Gun Dog Forum

I have been seeing more rattlesnakes this year than I ever have, I decided to put my 2 year old griff through snake avoidance training. I am wondering if my 5 month old DD is too young? I can't find anyone who does it locally so it's going to be a decent drive, I'd love to get them both done, but I am not sure. Any opinions?

our Policy is if a pup is totally comfortable with the check cord and its surroundings then we will snake avoidance train them as the way we do it the entire experience is between the dog and the snake.
If the dog has issues with check cords and people then it may be good to wait till such time as if the dg is having issues wit other things the entire experience becomes more then just the snake and can be counter productive for the dog/pup.

Good advice, I did my last one at about 5 months old.

My GSP was 5 months and it did not work we have killed 2 rattlesnakes with in the last month. One was 5 feet long! both times Gunther(GSP) was right there ready to play with the snake The guy that did our training has offered to redo our dog . I don't know that it will help because the first snake we killed Gunther had his E collar on and while the head of the snake was pinned down and mouth open we let Gunther get close enough to smell the snake and zapped him we did this 3 or 4 times. When the 2nd Snake showed up Gunther was so ready to play with it I must say my dog is the only dog I have known of that this training class did not work on. Good luck and I hope it helps your dog.

JessiNGunther wrote:My GSP was 5 months and it did not work we have killed 2 rattlesnakes with in the last month. One was 5 feet long! both times Gunther(GSP) was right there ready to play with the snake The guy that did our training has offered to redo our dog . I don't know that it will help because the first snake we killed Gunther had his E collar on and while the head of the snake was pinned down and mouth open we let Gunther get close enough to smell the snake and zapped him we did this 3 or 4 times. When the 2nd Snake showed up Gunther was so ready to play with it I must say my dog is the only dog I have known of that this training class did not work on. Good luck and I hope it helps your dog.

The problem there was you were holding the snake. The snake training needs to be done with you out of the picture. Put the e collar on the dog, allow the dog to discover the snake, then ZAP!. Repeat until the dog understands that snakes are bad.

A/C Guy wrote:

JessiNGunther wrote:My GSP was 5 months and it did not work we have killed 2 rattlesnakes with in the last month. One was 5 feet long! both times Gunther(GSP) was right there ready to play with the snake The guy that did our training has offered to redo our dog . I don't know that it will help because the first snake we killed Gunther had his E collar on and while the head of the snake was pinned down and mouth open we let Gunther get close enough to smell the snake and zapped him we did this 3 or 4 times. When the 2nd Snake showed up Gunther was so ready to play with it I must say my dog is the only dog I have known of that this training class did not work on. Good luck and I hope it helps your dog.

The problem there was you were holding the snake. The snake training needs to be done with you out of the picture. Put the e collar on the dog, allow the dog to discover the snake, then ZAP!. Repeat until the dog understands that snakes are bad.

Yep the entire experience has to be between the dog and the snake NOTHING else

If the person isn't milking and defanging the snake right before the session there is nothing natural for the dog

But I have seen a GSP and an EP that when going through the session every time they just wanted to go after the snake harder but in over ten years of me helping Bob and Bob doing this well over 20 years that is 2 dogs ....Now some are a bit slower on the turnpike to finally letting it sink in snake means you're gonna be hurt. But again until the dog is doing everything to drag you away on sound scent and sight ..one needs to keep bring the dog across the scent cone ..up wind down wind and making the snake buzz ..And it needs to be done with a live Rattle snake using other snakes is not the same they do not smell the same. I would make the investment and see if another person can get it done with out having the artificially pin or hold a snake in an area...Again I want my dog to know fully it is that rattlesnake not a terrarium or a stick bush or a dead snake or bull snake burlap sack etc

kninebirddog wrote:

A/C Guy wrote:

JessiNGunther wrote:My GSP was 5 months and it did not work we have killed 2 rattlesnakes with in the last month. One was 5 feet long! both times Gunther(GSP) was right there ready to play with the snake The guy that did our training has offered to redo our dog . I don't know that it will help because the first snake we killed Gunther had his E collar on and while the head of the snake was pinned down and mouth open we let Gunther get close enough to smell the snake and zapped him we did this 3 or 4 times. When the 2nd Snake showed up Gunther was so ready to play with it I must say my dog is the only dog I have known of that this training class did not work on. Good luck and I hope it helps your dog.

The problem there was you were holding the snake. The snake training needs to be done with you out of the picture. Put the e collar on the dog, allow the dog to discover the snake, then ZAP!. Repeat until the dog understands that snakes are bad.

Yep the entire experience has to be between the dog and the snake NOTHING else

If the person isn't milking and defanging the snake right before the session there is nothing natural for the dog

But I have seen a GSP and an EP that when going through the session every time they just wanted to go after the snake harder but in over ten years of me helping Bob and Bob doing this well over 20 years that is 2 dogs ....Now some are a bit slower on the turnpike to finally letting it sink in snake means you're gonna be hurt. But again until the dog is doing everything to drag you away on sound scent and sight ..one needs to keep bring the dog across the scent cone ..up wind down wind and making the snake buzz ..And it needs to be done with a live Rattle snake using other snakes is not the same they do not smell the same. I would make the investment and see if another person can get it done with out having the artificially pin or hold a snake in an area...Again I want my dog to know fully it is that rattlesnake not a terrarium or a stick bush or a dead snake or bull snake burlap sack etc

We did it that way the first time I even have video of the whole thing the snake which was milked and defanged Bite Gunther. The 2nd time was on my land Gunther saw the snake ran up to it i ZAPED him 3-4 time then after that right before we cut the snakes head off Gunther walked up to the snake the snakes mouth was wide open (I have photos of this as well) and ZAPED him when he got close.
The 3rd snake Gunther did not have his E collar on so i just held his collar and told him NO until the snake was killed.

Was he lit up like a christmas tree dimming Las vegas? and collar on high on the neck and tight? Just curious Like I said I know of 2 dogs that the more they got scorched for the snake the more they wanted to eat the snake

and We had another dog Bob just reminded me of a big GSP he put two collars on that dog before the dog finally figured out that snakes were nothing to mess with sometimes I miss the good ones :roll:

kninebirddog wrote:Was he lit up like a christmas tree dimming Las vegas? and collar on high on the neck and tight? Just curious Like I said I know of 2 dogs that the more they got scorched for the snake the more they wanted to eat the snake

and We had another dog Bob just reminded me of a big GSP he put two collars on that dog before the dog finally figured out that snakes were nothing to mess with sometimes I miss the good ones :roll:

Oh yeah ! All the dogs before Gunther Cried like crazy ! can you post video on here? or I could Emil it to you.

you can post here..is it on Youtube

jessingunther yes post the video it would be interesting to see . knine is snake training a one time and its for life or does it need to be reinforced from time to time? does it work for other types of rattlers ? we dont have any real close but a few counties south we have timber rattlers and we do have a few cooperheads close by.

We do rechecks ...Most times I see dogs even years later just to see how they will react as soon as they smell the snake give the SEE ya reaction and then you have some that need reminders..

hard to say when you get back east on the smells but if the rattle the dogs most the time remember that just like we do

It's not on youtube but I guess I could post it there. I've never done that but i learn fast LOL