Rattlesnakes & Dogs
Photo: www.geo-outdoors.info
Rattlesnakes and dogs scares me, especially gun dogs. Snakes seem to hold a special interest for them; they must smell like a game bird. I know when I did a lot of hunting in the Nebraska Sandhills my dogs would commonly point box turtles. They would point them with almost as much intensity as a prairie chicken. So a reptile must smell somewhat like a bird. When a dog is curious, or wants to investigate a rattlesnake, only bad can come of it. This is what scares me.
The other day I went fly fishing up a small stream not far from my house. I thought about taking a dog or two, I seldomly go anywhere without a dog. At the last minute I decided not to since it was going to be fairly hot out. Man, was I ever grateful. I had one of the snake-iest days of my life. I ran into 5 rattlesnakes while fishing. By the end of the trip I was so jumpy I could hardly fish. Rattlesnakes arn’t agressive and like to give plenty of warning, but sometimes their buzz is covered up by the sound of the creek. I was so glad I didn’t have the dogs.
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Have you had any experience with “snakeproofing” clinics?
I was just wondering how effective the snake proofing is. What do you think one of your dogs would do if they encountered a snake?
I don’t have any personal experience with snake proofing and I just wonder if it is effective enough to bother with. (I guess it can’t do any harm, either.)
T.E.
As for snake training, if you have someone around you putting on a snake avoidance clinic, definitely take your dog. It is well worth the money. It is an easy thing to do, basically give the dog a very negative association with the scent, sight and sound of a rattlesnake. On most all dogs it works very well. They don’t want anything to do with snakes forever after.
One problem in snake country, even with a snake proofed dog is that they cover so much ground, have four legs and are low to the ground and they are in and out of the brush I think they have a much higher chance of accidentally surprising a snake and getting bit.
About once a summer I snake proof all my dogs and my client’s dogs. If they spend much time in snake country it is well worth it.
As for snake training, if you have someone around you putting on a snake avoidance clinic, definitely take your dog. It is well worth the money. It is an easy thing to do, basically give the dog a very negative association with the scent, sight and sound of a rattlesnake. On most all dogs it works very well. They don’t want anything to do with snakes forever after.
One problem in snake country, even with a snake proofed dog is that they cover so much ground, have four legs and are low to the ground and they are in and out of the brush I think they have a much higher chance of accidentally surprising a snake and getting bit.
About once a summer I snake proof all my dogs and my client’s dogs. If they spend much time in snake country it is well worth it.
I talked with Doc Utley a few weeks back while my friends horse was getting stitched up. We talked about the vaccine available, he told me that dogs treated faired much better than those not treated. He told me that to treat a dog that had been bitten but vaccinated would be roughly 200-300 versus a untreated dog costing thousands. I have seen more snakes this year than any other, high insect numbers, water ect.. has made perfect conditions for them and birds this year. I will be getting my dogs vaccinated in the next week, its only a few pennies in comparison to not getting it done.
We have a lot of rattlesnake bites here in Orange County, Calif. I spoke to a vet and also a wildlife biologist last week who both said the snake count was higher than in recent years and out earlier than expected (February).
I write about pet issues and hear a lot of pros and cons about vaccines, but I’m seriously tempted to vaccinate my dog, Katy, against the snakes. She’s been to avoidance training and that did the trick (in that moment), but like Chris said above, there are always going to be those unexpected occasions where the dog steps into a bad spot.
I’m thinking the snake vaccine might be a good investment to avoid a $3,000 vet bill. I hope!