By Jessica Grahm
We always said, “It will never happen to us," but it did! Two years ago this August, our beloved standard poodle was attacked by a sidewinder (above and below her eyelid) and she eventually died from the bite. From that point on, we let the dogs out in our back yard with trepidation, knowing that indeed, it could happen again. So when the opportunity arose to sign up for the rattlesnake avoidance training, we immediately took advantage of it. Now we’re fanatics, telling everyone we meet that this is a NECESSARY SAFETY MEASURE if your dogs have any chance of exposure to rattlesnakes. And rattlesnakes are everywhere.
The techniques used are simple and fast. The dog is exposed to a venomous rattlesnake with rattles. The snake is either muzzled or de-fanged. At the slightest sign of interest, a mild electrical stimulation is administered through a collar at a sensitive part of the neck. Depending on the personality of the dog, one stimulation may be all that is needed. The tricky part is finding the right person to do the desensitizing because the timing of administering the stimulation is so critical in creating avoidance to the snake. Our local dog rescue group has used Patrick Callaghan on several occasions. They attest to his knowledge and sensitive ability to “read” the dog, which as I understand it, is the “heart” of the training. It is a “work of art” to observe Patrick.
He pays exquisite attention to the eyes, movements (miniscule as they may be), breathing, all of which tell him when to stimulate and when the dog is “finished.”
Dogs are by nature curious and therefore when they are introduced to the snake, the first thing many do is put their nose on the snake. You know what happens next – the snake strikes and the dog gets profoundly sick or dies. Others like to roll on the snake or stand next to it and pretend it isn’t there. Same consequences. Well there’s a happy ending to this tale (tail). We can let our dogs in the yard without worry, or hike, armed with the knowledge that our dogs are safe, and so are we, because the added bonus is that they’ll alarm us if there’s a rattlesnake in the vicinity.
You can contact Patrick Callaghan at www.patrickcallaghan.com
or phone Patrick at 1 (909) 735-3251
