There is no way to keep your bird dog 100 percent safe in the field, but there are ways to help prevent disasters. Chris and I just finished doing a snake break for some dogs that we have been training. We had a good session and I am confident that none of those dogs will be interested in the sight, smell or sound of a rattlesnake. They won’t dive in or even want a closer look.
Snake break training is fairly simple in principal, but difficult in practice. Basically, you want the dog to use as many senses as possible to locate the snake, and then when the dogs jumps in you hit them on the highest setting on the e-collar multiple times. The problem is finding the snake and then making it so that it can’t hurt or kill the dogs. Some guys duct tape the snake’s mouth shut, we use a skin stapler. Needless to say, this isn’t the easiest task to accomplish. The snake wasn’t happy and our heart rates were more than slightly elevated during the process.
After the snake was made harmless to the dogs, we let it slither around on the ground and start bringing dogs in one by one. Dogs react differently to snakes. Ideally, the snake will strike the dog, but it doesn’t have to for effective training. When the dog gets curious and sticks its face down near the snake or steps near the snake, we hit them on continuous on the highest setting on the e-collar. Hold for 4-5 second, pause for a second, hold for another 4-5 seconds, pause and then one more time. This creates a very bad memory of the sight, smell and sound of a rattlesnake. Afterwards, we move the snake to a new location and then bring the dog near it to see how the dog reacts. We did six dogs and none of them wanted anything to do with that rattlesnake the second time. Needless to say our clients should not have to worry about their dogs getting bit by a rattlesnake in the field this season. Nick Muckerman
