Rattlesnake Training for Dogs
Training Your Dog to Avoid Rattlesnakes
Rattlesnake avoidance training for dogs started back in the days of Search and Rescue dogs needing avoidance training for when they were doing searches in the desert. Many dogs would be bitten by rattlesnakes while on a scent trail causing thousands of dollars in trauma and medical bills. Of course, a solution needed to be found quickly and it needed to be effective for these highly trained animals. This is how and when the importance of rattlesnake dog training became know to man.
Leighton Oosthuisen, founder of Partners Snake Avoidance, came up with a solution by using a combination of live rattlesnakes and e-collars in order to train a negative association and avoidance of the scents and sounds of rattlesnakes.
How Does Rattlesnake Dog Training Work?
Partners Snake Avoidance trains a negative association to the scents and sounds of rattlesnakes by using a small “stim” on an e-collar whenever a dog shows curiosity to those senses. Partners Snake Avoidance has found that it is the best way to get a negative association. However, Partners ALWAYS starts at the lowest level and uses the minimum amount of energy necessary to get the desired result for effective rattlesnake dog training.
The training works in the three steps. The first is dressing your dog with the necessary equipment of a long line (30 ft. leash), and an e-collar. The next step involves taking your dog to a desert habitat for training. Partners takes your dog to three different cages with live Diamondback Rattlesnakes in them and when they show any type of curiosity Partners give a small “stim” on the e-collar then runs the dog away from the cage to train a flight response. Partners proceeds with that process throughout the various cages. For step three, Partners gives you a summary of the training session and advises when to come back for your dog’s refresher.
How Often Does Your Dog Need Rattlesnake Training?
Partners Snake Avoidance advises that all dogs refresh their Rattlesnake dog training 1-2 times a year. Imagine driving down the road and seeing a police officer on the side. You may slow down your speed for a few miles, but eventually, you are going to pick back up again. It’s the same for dogs. After their training, they will avoid the snake scents and sounds perfectly. However, after a while, their curiosity gets the best of them and they get complacent. The refresher training comes in to stop that complacency and keeps it very straight in your dog’s mind that rattlesnakes are not something to mess with.
Can I watch Training?
Partners Snake Avoidance welcomes pet parents to come back to watch their dogs in training. The only caveat is that if they are a distraction to their dog’s training Partners may have them hang back. Of course, the effective training of their dog is the first priority.
How Long Does It Take?
The whole process takes less than 20 minutes to check-in, dress your dog, train, and summarize the training. However, training itself takes less than 10 minutes since it is a highly effective process. Around 95% of dogs pass their first time, and less than 1% of dogs fail altogether.
How Old Does My Dog Have to Be?
Partners recommend dogs start training at around 5-6 months-old so they have the maturity to handle and process the training. There really is no maximum age limit; however, as dogs get older Partners must be mindful of their ability to hear the snake sounds.
Does It Hurt?
The electric stim from the “e-collar” does not harm the dog in any way. Quite frankly, pain is a very poor way to train behavior as it tends to shut dogs down. Partners welcomes its clients to test the “e-collar” on themselves, and they even test it on themselves before every Rattlesnake dog training session.
Where do I get Rattlesnake Dog Training?
You can sign up in moments for Rattlesnake Avoidance Training by visiting https://partnersdogs.com/snake-avoidance/!
