Rattlesnakes - The New Enemy!
Today we took Sidney to rattlesnake avoidance training. Wow, it's hard to hear your baby yelp like that and become so scared, but he passed with flying colors. There are so many rattlers in our area that I feel better knowing that now he will avoid them!
The train in three phases. The first was Sight and Scent recognition. Sidney was very curious about the snake, but he walked right up to it like it was a new chew toy or something. After seeing THAT, I'm so glad he went through the training. If he had met one in our yard or while out on a walk, he would have been bitten for sure! After he was applied the negative stimulus once, he cried and shied away. The handler took him toward the snake a few more times but Sid wanted nothing to do with it.
Phase two was introduction of sound and reinforcement of scent and sight. This rattler was making his scary sounds. Again, more neg reinforcement if Sid reacted with interest or curiosity to the sound. Sid refused to even approach the snake, so they had to bring the snake to him. They needed to teach him that even if the dog is standing next to a human , they still are not safe from the snake.
Phase three was avoiding and alerting. We stood at one end of the field, Sid was on a long lead at the other side, and a HUGE rattler was between us. We had to call him over, the idea being he would come to us while avoiding the snake, and alert us that something bad was there. I guess some dogs will run the other way rather than go to their owner, but Sid made a very wide circle to his right and came right to us, ears back and trembling.
After they removed his training collar, one of the trainers held him close and soothed him, and put his front paws in a shallow wading pool and cupped water onto him to sooth and calm him. After a couple minutes you could tell he calmed down and relaxed. Now he's taking a nap.
The training was done by Patrick Callaghan, and he does sessions all over California. www.PatrickCallaghan.com
Comment
-
Comment by Mariana on September 1, 2008 at 11:07am
-
I didn't even know there was such a thing as avoidance training for snakes. I'm definitely going to look into it now. It sounds stressful for the dog, but it's definitely worth it.
-
Comment by Justin Nelson on July 23, 2008 at 6:44pm
-
Thanks for that! There are a lot of rattlers here in the Bay Area so I will have to look this training up when my pp is old enough. The mountain I hike is full of these snakes so would be great to have my pup prepared.
-
Comment by Furpants McGee on July 21, 2008 at 6:23pm
-
My dog growing up was bit by a rattlesnake in our backyard (she was a medium sized mutt we got at the shelter)!! Fortunately, we made it to the emergency vet in time, but she didn't know any better...she was just protecting our home. Weird thing was we didn't know there were really any rattlers in the area! The city I lived in was very metropolitan in Orange County...although my house was on a hill, we did have SOME wildlife...skunks, opossums, coyotes...but smart to have the training and awareness if there's the possibility of that happening. It was very scary for us to have that happen. She was bit twice on the face, and we couldn't tell right away, but once we saw her hide under the table and become very quiet, we knew she was bit and rushed her to the hospital. SCARY, SCARY, SCARY!!!
-
Comment by NoClaws4Alarm on July 21, 2008 at 4:46pm
-
See... I *knew* that... but there was this nasty little video going on in my head. God I hate that. I think it's part of the whole "parent" thing... pets...kids... it must envision the worst so that when we see the real thing it's not so bad... :)
-
Comment by Geri & Sidney on July 21, 2008 at 12:04pm
-
Oh man, I could not imagine letting my baby actually get bitten! Even defanged snakes can leave a nasty painful bruise. These are live snakes, but they are defanged AND "muzzled" so they can and do get into a strike position but they can't bite at all.
-
-
Whew. Okay. I agreed that this sounds like it was a very necessary lesson... but when the negative stimulus wasn't detailed, my imagination went crazy... I had these nightmare visions of corgi's being bitten by milked snakes!
I'm glad my imagination is a LOT worse than what was actually done. Thanks for getting those visions out of my head :)
-
Comment by Kristen on July 20, 2008 at 11:16pm
-
I think this is a great idea. There are rattlesnakes in NE, although not common where we live. The Corgis have all seen snakes and see them as a toy. Garter snakes are abundant at the farm. Good for keeping rodent and large bugs out of the garden, but I do worry if they aren't afraid fo the harmless snakes they won't be afraid of the harmful snakes. Frightening to think of the consequences. I think the training would be good to avoid the harmful snakes and protect the good snakes. As far as the use of the shock collar. In an area that Geri and Sidney live in and the likelyhood of a face to face with a poinsonous snake, avoiding the "negative response" of an encounter with a rattlesnake certainly outweighs the mild shock used in the training. Thanks for sharing. Good move on the training!
-
-
It was a mild shock administered via remote.
-
Comment by James on July 20, 2008 at 8:56pm
-
I am pretty sure it invokes the use of a pinch or shock collar. :(
-
-
when you say "Applied negative stimulus" what *exactly* was it that was done?
Rescue Store
Stay Connected
FDA Recall
Canadian Food Inspection Agency Recall
Groups
We support...
Badge
© 2024 Created by Sam Tsang.
Powered by
You need to be a member of MyCorgi.com to add comments!
Join MyCorgi.com