Well, it happened. We prepped for the day. We knew it would come eventually. Spot encountered a rattlesnake on our hike tonight and came away unharmed. Yes, I cried. Jack was calm…way too calm for my liking. And Spot. Spot was perfection. I’ll explain later. First…
As I said, he was prepped for this moment. We moved to California and discovered after months of hiking and camping without a care in the world, a lot of rattlesnakes live here. Okay, al-righty then.
I looked into rattlesnake vaccinations, but geez! They are so risky. Veterinarians and testimonials basically said “enter at your own risk.” They can have various side effects, skin tissue damage, etc. No thanks.
The next option was rattlesnake training. Yes, there is such a thing, and after weighing the options, this option seemed better to me than the other of “popping a pill to fix all problems” kind of way. Why not train my dog’s mind and educate him. Made sense to us.
So, we signed up for rattlesnake training with Patrick Callaghan. It was almost impossible to find anyone else because everyone recommended him. I tried my very best to find others to get other opinions but everyone insisted on this guy…so fine! I booked it.
We drive a couple hours south of Los Angeles to attend our rattlesnake training. Apparently, others had the same concern because there were so many people there. There is a corral. A tent. And a chain gang of dogs lined up waiting their turn.
Luckily, the chain gang was completely full of dogs. Oh darn. I had a whole story already planned out why my dog had to stick with me…”he is really sensitive and has separation anxiety…”
Then they bring over the shock collar. They let us feel the shock collar. It wasn’t bad at all. I know it sounds harsh, but we are trying to save his life here. That is what I kept telling myself anyway “we are trying to save his life.”
While waiting we have heard dog’s barking and saw an Elk Hound who just bit through one of the rattlesnakes while training. Not the most comforting setting. Were we doing the right thing?
It turned out to be the most incredible experience.
They use real rattlesnakes. They de-fang and muzzle them. It made us feel horrible for the poor rattlesnake that was unable to defend itself from the Elk Hound. It apparently happens every once in great while.
So, they take Spot off in one direction and we are led to go another under the tent like all the other parents who went before us. We watched Spot enter ever so happily into the corral like this was the best day of his doggy life. Just so happy with not a care in the world and then “oh, what is that smell….hmmm….have never smelled this before…what is this?…” ZAP! They were teaching him to smell the snake and avoid it. At least that is what they were telling me to calm me down because I must have had a look of shock on my face. They tried to bring Spot back to the snake and he avoided it perfectly so he passed the first test!
There were two other ‘obstacles’ to go! The next taught him to hear the snake’s rattle and to avoid the snake, which Spot did perfectly. The last one was to see, smell, hear and avoid the rattlesnake and he passed with flying colors!
Proud Mom here, other dogs were not passing so quickly. Spot was done in 10 minutes with only one zap!
Now, does the training work? 6 months after the training, we found out today.
If you have been reading my blog, you would know that Spot will never give up his yellow tennis ball. It is the most important mission he has and he executes it with pride. He carries it on the entire hike no matter how disgusting it is or how much it is suffocating him because he can’t breath as well while holding it, he will not let go of that ball.
So…we are walking along and look up to see Spot’s ball sitting right next to a rattlesnake and hear the snake rattling…and Spot? He was ‘avoiding’ the snake. Ears back, trotting fast, without looking back, moving far away from the rattlesnake.
He was perfect! And yes, he did learn. Rattlesnake training works.
Spot, the ball obsessed labrador retriever, saw the snake and his jaw must have dropped open because he gave the snake the ball and left with no regrets of letting it go. Spot could not get out of the park fast enough and every single stick, hole or anything that resembled a snake was avoided the entire way back. What a good boy!
