News
Sight, smell and sounds helps teach avoidance
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| Tough training: The training is hard on a dog, but the results can be life-saving. Above, Web Parton teaches a small dog the consequences of messing with a rattling diamondback. |
Thelma Grimes
SAN PEDRO VALLEY NEWS-Sun
Desert creatures can prove deadly to pets if an animal doesn't have the instinct to avoid them.
The diamondback rattlesnake may be one of Arizona's mascots and be beautiful to snake lovers, but the venom from one bite can be deadly to a dog.
To prevent these bites from happening, one school is aimed at giving dogs and owners the skills needed to avoid the snake if it crawls into the back yard or is approached during an evening walk.
Web Parton, a bird dog trainer, provides training to pet owners in Southern Arizona to avoid the diamondback in a one to two-hour session.
The avoidance training begins with showing the dog what it should be avoiding, in this case, a live rattlesnake.
The rattlesnake used in training is de-fanged.
The safe snake is used to teach the animal to associate avoidance with sight, sound and scent.
Snakes move so they are easy to see. They rattle and make a distinctive sound. They emit a distinctive scent that dogs discern easily.
Once the training area is defined, and an area has been established where the dog will meet the snake, Parton places an electronic collar on the dog and attaches a 20-foot check chord.
"I make it a point to get the dog comfortable with me during this process," he said. "I greet the dog on his level by kneeling down or sitting with my back facing him as he approaches."
Leading the dog on the check cord, Parton takes the dog downwind of the snake and stops short of the predetermined small safe area. Leading the dog upwind through the snake's scent stream, Parton waits for the dog to realize it is there.
Parton said of the three possible cues (sight, sound, scent) available to the dog, the first to get the dog's attention is almost always sound. Dogs almost never see a snake and will step right over it unless the snake moves or rattles, and they don't generally react to the scent until they know there is something there.
At this point, the dog seeks to locate the source of the sound and sees the snake. Once a dog spots a snake, Parton said one of three things usually happens. About 10 percent of the dogs tuck their tail and run the other way, another 10 percent don't blink or hesitate; they drop their heads and charge at the snake. The remaining 80 percent stop any forward movement and try to use their noses, circling downwind of the snake to smell it.
If the dog is a member of the second group and charges the snake without taking any time to smell it, the e-collar is immediately used, delivering a small shock to the animal.
That dog then joins the majority, upon hearing and seeing a snake, it circles downwind to smell it.
"When all three associations are present (the dog sees, hears, and smells the snake), I apply a severe correction. I am looking to make a profound impression upon the dog," Parton said. "I often tell dog owners during the pre-training orientation that we are here to traumatize a dog for life. This is the intent of the training. We want it vividly etched in the dog's mind that whatever this funny looking, funny sounding, funny smelling critter is, they don't ever want to go near it again."
Parton said the training is not always 100 percent effective, but is extremely helpful.
"A dog typically has to do something to get into trouble," Parton said. "They have to linger, show some curiosity regarding the snake; they have to have their nose in the wrong place for a second or two. With snake-safe training, the nano-second that there is something beside a dog and he/she doesn't know what is, he/she is going the other direction."
Parton said he got into snake-safe training for dogs in the late 1980s, gaining his skills from partner Glen Seal.
As a bird dog trainer, Parton said they had to assure that customers' dogs taken into field training work would be protected from snakes as much as possible. That meant instilling the avoidance skills into the dog.
Besides avoidance training for rattlesnakes, the Snake Safe organization also hosts classes to teach dogs to avoid deadly Sonoran desert toads.
According to the company web site, classes cost about $75 per dog, with private sessions also available. Over the weekend, Parton hosted a class in Sierra Vista. His web site is www.snakesafe.com.
In addition, local veterinarians also host snake avoidance training. For more information call your local vet.
SAN PEDRO VALLEY NEWS-Sun
Desert creatures can prove deadly to pets if an animal doesn't have the instinct to avoid them.
The diamondback rattlesnake may be one of Arizona's mascots and be beautiful to snake lovers, but the venom from one bite can be deadly to a dog.
To prevent these bites from happening, one school is aimed at giving dogs and owners the skills needed to avoid the snake if it crawls into the back yard or is approached during an evening walk.
Web Parton, a bird dog trainer, provides training to pet owners in Southern Arizona to avoid the diamondback in a one to two-hour session.
The avoidance training begins with showing the dog what it should be avoiding, in this case, a live rattlesnake.
The rattlesnake used in training is de-fanged.
The safe snake is used to teach the animal to associate avoidance with sight, sound and scent.
Snakes move so they are easy to see. They rattle and make a distinctive sound. They emit a distinctive scent that dogs discern easily.
Once the training area is defined, and an area has been established where the dog will meet the snake, Parton places an electronic collar on the dog and attaches a 20-foot check chord.
"I make it a point to get the dog comfortable with me during this process," he said. "I greet the dog on his level by kneeling down or sitting with my back facing him as he approaches."
Leading the dog on the check cord, Parton takes the dog downwind of the snake and stops short of the predetermined small safe area. Leading the dog upwind through the snake's scent stream, Parton waits for the dog to realize it is there.
Parton said of the three possible cues (sight, sound, scent) available to the dog, the first to get the dog's attention is almost always sound. Dogs almost never see a snake and will step right over it unless the snake moves or rattles, and they don't generally react to the scent until they know there is something there.
At this point, the dog seeks to locate the source of the sound and sees the snake. Once a dog spots a snake, Parton said one of three things usually happens. About 10 percent of the dogs tuck their tail and run the other way, another 10 percent don't blink or hesitate; they drop their heads and charge at the snake. The remaining 80 percent stop any forward movement and try to use their noses, circling downwind of the snake to smell it.
If the dog is a member of the second group and charges the snake without taking any time to smell it, the e-collar is immediately used, delivering a small shock to the animal.
That dog then joins the majority, upon hearing and seeing a snake, it circles downwind to smell it.
"When all three associations are present (the dog sees, hears, and smells the snake), I apply a severe correction. I am looking to make a profound impression upon the dog," Parton said. "I often tell dog owners during the pre-training orientation that we are here to traumatize a dog for life. This is the intent of the training. We want it vividly etched in the dog's mind that whatever this funny looking, funny sounding, funny smelling critter is, they don't ever want to go near it again."
Parton said the training is not always 100 percent effective, but is extremely helpful.
"A dog typically has to do something to get into trouble," Parton said. "They have to linger, show some curiosity regarding the snake; they have to have their nose in the wrong place for a second or two. With snake-safe training, the nano-second that there is something beside a dog and he/she doesn't know what is, he/she is going the other direction."
Parton said he got into snake-safe training for dogs in the late 1980s, gaining his skills from partner Glen Seal.
As a bird dog trainer, Parton said they had to assure that customers' dogs taken into field training work would be protected from snakes as much as possible. That meant instilling the avoidance skills into the dog.
Besides avoidance training for rattlesnakes, the Snake Safe organization also hosts classes to teach dogs to avoid deadly Sonoran desert toads.
According to the company web site, classes cost about $75 per dog, with private sessions also available. Over the weekend, Parton hosted a class in Sierra Vista. His web site is www.snakesafe.com.
In addition, local veterinarians also host snake avoidance training. For more information call your local vet.
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