# Snakes!!!



## Fowler (Jul 8, 2008)

First of all I hate snakes, second I am learning there are good snakes and bad snakes, so I am trying to maintain myself from killing them all.....LOL


But thank goodness, I was in the barn at 9:30 last night.
Earlier my 2 maremmas were chasing a frog, stepping on it and giving it little barks, so I went out there and saved it.

Later I was out in the barn and the boys were barking their heads off, I let it go on for about 5 min, because I was there in the barn and I thought to myself *the frog must be back* but the barking had changed to being more aggressive. Walk around to the paddock *about 10 ft away from barn door*
and they were on opposite sides of this snake, barking and biting at it.

Ran and got the shovel came back tried to call them off with no avail....and had to cut off the snakes head to get it out of their paddock. Because they were not easing up, no matter what I said.

I am glad that they are that protective, but thank you baby Jesus I was out there late. What if this was a rattle snake? OMG, now I am worried to death if that if one ever crosses their path, I just hope me or someone else is around to run them to the vet if one ever bites them. Because after killing the snake I notice puncture wounds from the dogs attacking it...I am worried sick now.


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## BarbadosSheep (Jun 27, 2011)

If you have a lot of snakes in your area, teach them how to kill them safely. I don't like killing non poisonous snakes, but I have done so in order to teach my pit bull how to do it safely. I have caught water snakes and a couple of rat snakes for her. Now she knows how to do it without getting herself bit. She waits until it moves so she knows which end is the head and which is the tail. then she snatches it up by the tail and shakes it so hard it often rips apart. then she shreds the whole thing up into little pieces. I always take her on walks because she is GOOD at spotting them before they spot me.


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## Fowler (Jul 8, 2008)

I was actually wondering if I should train them professionally to avoid snakes when they smell them. Or if this would harm their guarding abilities?

My friend took his dog to a training class, that had poisenious snakes with their mouths tape shut. They put a shock collar on the dogs, when the dogs would want to attack the snake they would get shocked. And it worked for him. Is this something I should look into?


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## bricned (Jul 3, 2006)

since I live on the edge of a large swamp we have a lot of snakes. My dogs
kill several every year and haven't been bitten. I have not trained them its just
by instinct. I feel a lot better walking over a dead cotton mouth than alive one.


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

I would think training them to avoid snakes is a better approach than killing them. Why add another risky task to the one you want them for?


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## Deep Woods (Jun 12, 2011)

Sulfur sprinkled around the perimeter of your yard/property will keep snakes at bay. I live very close to a lake and have to put sulfur out each year in the spring to ward off the mating cottonmouths and water snakes from the lake, it seems to really help.


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## Goatress (Feb 4, 2011)

Fowler, you and Indiana Jones: I HATE SNAKES!!! Grin......

I had two Kangal/Anatolian/Maremma pups from a litter in 2010 bring in dead rattler to the rancher like it was his Christmas present, lol, go figure, I sure didn't teach them that trick...yuck...


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## Cheryl aka JM (Aug 7, 2007)

If your really worried about it training them to avoid snakes is the way to go.

You hate snakes....I'm rather fond of them...my web site

www.thereddragonsden.com

I've been breeding ball pythons for years, used to breed corn snakes too. I like snakes....and I AVOID wild snakes. Better safe than mistaken if it is poisonous.

And a little help for the phobics under the mistaken impression the snakes are lying in wait in the bushes to ambush you....Snakes are possibly the stupidest creature God ever created. They do not have the capacity to decide to hunt you. They only hunt what they can eat and they can only eat something up to 1 1/2 times the widest point on their bodies. Otherwise the snakes is doing his best to avoid anything larger than that and only acts defensively and rattles or bites when frightened that something too big for the snake to eat will decide to eat the snake. This is why almost all wild snake bites occur when some fool is either playing with or attempting to kill some poor wild snake. And not all snakes who shake thier tails are venoumous, not all venomous snakes will shake their tail.

In short~ avoid the wild snakes and they will attempt to avoid you. They would not be there if there was not a food source...usually vermin.


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## Fowler (Jul 8, 2008)

Cheryl aka JM said:


> If your really worried about it training them to avoid snakes is the way to go.
> 
> You hate snakes....I'm rather fond of them...my web site
> 
> ...


Thanks for the info cheryl, but I am mostly worried about my dogs getting bitten. They dont seem to back down from them. I could explain this to them, but I dont think they will care...LOL :hysterical:


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## Cheryl aka JM (Aug 7, 2007)

no they won't care. They are doing thier jobs protecting you and your stock from accidently stumbling over those snakes. If you don't have a lot of venomous snakes in your area I'd not worry about it, if you do I'd train them to avoid snakes. We have a lot of snakes here but the majority are harmless so I let my dogs deal with them or not as they see fit.


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## ONG2 (Sep 22, 2010)

Yes some snakes are stupid.


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## hiddensprings (Aug 6, 2009)

The only thing in the entire world that scares me is a snake! Just thinking about them makes my skin crawl. My dogs have brought them too me as well. Thankfully, already dead. One day I went out to see what my laying hens were doing.....all of them standing in a circle like girl scouts around a camp fire. You guessed it, a snake was rolled up. I suppose the girls were trying to figure out if it was the biggest worm they'd ever seen and if they could eat it.


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## noeskimo (Mar 17, 2011)

Did you know that there is a vaccination that protects them from snakebite? All my dogs have had it. It takes a series of 2 to get their titer up, and a booster each year.What it does is makes the bite much less serious, by giving them prior exposure to the toxin. My vet charged me $12.


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