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.

“We’re all about our reputation, and we thought, ‘If we’re going to be representing something, we want to make sure that it actually works,’ “ Ness said.

Katie Bundschu, who boards her 100-pound black lab Bacchus at Vintage, is among their satisfied clients.

Bundschu, part of the Gundlach Bundschu wine family, takes him to work with her each day on the ranch and, after seeing her parents’ dog, Ruby, get bitten and witnessing the medical and financial aftermath, started getting training for Bacchus two years ago.

The enormous lab would be a perfect victim, because “he’s really curious,” she said. “He’s a dopey lab that’s kind of like, ‘What are you doing, Mr. Snake?’ “

But last year, he was running ahead through some tall grass until he saw a rattler in his path and “stopped dead in his tracks,” his tail tucked

“I’m an advocate now, and I’ve been trying to tell as many people about it as possible.”

Potash, who has been collecting snakes since his sixth birthday and now has 31, said he stumbled into the avoidance training business 17 years ago, when the Nevada state license that authorized him to possess rattlesnakes brought him to the attention of a German shorthair hunting club interested in collaborating. He and his expanding crew now travel around Nevada, Central and Northern California and several other states holding clinics that put him on track this year to train more than 2,000 dogs in more than 40 locations, he said.

Glen Ellen resident Colleen Sullivan, who brought a fluffy, 6-month-old golden retriever named Phineas to the clinic, said she lives near a well-used dog trail and was urged by neighbors to get her puppy trained.

“We’re actually new to the area, and all our neighbors said, ‘You have to do this training,’” she said.

Another participant, Sonoma Mountain resident Carrie Kramlich, brought a pair of 1-year-old standard poodles in for instruction.

“We have 400 acres and tons of snakes,” she said. “We’ve done this with every dog we’ve ever had, and every year.”

Napa resident Carm Lyman brought her 5-year-old fox red lab, Bella, for her second refresher class and was thrilled to see how enthusiastically the sleek red dog steered away from the rattling snake. Bella was bred to search bush to bush and was trained as a hunting dog, raising the risk of a deadly encounter.

But as she circled wide around the spot where the snake hunkered down, her body language was clear in its message - “Get me out of here!” Lyman nodded with satisfaction.

“I’m so glad to see this,” she said. “Wow. That gives me peace of mind right there.”

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at (707) 521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MaryCallahanB.