Steve Knight

Whether checking the backyard or finding a downed bird in a field, a dog is literally following its nose.

With 25 times the smell receptors of a human, experts say a dog can detect odors at concentrations almost 100 million times lower than its owner.

Add the dog's natural inquisitiveness and the recipe for disaster is present. It is especially true during the early hunting seasons when poisonous snakes are an issue.

Northeast Texas Hunting Retriever Club is trying to reduce the pain to both the dog and dog owner with a dog desnaking clinic Aug. 9.

Snake bites are always serious for dogs. In about 5 or 10 percent of the cases, rattlesnake bites can be deadly to dogs. In some cases in which the dog lives, the damage can be so bad that it has to retire from hunting.

A rattlesnake's venom is primarily a hemotoxin, meaning it attacks tissue and blood, but also contains some neurotoxins.

Pat McHale of Ridgewood Kennels in Navasota will be conducting the clinic that he described as snake avoidance training.

McHale, who has been desnaking dogs since 1994, uses live rattlesnakes that he defangs the night before. A course is set up using one snake that has had its rattles taped so they don't make noise so the dog will learn by sight and smell and another with rattles rattling so the dog learns by sound.

"All venomous snakes put out a scent. We want them to see them and smell them, especially the younger dogs that go in there saying 'What is this?'" McHale said.

McHale uses a combination of a shock from an electronic training collar and a strong tug on the rope to teach avoidance. It is only when a dog comes across one of the snakes and stops, backs up or makes a wide berth around it that McHale considers the training a success.

Working his own dogs and first-hand stories from his clients has shown McHale the method works.

"You will see them do something different. Some will stop and back up and start barking, some will do a sashay around it. Some will still get bit, but not as bad. I had one of mine bit. It saw it and tried to go backward, but it couldn't do it in the air," McHale said.

On another occasion he had a client open the door to let his dog out, but the dog rushed in and pushed the man away. When he inspected the front porch, the dog owner discovered a copperhead waiting just outside the door.

Last summer, Tyler's Gene McCard saw first hand how well the training can work.

"I was up in Arkansas. We were out training and we noticed a couple of dogs didn't want to go in a couple of places. It was on a path where the dogs were doing a retrieve in a grassy field. We started walking around and I was about to step on the snake when (the dog) jumped back and indicated something was there. It turned out to be a copperhead," McCard said.

His then-3 1/2-year-old Lab, Thunder, had been through the desnake training first in 2004, with refreshers in 2005 and 2006. That incident and a similar one later in the year involving a watersnake in Georgia, left McCard sold on the course.

McHale will train dogs six months and older. Although most of those that come through the course are sporting dogs, he has worked with everything from toy poodles to great Danes. He recommends dogs go through the training for consecutive years and then undergo a refresher every other year.

Researchers, using super speed cameras, have shown that it takes a rattlesnake about a quarter of a second to strike. At that speed, a dog working a field isn't always able to react fast enough. That is why some dog owners are also getting their dogs the veterinarian-administered rattlesnake vaccine from Red River Biologics.

While not completely eliminating injury from a rattlesnake bite, the vaccine does seem to reduce the pain and signs of swelling that occur immediately after a strike. It also reportedly reduces muscle damage to the point some dogs have been able to hunt again the next day.

It is recommended that a dog get its first vaccination about two months before the beginning of hunting season and a follow-up a month later. Depending on the size of the dog and how much it is in rattlesnake country, it might need a booster within six months or it may not need one for another year.

The cost of the vaccine is $30. Anti-venom for a dog sells for about $500 a vile. Although designed for rattlesnake bites, the vaccine has shown to provide some defense against other types of snakebite as well. However, tests have shown it does not work for water moccasins or coral snakes.

The Northeast Texas Hunting Retriever Club's dog desnaking clinic will begin at 7:30 a.m with registration ending at noon. Cost is $40 for a dog going through the program the first time, $35 for refreshers.

The clinic will be held on County Road 353 just south of I-20 off U.S. 271.

For more information contact Grant Huff at 903-571-8875, Brock Watson at 903-343-5232 or Gary Sapp at 903-521-3454.

Contact Outdoor Editor Steve Knight at 903-596-6277 or by e-mail at outdoor@tylerpaper.com

A THREAT: Even though only a small percentage of dogs die from a rattlesnake bite, it can cause enough damage to keep a dog from hunting.
((Staff Photo By Steve Knight))