A new frontier for dogs and rattlesnakes

When you know better, you do better.

A new frontier…

Shock collars have been traditionally used for rattlesnake aversion (fear conditioning) for decades, but that’s only because it was assumed to be the only way it could be done.

Within the last 15-20 years many trainers around the United States and beyond have been exploring and developing programs that teach dogs to avoid rattlesnakes without the use of shock collars! What’s exciting is that it is yielding positive results!

Dogs are avoiding rattlesnakes through positive reinforcement style training! Boiled down to its simplest form, positive reinforcement rattlesnake avoidance training turns the scent, sight, and sound of a rattlesnake into a cue to come to the owner. This is no different than teaching a dog to detect a bomb and not get blown up.

If it can be done this way I feel we owe it to our dogs to give them the chance to learn rather than be subjected to fear and pain.