Snake Avoidance

[Psycoco]

Hi all!

I am relatively new to this site and have found so much helpful information. I have an 18week old Staffy who has the usual exuberant personality. When she is good she is very good, and when she is bad, well, I think you know how it goes.

The other day we were in the chook shed and came across a northern death adder. Yep, that's what it was according to the book. I grabbed Coco before she saw it and kept her inside for the remainder of the day. Needless to say,the chooks were on a diet for that day.

My question is, what can I do if she sees a snake and goes it? Is she old enough to realize it's dangerous? We have a few tree snakes inthe area but she hasn't seen any yet. How can I teach her to avoid them?

Hope someone can help!

Thanks

[Tru Borders]

HI Psycoco

Welcome to the boards!

I am not a whole lot of help, but I once saw an episode of the Dog Whisperer where they had a snake caged in the middle of a field. The dog had a shock collar around its neck (these collars are not dangerous for the animal, similar to the Bark collars) and everytime it got within a certain distance of the snake (about 5 metres-ish) he would set it off.

The dog went back about 5 times before it realized that getting close to a snake was a bad thing.

This is a pretty extreme way of re-educating your dog but it worked and the dog lived.

I personally dont think an 18 week old pup would know to stay away from it so do what you can to prevent it going anywhere near the chook pen!

[sandgrubber]

Pups are likely to be curious about snakes, which is a good way to get bitten.

Terriers, in general, tend to attack snakes, which is a good way to get bitten.

The e-collar solution seems to be the best protection . . . if done properly, it may even give you a snake that warns you when a snake is about. However, it does not seem to have been done in an organised way in Australia. In the US the main target group is rattlesnakes, and it's clear that training a dog on one rattlesnake teaches him to avoid all rattlesnakes. In Australia, so many different snakes are poisonous, and their behaviours are different . . . so it's not clear whether you need to enlist the services of a snake farm to get the desired result, or whether it is sufficient to train with one harmless python.

See responses to my earlier post about snakeproofing (in the Training Forum).

Edited May 3, 2009 by sandgrubber

[Christina]

I dont know how you can train a dog not to go after snakes when you are not around but all my dogs are taught the command Leave It.

We have the brown snakes in this state which are extremely dangerous & my dogs are only small & non aggressive.

Basically if it moves, spider, moth, bird, anything I say leave it & they do however if I was not there I am not sure. In peak snake season I go out with them & stay out with them until I want them in. Your chook shed has to be out of bounds for sure.