Bark Is Better Than Bite : Quail Unlimited of Riverside Provides Dogs ‘Snakeproofing’

Angel, a big, curious yellow Labrador, stretched her neck out to sniff the three-foot diamondback rattlesnake coiled in the straw among the olive trees.

Zap! Simultaneously, the snake struck and a charge of electricity surged through Angel’s collar. She yelped, leaped two feet straight up and hit the ground running.

“That was a good one,” Julian Weslow said. “I guarantee she won’t go near another snake for a while.”

That was the purpose of Snake Break ‘91, a fund-raising project by the Riverside chapter of Quail Unlimited to “snakeproof” dogs. Owners of 94 dogs--hunting, show and house variety--put their pets through the course for $50 each at Raahauge’s Shotgun Sports complex in Norco last weekend.

About 10,000 dogs a year are bitten by snakes in the United States. Most are victims of their natural curiosity. They tend to walk right up and sniff at anything strange.

After the first session, Weslow estimated, “Out of 47 dogs, 42 pretty well put their noses on the snake.”

That was especially true of the sporting breeds, with their highly tuned noses to the ground. Now, they can associate their shocking experience with the snake rather than the electric training collars they wore.

It was Weslow, a professional dog trainer from Trinity, Tex., who triggered the jolts with a remote control box at the moment the dog’s attention became riveted on the reptile.

The dogs were at no risk. Weslow cut off the snakes’ fangs each morning--they are replaced by backup sets within 24 hours--and the charge wasn’t strong enough to cause harm, merely to startle. He wrapped the snakes’ rattles so the dogs would associate their pain with the sight and the smell, not the sound.

He also cautioned the dogs’ owners not to offer sympathy or comfort afterward. It is better, he said, if a dog’s first confrontation with a snake is a totally negative experience. It was.

Jim Morrie of San Bernardino brought his springer spaniel Mack.

“He’s an aggressive hunter,” Morrie said. “I’ve hunted quail around Indio and never seen a snake, but I think it’s just a matter of time.”

As Mack approached on a long lead from a handler, the snake raised its head, hissing and flicking its tongue. Before it struck, Weslow, standing about 15 feet away, hit the switch and Mack recoiled barely out of range.

Several of the owners planned to hunt in the deserts of southeastern California or Arizona. Brad Marriott, vice chairman of Quail Unlimited’s Riverside chapter, said:”I’ve run into more snakes this year than I ever have. I shot a diamondback near Indio last year, and this year I shot a timber rattler.”

But he’s confident that his Brittany, Toby, will give all snakes a wide berth now.

Weslow put a second snake about 30 yards away, and each dog was exposed to that one afterward to verify the cure. Weslow told Steve Mukai of Sun City to stand a few yards away and call his well-trained German shorthair, Jocko, from the other side of the snake. Jocko came, but he took a very long way around.

After their initial treatments, some dogs seemed oblivious to the second snake and their owners weren’t convinced that their dogs had been snakeproofed. Weslow explained that the dogs figured if they overreacted to the second snake, they’d get zapped again, so they tried to play it cool.

“(The owners) wanted to see that response of total fear,” Weslow said. “The dogs were (saying), ‘I’m not going to look. . . . I don’t want nothing to happen. If I can just stay away from that son of a gun--don’t look at him, don’t cause no ripples--nothing’s going to happen to me.’

“But I can tell you that dog is not going to go back and smell a snake, and that is the object.”

Some dogs showed classic reactions.

“The biggest criers and the highest jumpers were the German shorthairs,” Marriott said.

That breed, Weslow said, also is most inclined to attack a snake.

“In the wild, those dogs will grab a snake up and get hit (bitten) or kill him, one or the other. I once sold a German shorthair and a pointer to a guy, and the shorthair hadn’t been (snakeproofed). They encountered a five- or six-footer that afternoon and that dadgum pointer saw it and took off down the road. That shorthair ran in there and grabbed that snake and shook it, and he hit her, and she ran back and grabbed him again, and he hit her again--three times before she quit. She lived, but she was a mess . . . swelled up like a watermelon.”

A bite isn’t always fatal.

“If a dog is alive three minutes after he’s hit, he’s going to live--probably,” Weslow said. “But he needs immediate attention. . . . If a human is bit, they’ve got plenty of time. But you still need to get to professional people.”

Weslow never has been bitten, but he has had a couple of close calls.

“Most of the people that are getting bit are snake handlers . . . these snake charmers who want to put one on their head,” he said. “I was in Abilene doing a seminar and my son came out to help. I opened one of the boxes, wasn’t even thinking--and these were not defanged. These were ready. As I flipped the lid back, that head came right by that wrist.

“I’ve lost my fear of them, and that’s not good. When you lose your fear, you make those dumb mistakes.”

He wore shorts for the clinic, and occasionally, to arouse a snake, would nudge it with his hiking boot. The snakes remained where Weslow had put them for hours at a time, contentedly coiled.

“Snakes don’t move far from any habitat they’re in except in certain months of the year,” Weslow said. “Then they might travel a pretty good ways. A snake is very delicate. He cannot stand a lot of heat. If you leave him out here in the sun, he’s dead.

“That’s the reason they become hard to find in hot weather, especially in Texas. They go in holes and move at night . . . 3 o’clock in the morning before you can find them. The way we find them is to drive the roads at night.”

Weslow has conducted his clinics for 13 years, including this year in the Astrodome. Last weekend he traveled by air and brought 10 snakes with him. No problem.

“They told me all the specifications for the boxes. I had them locked. (I said), ‘If you all want to pet them, I’ll open them up.’ ‘Nah, nah, that’s all right.’ ”

If not fear, Weslow has respect for rattlesnakes.

“The Lord put them here, like quail. They balance nature. Even though they’re dangerous, they’re going to be an endangered species if people keep gassing holes and staying on them. They’re not attacking us. I hate to see somebody get bit, but we’re in their habitat. We’re invading their privacy. They didn’t come here to bite humans.”

Or dogs, it would seem.

Myths, Facts About Snakes

Myth--A defanged snake is harmless.

Fact--Only for about 24 hours, until another set of fangs grows in.

Myth--A rattlesnake’s bite is fatal.

Fact--It depends on several factors, including the location of the bite, the amount of venom released, the time elapsed before professional treatment and the condition of the victim. Julian Weslow: “They have total control over how much venom they administer.”

Myth--All rattlesnakes are lethal.

Fact--Venom of the Movaje green is most toxic, followed by that of the most common, the Western diamondback. Weslow: “Out of your 15 species, some of them are down to like a powerful bee sting.”

Myth--Snakes lie in ambush to attack.

Fact--The Western diamondback is the most aggressive, others relatively docile. Weslow: “Very rarely he’s going to attack unless you crowd him. He’s scared to death. He wants out of there.”

Myth--Snakes can’t strike beyond their length.

Fact--Generally, they strike at about half a length and almost never beyond three-quarters, but don’t count on it. Weslow: “A good, quick, hot snake, if he catapults off that tail, he can spring a long way.”

Myth--The best first aid for snakebite is to ice the wound and make a cross-cut and suck out the venom.

Fact--No longer accepted. Loose tourniquet or non-cutting suction device might help. Best advice, from Weslow and others: “Get that thing immobilized. And get professional help as soon as possible.” Antivenin is the best treatment.

SOURCES: California Poison Control Center at UC Irvine Medical Center; San Bernardino County Museum of Natural History; dog “snakeproofing” expert Julian Weslow.