Too Close for Comfort Part 2

So, when we left our heroes two snakes (one shown above) had been killed in a range too close for comfort. The fingers went scrolling through the "yellow pages" and found

This organization will come and remove most any nuisance animal from your premises AND offers snake aversion training for dogs using live snakes. In light of our close call, we bit the bullet and made the appointment for sooner rather than later.

On the appointed day, Mike (the trainer) showed up with his

complete with hole-punched lid. The bucket was rattling. BTW the Snake has been previously milked, fangs clipped (they grow back), and muzzled with thin strips of what looks like electrician or gorilla tape. Whatever tape it is, they dunk the snake in salt water to loosen the tape and remove it later. In spite of all that, it is a scary thing to meet a snake up close and personal and I personally would not want to be the one trying to muzzle the snake. According to Mike, he has a hard time finding people to help him with that aspect of the process.

The goal of the training is for the dog to not want to approach a rattlesnake under any circumstance.

Then the lesson began. At first a very large rock was moved to an open area and the snake "guided" to take up residence in the shade under the rock. Miss was guided to walk around and near the rock. as soon as she approached, she was zapped. On a scale of 1 - 9 the setting was a 4. It wasn't as high as I anticipated (always making things bigger than they seem). Then we were to approach the rock again and around where she could see the snake. Already she didn't want to go. She sat still, but when the snake was brought from around the rock she stared at it, though from behind my "skirts", and she was zapped again.

After the rock lesson we were to approach the snake without the protection of its rock. I had a hard time with this part. Mike finally had to draw a line in the dirt to show me how close I had to approach. Miss T wanted nothing to do with approaching the snake and again got behind and kept nudging my knees.

Mike uses a device that looks like a cross between a tree lopper and a grabber for the handicapped to move the snake and direct it. The next step the trainer takes the snake and sort of slides it towards us. LET ME OUTTA HERE. We both said.

The final step of the process, Mike gets the snake by the head and the tail and milks its excrement onto his fingers then hold them under Miss T's nose. She could not move fast enough to get away.

The training was very short, less than 1/2 hour. This organization claims that it is possible to "overkill" the training. You don't want the animal to be afraid of every rock or piece of dirt, so it is hard and quick. She is not as traumatized as I imagined, but I'm still shaking.

Next season, which begins here in March or April, they recommend a refresher to reinforce the original training. (1/2 price). For this season the proof will be in the pudding. If we are on a trail and she suddenly gets behind me and clingy, we better go the other way. No, they don't train the dog to take the bite for the human; the dog is happy to use you as a barrier.

So there you have it. No, I didn't take any pictures of my own during the session. I was a little busy on the other end of the leash.