Pet owners warning

[BobWanderer]

Just thought I would "throw" this out there for you who would rather NOT read about "T****". :B

Saturday, while camping between Soggy dry lake and the "Rock Pile" I take one of our dogs for a walk, 6:30 PM, flat ground, no rocks, just your normal desert brush. Ryder sniffs each bush, lifts His leg, and heads to the next one. About 25 bushes later He litterly does a back flip and sits down next to me, out crawls a Mojave Green rattle snake !!!
Both our dogs have had the "snake Vaccine" and been to the rattlesnake avoidance class, He did what he was supposed to do.
D W ended up taking Him to the Vet to get checked out, We could not see any "fang marks" or blood, but his snout started to swell up about 30 minutes later. He is O K and was able to come back out to camp and spend the weekend with Us. HE IS ONE LUCKY DOG !!
For those who do not know, Mojave Greens are porobably the most potent of the "rattlers" and very aggressive. Dogs are "nosey" and will stroll right up to a snake and thats why they get bit.
The class teaches them the "sight,sound and smell" of a rattler and both Of Our dogs went to the class on Friday, 1 1/2 days later one gets put to the ultimate test. Of the 2 dogs, Ryder was the one I worried about, even with the class. Dez went way around all the snakes and it was very obvious She wanted nothing to do with them.
Ryder passed the class, but in my opinion got way too close to the snakes, but the trainers assured me he would be O K. They were right.
Please make sure you dogs get the shot and training if you live in snake territory or camp with them. I spent about 4 hours in suspense and worried sick until D W called back with the good news.
It possibly was a "dry bite" or "flesh wound" and did not inject any venom.

[atfulldraw]

ran fourteen dogs through the class this weekend.

all learned to avoid snakes 🙂

some dogs require more voltage than others......

[mustangglp]

Local paper ran an article that one local vet has treated 21snake bites as of April 30 !

[BobWanderer]

nayther wrote:
Bob's PSA for the year!

Good reminder sir.

Dezzie and Ryder are Our 3rd and 4th kids :B

I was literally sick to my stomach for a few hours until i heard He would be O K and coming back to camp.

[nayther]

Bob's PSA for the year!

Good reminder sir.

[fly-boy]

Good reminder post Bob!

[BobWanderer]

http://www.highonkennels.com/index.php/in-the-news

Video of the training, Tracy is the one who has trained both of Our dogs.
Notice some of the dogs go after the snake with no fear !

[BobWanderer]

I thought I would bring this back up about a year later, Y-Guy suggested I post an update rather than a new thread.

We took Ryder back to a refresher class on Saturday, He was the one who went "face to face" with a rattler last April. He did very well this time and they only "zapped" Him once.
I was talking to the Dog trainers who hosted the class and to the trainers from "High On Kennels" who did the class, they were concerned that He did not learn from the first class.
I assured them that He did, He got away from the snake and sat next to Me until I led Him away. They put Him thru a little extra training just to make sure he got the message.
I spoke with several others who were at the class with their dog(s) and they all were glad to hear that the class works. Just this past weekend we spoke with 2 others who have had dogs bitten recently, It can and does happen. We saw several dogs that literally went after the snakes, not a good thing for sure.
There are many others who do the class, just search for "Snake avoidance classes" and find one in your area. Highonkennels.com does many local classes in San Diego and Riverside Counties.
Ryder is here today because of the class, a Mojave Green is the most deadly of the snakes we have around here and He very likely would not have survived long enough to get him to help.
Thanks

Bob J

[BobWanderer]

http://www.rr.com/video/2256040751

I know, its an old topic, ran across this today.

Poor pup lost some flesh from the bite.

At least there is not anything about tires.

[dedmiston]

My favorite shock collar video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8x8iKIGulw

[BobWanderer]

I definatly would not use the guy who uses a high powered shock collar.
You don't need anything more than the normal shock collar, set up properly they just get the dogs attention. According to my unit, start at the lowest setting and slightly increase the setting until the dogs ears react. My unit has 2 buttons, a very slight zap and a longer duration zap, all I have ever used is the lower setting unless the dog is really acting up. Have not even put the collars on in a very long time, all I have to do is show them the collar and they instantly start to listen to Us.

I agree there probably are better ways to train the dog, but with the rattlers I would not want to have to do it over and over and over.

Good luck with catching a rattler and training your dog :E

[Jerrybo66]

I checked for local trainers and found one that advertised he uses "commercial shockers" not the weaker kind that can be bought in a pet store. I don't believe in nor will I subject our dogs to pain and fear training. I guess it works but maybe it's a method to make a quick buck and I believe there are other alternatives. I don't think there is anyone here that would recommend that a dog should be beat to hurt him to train him not to whiz in the house. I found a recently killed rabbit under a tree in our yard so I went to get a shovel to bury it. By the time I got back there was another freshly killed rabbit laying beside it. I knew which dog killed them, (he's the fast one) so I called him to where the rabbits were and told him ,"no rabbits, you're bad," etc. That was about two years ago and I've seen rabbits run in front of him and he doesn't give them a second look. No more dead rabbits. We don't consider this dog the smarter of our two dogs, he's just an average mutt. I realize that if this two minute lesson didn't work there isn't a single bunny in our yard that could kill the dog. Shockless training would have to be repeated enough times to be sure the dog understood and the dog's owner should be making the commands...IMO.. It would be a lot more convenient if there was a trainer who used a snake but no pain and fear tactics but if not I'll get my own snake. It could be interesting, "I can catch that rattler, here, hold my beer".. :B

[thebudman]

Jerrybo66 wrote:
Most snakes get out of the way, some hold their ground but I've seen some that have a bad attitude and advance.
Thanks.

I've seen worse: there are some that go so far as to send hate mail.

[CarlT100]

I eas also not aware of the training. Thank you for the post.

[BobWanderer]

Judy D wrote:
was very impressed with the class . It was $75 for the first dog and $50 for each additional dog. Was worth every dollar to us. Plus you can bring your dog back for a refresser coarse at no charge. 2people did this in our class of 12 dogs. There dogs didn't even come close to where the snake was. So they deffinatly remember. The whole class only took 1 & 1/2 hours !
I highly recomend this for any one that takes there dog out where there are snakes.
Judy D.

Our Yellow would not go near any of the snakes, She was dragging Her feet as soon as we went thru the gate where they had the class.
They DO remember !!