads? And aren't there coral snakes in Nevada?

I worry about my rat terrier, Buddy. When we see a snake on the road on our walks, I always make him stay away and use excited language, like "Snake!!" "Get away! Leave it!" Don't know if that does any good with a terrier, though. We just try to watch him.

When I used to go to dog classes, there was a special class to teach a dog not to take food from anyone but his master. I never knew exactly how the class worked, but anyway it was not appropriate for my dog, as she was terribly suspicious naturally and we worked on her permitting strangers touch her.

 

[Gini]

I had never heard of such training....Gini you mentioned that it was tramatic on you and the dog....do they use real snakes..I would think if they are associating to a sound that they could use a similiar sound or does it have to be the "real thing"

Three of my GSDs have been bitten by the smaller pygmy rattlers and luckily the vet said they were young and healthy they were all treated but only one needed a vemon shots. Vet said extremely painful ( the one that needed the vemon shots nose was so swollen that it completely covered his eyes for a couple days...you just feel so helpless. BUT these dogs learned very quickly that snakes are BAD NEWS!! We have been playing ball and if I throw the ball they will all run to get it but ALL STOP dead in their tracks about 4 ft, from the ball and come back to me. I will always go check and sure as Shot....there will be a snake!! Went to a friends house one time and the dogs would not go in one room because he had a large snake in an aquarium.They associate all snakes as being bad even the little green ones

Yes Heidi they use real snakes. They have removed the poison sac's. The snakes do bite if the trainer doesn't pull the dog away in time. They learn to associate the rattle with the snake and run. Coco got bitten just once.

It was unpleasant for us both. I did treat her wound with hydrogen peroxide so it didn't get infected. I have a terrible fear of rattlers so when she was bitten it scared the he** out of me. She went thru 2 lessons and it did work. If we didn't live in rattle snake country I wouldn't put my dog or me thru it.

Heidi it does have to be the real thing. They have to associate the sound with the snake and the strike.

 

[Nuzzle]

The dogs are trained to the sound and the smell. Venomous snakes have a scent that non-venomous snakes don't. I have always taken my dogs for rattlesnake avoidance training and it does work. It even held over long periods of time with no exposure to snakes. It is sad to hear the dog yelp and leap in the air when they get shocked for being curious about a snake but it's far less than what they would feel had it been a real encounter. Some places keep the snakes in a cage and others let them out but defang them. It just depends on who's doing it. In my experience with my dogs they react to the rattle better but when exposed to a rattler that hadn't rattled they usually tuck their tail flatten their ears and slink off in another direction. That to me means stop what I am doing and look around.

 

[HGFarm]

The training might be tough to watch or go through, but not NEARLY as tough as trying to get your dog to survive a snake bite if you live in an area where it could be likely. The bites are not always deadly, but sometimes are, and it's just easier to try to avoid the whole thing if possible.

I had the facilities to train my Akita, as he thought everything was his friend and would just walk up and put his nose on anything. We had a LOT of rattlers where we lived at the time, so the next one we got, we had a training session. It only took twice and for the rest of that dogs life, you could not have hit him with a snake if you threw it at him. It probably saved his life a few times over to AVOID them completely.

 

[Katiean]

They wouldn't offer the training if we didn't have snakes here. When I was a kid we had a collie/coyote that while we were away got bit by a rattlesnake. His head was swelled up twice it's size.This event had kind of an opposite effect on him. He would catch and kill anything that moved in the grass. We never saw a snake around the house or rabbitry again. Brandy just thinks the world is her play toy unless she thinks she owns whatever is in the yard (people, animals etc...). I just want her to be safe and I am still not sure if I am going to take her to the training or not.

 

[LittleRibbie]

Gini, thanks, very interresting...I bet that would be scary for Both of you...fangs still hurt! I understand there are some big diamond back rattlers here but luckily Ive never seen them. The ones we have are pygmy rattlers and very small, about 1 ft and the vet said that every yr. he sees lots of dogs get bit but he has only had 3 deaths in 18 yrs. Usually older or very young dogs are the worst cases. The vet did say that if your dog does get bit that you should hope its a dry bite...meaning the snake just put most of his venom in his "now lunch" so there wasnt to much to put in the muzzle or paw of your dog.