Rattlesnake Avoidance Training

What an interesting afternoon. Dennis, Mom, Gary and I, along with our dogs, Flash and Honey (Mom's dog) went to Rachel & Henry Amado's home in Alpine for Rattlesnake Avoidance Training. The handler, Tom Minga, Snake Solutions, brought several rattlesnakes of different varieties for the training. The object was to teach the dogs to avoid snakes, by smell, sight and sound. The method was to administer a light electric shock when the dog approached the snake.

I think Flash did very well--exactly what was expected. As you can see, he went up to the snake, nose first. The handler then administered a shock to the collar Flash was wearing. Flash ran away and wouldn't come close to the snake again. 

There were many other dogs there, too, some for training, some for a recheck to be sure the training stuck. Some dogs had mild reactions and some were very upset at the shock, especially the whippet who did a complete flip after being shocked. The strangest reaction, though, came from Honey who was so nervous I don't think she even knew there were any snakes. She was never shocked because she never got anywhere near the snake. The last three photos show Honey averting her head and body away from the snake. Rachel said this is called "avoidance." 

For the humans, it was interesting and fun. Thanks to Rachel and Henry for hosting the training.