Being a hiker on a daily basis I am always concerned about the well being of my dogs. Living in rattlesnake country it’s a constant burden on my mind when I am hiking with dogs.
Needless to say that I got really excited when I met Marc Brown, a KABC news anchor, who took his two dogs for rattlesnake avoidance training. I did some research online and what I found pleased my mind. My hiking buddy and I signed up for Patrick Callaghan rattlesnake avoidance training.
We were really excited when we traveled 2 hours up north (we missed the dates in LA county). Getting there it was really a weird atmosphere it’s hard to describe. It just felt strange, the people were nice, almost to nice.
The dogs are put on shock collars, they have to approach a course with three rattlesnakes they get introduced to the smell, sound and then smell & sound. Each time the dog gets curios he gets shocked. I knew all that and it sounded very plausible, however I wasn’t prepared what I saw. My friend’s dog, a large 120 lbs dog, flew about 3 feet in the air when shocked and he was screaming and yelping. They couldn’t even get him to the next snake, three people had to drag him, each time he got shocked the screaming and panic got louder. My heart was beating up my throat and I had serious doubts if I really wanna put my dog through this.
My dog, a medium size lab, jumped about 5 feet in the air when shocked (who knew dogs can fly), he also didn’t want to approach the second snake. He was fighting and whining not to get dragged to the other snakes. It broke my heart, and I am not a whimp! Overall it took us 4 hrs of driving and the training took 6 minutes for both dogs combined.
The aftermath: A few days after the training, my friend encountered a rattlesnake on her hike. At the training we learned that the dog has to run around it in a circle. Her dog walked straight by it! No reaction to the snake!
My dog on the other hand is freaked out by every little movement or dark objects (like the power cord of my floor lamp). Walking him at night is a nightmare, little moving shadows freak him out, his tail goes in between his legs, ears go back and he wants to run away. He wasn’t like this before the training!
Is it really worth it to put your dog through it? Yes and No!
I would only recommend it if you are living in the countryside and your dog is romping around in fields and woods and is not under human supervision.
For all the “city” hikers and leisure hikers if your dog gets bit you have between 2-4 hrs to get to a vet for treatment. Another alternative is a rattlesnake vaccine, which could have severe side effects, too. No matter what you decide, do your research first and go through every pro and con for each method.
Don’t get fooled by Mr. Patrick Callaghan’s marketing (which I think is fantastic), overall keep in mind that he is running a very successful corporation!
Julia
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7. June 2008 at 17:31
Something to add: I am the hiking partner Julia mentions and just discovered another side effect of the training. Keep in mind this training was mid-March and it is now June. I took my dog to do some additional training now that we are in Virginia and living in a large apartment complex with lots of dogs and people. He just needed a little tune up. We were in class with the trainer who he has met a couple of times and she asked if she could use him to demonstrate a skill since he already knows it. I said sure and handed her his leash and she went to walk him away from me and he flipped out. He spun and started trying to climb into my lap (I was on a folding chair). She was very calm and just tried walking him in a circle around me without leading him away and he actually tried to crawl through the space between the seat of the chair and the chair back (again my dog is almost 120 lbs). She quickly stopped trying to lead him as she didn’t want to further upset him and he stood leaning against me, heart racing. It suddenly clicked that the last time a “trainer” (and I use that term loosely regarding Mr Callahan’s assistants) lead him away from me he experienced incredible pain and fear. Now with the training class we are having to work on “trust issues” we never had before. Now, I will admit, my dog was always a mamma’s boy and clingy, but the sheer terror I saw in him and the panic attack is something that I’ve only seen since the Rattlesnake class. And as a last tidbit, we have come across snakes (albeit not rattlesnakes) 4 times since the class without his even being aware. I truly believe he didn’t even register the presence of the rattlesnakes at the training and only remembers being shocked.
Amanda