Snake Breaking dogs in WA. State?

[johng]

Hi fellow gun dog owners!

So, the season is not far off and I am getting stoked.  One thing I wanted to check into before the season gets going was snake breaking my 1 1/2 year old Brittany.  He's a great dog but I am worried about him getting bit by rattlers when we hunt Eastern WA. this year.

I did find this page on the Net:

http://socalrattlesnakeavoidancetraining.com/Schedule.php

And they mention a session in Winthrop, WA but I can't make that day as I have something I absolutely need to attend.  Major bummer as I could have made pretty much any other day this year! 

Does anyone know of any other trainers in the State who can help me and Opie out?

Thanks a ton!!!!



- Jg

[Stilly bay]

Snake breaking is only going to cover some of your bases.

Get your pup vaccinated. snake breaking only works if the dog smells the snake first, it doesn't save them if they accidently run over the top of one. Has your dog ever bumped a bird it didn't smell? It can bump a snake just as easy and snakes bump back!


I just got my dogs vaccinated and it was only $15 a shot with another $15 booster in a couple weeks, thats cheap insurance.

[johng]

Thanks for the tip Stilly.... I think I will be betting Opie the rattlesnake vaccine now that you mention it. 

From what I read, however, it is not a panacea so I think I would still like to get him to avoid the snakes if at all possible and only to rely on the vaccine as a last resort.

Hope you have a great season!!!

 

[SnowDog]

Check out http://www.rattlesnakedog.com/

They have sessions coming up in Sammamish & Tri-Cities.

Cheers!
SD

[johng]

Thanks SnowDog!!! Will be checking them out for sure.

[MadMooner]

The PNW NAVHDA chapter has a snake aversion clinic usually right before the season starts.

I plan on doing both aversion training and the vaccine.

[KFhunter]

they just put a snake in a cage and when the dog shows intrest they zap the piss out of it with a shock collar, do that a few times until the dog is traumatized at the cage with a snake in it.   They might let the snake out so the dog can see it slither away then zap it again for good measure if it approaches or don't run for the hills.

meh - I dunno if I'd do that.



not much difference from trash breaking any other critter really.  What I don't like about the snake cage is the human scent all over the place, other dogs and strange people around.

[johng]

Well, just wanted to give some feedback on the class in case somebody else is interested in doing this for their dogs.

It took my Brit 3 goes but he finally got the idea that he didn't want to go anywhere near where he smelled rattler.  As KFHunter rightly pointed out I think the mass amount of other smells around played a role.  The class I went to was held at a dog park so it was smell and sensory overload for my 1 1/2 year old dog..... he just didn't get it the first 3 times but after that 3rd zap he did.

For the "proofing" part of the class, Daryl (who runs www.rattlesnakedog.com) put the cage under some brush and then we would walk by the cage and I can tell you Opie would pull me the other direction and definitely didn't want to go near that thing again.  I tried probably 5-6 times to get him to go near it and he wasn't having it. 

I thought Daryl did a good job running the class and also going over the "cues" to look for in your dog if he smells a snake.  That being said, I still got him vaccinated.  Lord willing we will never have to deal with this in the field.

Hope that helps someone.

Cheers,

Jg