Gun Dog Forum

My pup took one to the nose last night and luckily I saw it happen and had him to the emergency vet within a half hour. I was unable to find the snake in the tall grass but saw the two blood spots on his nose immediately and threw him in the truck. Opted for the anti venom ($$$$$$$) because I was unable to rule out a cottonmouth or rattler. Long night but the vet is positive this morning. His head just about doubled in size within a couple hours, so wasn't taking any chances with the antivenom.

Snake breaking. Does this really work? Are there any quality scents out there I can use to do this in conjunction with his e collar? I would like to try to prevent another scare like this if possible. He's very intelligent and I hope he puts 2 and 2 together with this joyride, but he is still just a curious pup with a bloodhound nose. Help please

Hope all goes well with your pup and he hax a speedy recovery. Snake breaking is effective, but must be done with a live snake. It utilizes sight and sound, as well as scent, so you cannot employ a scent product to do the aversion training.

Sounds like your quick thinking may have saved the day. Good luck. Seen it with friends dog's and know the fear they experienced. Great believer in "snake breaking". But as Casey said, got to be done with live snakes. While they may be many that disagree with me, I'm also a believer in Red Rock Biologics snake vaccine. I hunt in some "snake country" and will will take any precaution to protect the dog's..jmo

I do the Red Rock too and have done aversion training on my 3 yr old Lucy but it didn't keep her from killing one of these last month.. This one I killed in the yard 2 days ago. I'm going to do the aversion training again on Lucy and on my new pup, I want them to jump away from the garden hose.

Are those Coral snakes? I have never seen one in person and don't regret it one bit.

Charlie

birddogger wrote:Are those Coral snakes? I have never seen one in person and don't regret it one bit.

Charlie

yes they are, lucky they are not agressive, but I don't want my dogs to mess with them. redman25, I hope you dog is ok.

Thanks everyone, he's home and eating and the swelling is subsiding. I have been getting the same advice about live snakes from everyone, so I'm going on the hunt for something nasty ASAP. I'm not afraid of them so I'll dig one up somewhere. He's a pup and I don't mind him being curious about anything.....except that. He was lucky and I almost had a heart attack. Don't want anymore of that.

It is not something you want to do yourself. It takes some experience plus normlly two people.

Ezzy

ezzy333 wrote:It is not something you want to do yourself. It takes some experience plus normlly two people.

Ezzy

YEp one to watch the dog one to properly lead it where the experience is entirely between the snake and the dog
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/12/02/mo ... -shooting/

......Bouldin's ex-wife, Debra Bouldin of Camp Verde, Ariz., told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that he was a dog trainer and that she had not spoken to him since he left Arizona in January 2006.

The year before, he nearly died from a rattlesnake bite the year before. Debra Bouldin said that experience left him a changed man.

"You know how when people have trauma they either become so thankful about everything about life or else they become bitter against life? Brent went to the bitter side," she said. "That was a very life-changing thing for him. What happened after that, I honestly can't tell you.

She said her prayers were with the trooper's family.
......

Brent was put into a medical coma for 3 weeks

asc wrote:I do the Red Rock too and have done aversion training on my 3 yr old Lucy but it didn't keep her from killing one of these last month.. This one I killed in the yard 2 days ago. I'm going to do the aversion training again on Lucy and on my new pup, I want them to jump away from the garden hose.

"Red meets Black, is a friend to Jack; Red meets Yellow, makes Jack a dead fellow"

Ezzy is 100% correct on this one. Many dog club's put on a "de-snaking" seminar during the Summer. You might want ot make a few phone calls. Good luck

Yeah, probably a good idea. I just have to find a friend who I trust to handle my dog, because I certainly don't have any with the balls to handle or even get near a snake....any kind of snake. I'll figure it out.

ezzy333 wrote:It is not something you want to do yourself. It takes some experience plus normlly two people.

Ezzy

+1

Our GSP has been hit twice by Pygmy rattlers. The first instance was prior to snake avoidance training. The last was a case of "wrong place, wrong time & nothing could have made the outcome any different". Both times it cost us ~$2500 for antivenin & hospital stays.

I heartily agree on having an expert do this with your dog. We are fortunate to have a vet within 2 hrs of us who specializes in this sort of thing: he has several rattlers including a pygmy that is not such a little pygmy! The snakes are de-fanged & their mouths are taped shut for additional safety.

This gentleman also puts on clinics for local clubs like our North FL GSP Club. Had Zio not been up @ the Trainers, we would have been at the one this month that was actually sponsored by our organization. As it happens there were snakes in our yard the day after we got back with him & he did a great job of totally avoiding them (as well as letting us know some were there). Despite the fact that they were harmless black snakes (which actually eat pygmy rattlers) it was good to see his training is still quite valid.