All my dogs get the annual rattlesnake vaccine but today I also had the pups undergo snake avoidance training. When I first called local dog trainers for option a month ago, I was told that due to covid, no one was scheduling that. Apparently enough dog owners complained --I see the most snakes in September and October-- that both Sit Means Sit and Going to Grandma's, two local dog training businesses, decided to offer September classes. Susan and I had Allie and the pups scheduled for a morning class today. We met at 8am at Sit Means Sit.
Five people had signed up for this morning class. (There were many more dog owners scheduled throughout the morning for retraining) A dog trainer, JJ, drove down from Tucson with a live Diamondback. All training was held outside on both the concrete pavement and desert. Every dog wore an eCollar and went through three different snake encounters. JJ worked each dog separately and led the dog, with its owner walking quietly next to it. Every dog had five minutes between each encounter.
Each dog was first introduced to the live snake and when the trainer saw that the dog was looking at the snake, the dog received a shock, Both pups yelped in pain but the other dogs did not. The second encounter was a scent bag filled with snake skins. Again the trainer led each dog toward the scent bag, but by now my pups wanted nothing to do with that scent. The third encounter was encountering the snake inside a carrier. The trainer said the snake rattles louder when inside a carrier. Again neither of my dogs wanted to get close to that snake. The trainer told me both pups learned fast.
While I didn't enjoy hearing my pups yelp in pain when shocked that one time, I could tell that they both quickly learned to associate the snake with a bad shock, associated the scent of the snake with a potential bad shock, and associated the sound with a potential bad shock but only received one shock. When they come back next year for retraining, they won't need to wear an eCollar unless they have forgotten their training, but JJ assured me that "German shepherds are smart dogs and don't forget."
I talked to Sit Means Sit's owner, Sam Owens between training with the pups. I first met Sam nine years ago when I was volunteering at the Bisbee animal shelter. He helped out with the more aggressive dogs. He and I were both victims of another volunteer's rude screams at us. He stopped volunteering his services and I quit after six months. I'd see Sam at local animal events and we'd chat but I hadn't seen him in a few years and didn't initially recognize him. Sam told me he is selling the business to a co-worker and next spring he, his wife and four dogs will travel the country for a year while his house is being built on a Caribbean island, an island he said is outside of hurricanes.
I've always liked Sam and enjoyed talking with him. He explained why he was leaving the business. "I told my wife Pat that I'd run this business for ten years and see where we'll be then. I lasted eight years." He added that working with dogs can get very emotional, especially when there are issues with bad, abusive or rude owners. I certainly understand all that. He had had enough stress with angry dog owners and opted to quit the business sooner than planned. He sounds like he has his future well-planned, and I wish him well on his RV travels and then with life in the Caribbean.
More dog owners were coming to the training site for their scheduled training when Susan and I drove off. It was 9:15am and already 84 degrees. at
The pups were tired when I got back home. All the dogs napped and were sluggish, but they all revived when at 4:40pm I took five of them down to the river for another 1.8-mile water romp. The river is once again drying up. Hopefully southern Arizona will get some moisture from that snowstorm forecasted for the northern Rockies mid-week.
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