Some of you know that I love working/training with retreivers. The pic I posted above has my two labs and the wife's golden in it. My two are hunting dogs and house pets while hers is just a plain spoiled, rotten, always getting my dogs in trouble type of dog.
With my black lab Ricki retired, my yellow lab Sugar is now my hunting companion. She has been completely obedient trained (sit, come, heal, stay) and we are working on whistles and hand signals. Shes coming along very good and is an excellent student.
Today Sugar will be going to her first de-snaking class. I do not handle this as it is best to leave this type of training to a proffesional. Its really very interesting and thought I'd share the process with yall. I was able to copy an excert of exactly how this is done. This is the very class my dog will be going to today. My black lab Ricki has been thru the course and several refresher courses over the years and has "alerted " me many times of snakes when we are in the marsh. With as much money and time I put into these dogs this is the best $35 dollars I ever spent. I know it has saved me thousands in vet bills. Hope you find it interesting.
DESNAKING TRAINING FOR YOUR DOG
ACCIDENT PREVENTION
submitted by
Adele Neupert,
Vermillion Vizlsas,
Layfayette, Louisiana
If you are contemplating hunting or training in Texas it is advisable to desnake your dog. We were motivated because our dog, Jackson was bitten on his chin by a water moccasin and was hospitalized because of the severe swelling in his neck. He survived to hunt again and we had Jackson and Ike desnaked a few months later. We have not encountered any more poisonous snakes while hunting or training. The dogs do jump back when they encounter a stick that looks like a snake!
Desnaking involves avoidance training by sight, smell and sound and should be done by a professional. The Gulf Coast German Shorthaired Pointer Club puts on a desnaking clinic each year, usually in August. It is well worth your time and the money to protect your dog's health and maybe their life.
The snakes are defanged rattle snakes. The snakes should be defanged and not just milked to remove the venom as some venom may remain after milking.
An electronic collar is placed on the dog. The snake handler controlls the electric stimulator. Timing of the stimulation is critical to the avoidance training. The stimulation must occur as the dog is going for the snake and the snake is allowed to strike at the dog.
The dog is lead near the first snake by the dog handler with the owner moving to the opposite side of the snake. This snake has had it's rattle taped so the dog can only see and smell it. When the dog sees the snake and moves towards it, the dog is shocked. The dog is moved towards the second snake, which is allowed to rattle. The owner is opposite the dog with the snake in between. The owner calls the dog. If the dog moves too close to the snake it is again shocked.
Proofing is the final step and is done by letting the owner take the dog close to the snake. When the dog avoids the snake it has learned the lesson. Usually the dog makes a wide path away from the snake by this time. A refresher can be done each year as a way to check to make sure the dog remembers the lesson.
