A friend of mine recently purchased an Australian Cattle Dog puppy. Apparently, they (I'm assuming the breeder) told my friend that the pup should go to "Snake School". Now, I don't live in snake country so I never heard of this, but from my friends description it sounds like snake-proofing to me.

According to what my friend was told, "they" present the pup with various non-dangerous snakes and then with dangerous snakes (not sure if the snakes are real). When the pup comes into contact with the dangerous snakes, it is given a shock, I'm assuming with an e-collar of some sort. This supposedly teaches the dog to avoid those types of snakes.

Now, I'm not sure at what age this is done. But I'm not too kean on using an e-collar on a young pup. I would think that a strong, solid "Leave it" command would do just as well.

My friend was asking for my opinion, and I thought I'd expand the answer(s) by repeating the question here. She lives in snake-country (high desert near Reno, NV), so she's interested in the answer.

Thoughts/comments?

Snake School? LOL!! That's funny.

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According to what my friend was told, "they" present the pup with various non-dangerous snakes and then with dangerous snakes (not sure if the snakes are real). When the pup comes into contact with the dangerous snakes, it is given a shock, I'm assuming with an e-collar of some sort. This supposedly teaches the dog to avoid those types of snakes.

*I* was under the assumption that when snake proofing, you presented the dog with just the scent of the snake rather than the snake itself. That way, whenever the dog smelled a snake, he would avoid the area and not chance actually coming into contact with the actual snake.

I think Lou covers the use of an e-collar for this fairly thoroughly on his website.

http://www.loucastle.com

I should have known <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> . I'll contact uncle Lou direct. Thanks, Jeff.

Living in Texas (home of the Rattlesnake Round-Up) we frequently have 'snake training'. What they do here is actually sew the rattlesnake's mouth closed, however it can still rattle and strike, however cannot bite.

At the point that the snake strikes the trainer shocks the dog at a very high setting. The dog should feel that the snake 'shocked' the dog, not the trainer and should cause the dog to avoid any future contact with the snake. The dog has 'seen' the snake, has 'heard' the snake and has 'scented' the snake at the time the shock happens.

A rattlesnake is very much a matter of life and death in this area, and we want an automatic fear/respect of the snake so that when it senses a snake (either though scent/audio or visible) that it will not charge up, but will keep a safe respectable distance.

I personally would not want to have to give a command such as 'leave it' to a dog coming up on a rattlesnake. It is much better for a dog to be strongly shocked than to be bitten at a later date.

Since the shock is meant to come from the snake (from the dogs perspective) and not you, I'm not sure age factors into the use of the e-collar. It is not like you are using compulsion, and shouldn't be pressure for a pup. The dog has the ability to avoid the snake and therefore avoid the snake shocking it.

Yes, it's exactly like using compulsion. Which isn't a bad thing.

A quick note about the original post. The dog should be "proofed" from all snakes, not just poisonous ones. Most people with color eyesight and knowledge of different snakes can have trouble distinguishing in the field, let alone a dog. There is no point in distinguishing between the two faction of snakes, better for him to avoid all snakes.

I don't mean to imply that the dog is using sight alone to identify the snakes just that there are numerous species he may come in contact with that you may not have presented him with.

Correction - Looking at Lou's site, I don't see anything specifically relating to snakeproofing. However, here's a link to one of his posts here on the subject:

Lou vs. Snakes