Watch out for those snakes!!!!

[andy aka rut]

Sorry to hear the news. Its never good when a good friend gets hurt.

[denmother]

I have a friend who lives in AZ and they take their Labs to Rattlesnake Avoidance training. I did a search and found a local guy that has classes: http://www.patrickcallaghan.com/

[1TrackMind]

Originally Posted by 1080P

It's unlikely a dog will see or hear a rattlesnake first... they don't see or hear quail first either. It's the sense of smell that prevails.

A dogs nose, knows... As the treasurer for Quail Unlimited for 4 years straight, I saw 60 to 80 dogs a year trained and run through Snake Brake. Labs, draughtweirs, German Shorthairs, Viszla's... etc.

They all got an education, they all went hunting, and I'm not aware of a single dog being bit. When you see how much snake country a pointer covers while hunting quail, without getting bit, while hunting with their nose... statistically, the probability of all the snakes they've smelled and went around and avoided is huge.

You are right! I looked into the training a bit more and found that it is the smell that they become trained on as well as the obvious rattle. This actually makes me more inclined to get him snake trained.

It has been two and a half weeks now and Maxwell is seemingly 100%. We had a bit of a scare with his elevated creatanine levels and high kidney values, so we have one more blood test this week to confirm that there is no kidney damage...but we are confident that he has recovered from his little encounter.

Too bad it cost me a Turner 5.5 Spot with full XTR build to get him through this...but I would do it again in a second if I had to.

[Zippy]

Originally Posted by DirtymikeTDB

On the note of the rattlers, I saw a few up at box springs last week, not just tracks, there out there, so get your snake bite kits and put them in your backpacks/seatpacks.

Please don't use snake bite kits. They're dangerous. The reasons why were covered in another snake bite post.

Glad to hear the pooch is gonna be OK. Watch your step out there.

[spicolli1976]

Wow, good to hear your Lab is ok. I was thinking about taking my dog on the trails about a week ago and decided not to. Glad I didn't because I saw three rattlers that day!!!!

[denmother]

Originally Posted by Zippy

Please don't use snake bite kits. They're dangerous. The reasons why were covered in another snake bite post.

Do you know which post? I must have missed it. It would be great if you could post a link here!!!

[Zippy]

Originally Posted by denmother

Do you know which post? I must have missed it. It would be great if you could post a link here!!!

You'll have to poke around for the details, but here's the original thread:
First Snake of the Year

[OTHRIDER]

1080P, that was great advise even for those with non-working dogs. Our paths must have crossed some time in the past with QU.

My lab graduated the snake brake class four years ago. So far she's alerted on 3 rattlers and one gopher. By alerted, I mean she puts the locks on all four paws and you can't drag her any closer. A perfect investment for us.

At our snake class, an elderly lady from Coto brought in her two greyhounds. Evidently, the breed doesn't pick things up real quick. Both failed the class. One of her dogs had been hit by a rattler on her porch and went back for a closer look and got hit again.

I'm glad to hear old Maxwell is doing fine.