Sonoma County dog owners vouch for ‘rattlesnake training’
The diamondback rattler that lay coiled on the ground, its tail shaking and tongue testing the air, looked for all the world like a serious threat to a sweet-looking border collie named Crook.
But the moment the brown and white dog dipped its nose in the snake’s direction, handlers transmitted a mild electronic pulse through its collar and pulled it away from would-be peril.
Within moments, another invitation to walk by the snake prompted the 4-year-old collie, though still leashed, to break in the other direction and seek refuge at the base of a tree.
“I would call that action avoidance,” trainer John Potash remarked wryly.
The rattlesnake, as it turns out, had been surgically altered by a veterinarian to stem its production of venom. Had it actually struck, as it did Saturday for the first time in 17 years, the bite would not have resulted in significant injury, just a puncture wound, said Potash, who’s had a few.
But an encounter with an intact rattlesnake would have carried certain risk, and Crook’s owner, Kathy Kelly of Santa Rosa, said she’s been seeing enough around to provoke her to seek training for her pet.
“I’m a trail runner, and I’ve seen more snakes on the trail this year, and I hike with him all the time,” said Kelly, a dog trainer herself.
Looking into avoidance training, though not an obvious choice for everyone, is “kind of, the least you can do,” she said.
Crook was one of more than 60 dogs who came out for last weekend’s clinic at Vintage Kennel Club in rural Sonoma, where a steady stream of four-legged friends were exposed to the scents and sounds of live rattlesnakes and conditioned to back away or sidestep any that they should find in their paths.
Some people came because they and their dogs reside on land where rattlesnakes are common. Others, like Kelly, hike or run where they know rattlers have been seen.
Many of the dogs already had gone through the training but were coming back for a recommended refresher and were mostly pleased to see that the previous instruction had stuck and needed little reinforcement.
Conducted by Reno-based Get Rattled, one of a growing number of rattlesnake avoidance training companies around the western states, the idea is to overcome any innocent curiosity a dog may exhibit toward potentially deadly snakes - especially in a year when they’re expected to be abundant, thanks to record rainfall and a healthy food chain.
The dogs are fitted with remotely triggered electronic collars that can issue correction should a dog demonstrate interest in the snakes.
Though not entirely without controversy, Potash, who owns Get Rattled, said his use of the collars is intended to startle the dogs with enough stimulation to cause a brief muscle contraction, nothing more. He said he uses them in the lower registers and has zapped himself numerous times to see how it feels.
“This isn’t a pain compliance thing,” he said.
A few of the dogs did react with a yelp or a leap. Many showed no signs even of noticing the times when the electronic collar was triggered, though Potash and his team kept working with every dog until they appeared to have learned to steer clear of the snakes. Many were done in about 10 minutes.
The collars, said Potash, “are a super effective tool when they’re used properly,” Potash said. “Unfortunately, a lot of people do abuse them.”
In addition to the western diamondback, whose handlers kept him on a grass-like rug to protect him from the scorching gravel, sometimes using an umbrella to shade him, as well, Potash had trainers guide the dogs by a caged and venomous Northern Pacific rattlesnake, a variety local dogs would more likely encounter in this region.
Vintage Kennel Club owners Brian Ness and Michael Weiss started hosting rattlesnake avoidance training on their Bonness Road ranch at least a decade ago, after a client from the hills near Sonoma told them about going to Livermore for a clinic to address her exceedingly inquisitive terriers’ interest in the rattlesnakes that sometimes appeared on her property, Ness said.
The kennel owners brought in Patrick Callaghan, a pioneer in the snake avoidance field, for clinics every May until his death in 2009, Ness said.
Though requests for continued training kept coming in, it took a few years to find another organization that offered training the Sonoma kennel owners wanted to endorse. Get Rattled is now in its third year of offering clinics at Vintage Kennel, offering training for $85 and refreshers for $60.
Ness said they liked Potash’s approach to the work and also heard from clients who observed the results in their own dogs.
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