Тренер по дрессировке собак в Колорадо разработала метод обучения животных избеганию змей после гибели питомца

In 2015, dog trainer Jennifer Hime’s nearly 12-year-old dog died in her arms after being bitten by a prairie rattlesnake in her very own Fort Collins backyard. Since then, Hime, who owns Front Range K9 Academy in Loveland, said she has been on a mission to develop the best snake avoidance training for other dogs. “I don’t want her to have died for no reason if I can save other dogs and owners from the vet bill and the loss,” Hime said. “ … Three vials of antivenin, blood transfusion, supportive care … It is so painful. It is really an awful experience.” In an hourlong session, Hime works with owners and their dogs using a mechanical snake, taxidermy prairie rattlesnakes with scent (a rattlesnake species in Colorado), audio of a rattle, a light electric shock collar, and repeated action to teach dogs how to avoid snakes. Hime said she compares her training to putting snow tires on a car during the wintertime. “It doesn’t guarantee you’re not going to slide, but it reduces your chances,” Hime said. “If they know the snake is there, most dogs will say, ‘Oooo, I gotta go.’” In a grassy field outside her facility, Hime directs the dog toward the areas where the taxidermied snakes are along with the audio of the rattle. She first assesses their innate reaction and classifies them as snake curious, snake cautious, snake oblivious, and snake avoidant. While some dogs are immediately afraid and associate the scent, snake, and rattle to danger, others need the signal of the electric shock collar to make the connection. Other dogs can’t associate the collar with danger at all. Hime said these snake oblivious dogs are almost impossible to teach, but are rare. In a training session with Hime’s 18-month-old whippet, Rabbit, she heard the rattle, sniffed the taxidermied snake, immediately popped up, and darted away without any instruction from Hime. She said Rabbit’s behaviors show she is snake curious, meaning Rabbit is interested in snakes, but understands they are dangerous. However, Hime had to use the electric shock collar on her whippet, Noodle, when she got too close to a taxidermy snake that was older and had less scent. Hime used the older snake as an exercise to show what happens when a dog gets too close. “Holy crap, there are snakes out here!” Hime said to Noodle during the training. “As much as it sucks (shocking her), if it had been alive, (the snake) would have nailed her.” After Noodle was shocked, it was evident throughout the rest of the training that she better associated, even the snake with little scent, to danger. Her tail was tucked between her legs, which Hime said showed she was cautious; she used her nose to sniff the area intensely; and kept a further distance from each taxidermy snake than before. The final test is placing all the taxidermy snakes with a strong scent near their owner’s vehicle, which should be a safe, comfortable place for the dog already. “I am looking, ‘Do they pull up when they see those snakes?’” Hime said. “(Is the dog thinking) ‘Oh, Jesus, even (snakes) at the car!’” Hime lives near Horsetooth Mountain in Fort Collins, so she usually sees several prairie rattlesnakes in her backyard each summer, she said. In the period before Hime had developed her own training program between 2008-2015, she said her dogs were bitten 9 times in her own backyard. “You guys gotta learn that these are bad,” Hime said she remembers saying to her dogs in 2015 when she first started developing her snake avoidance training. Since then, all of Hime’s dogs have received the training and only three dogs have been bitten on her property, despite seeing the same number of snakes, she said. In the three instances that Hime described, one of the dogs was deaf, the other occurred as a dog was exiting her vehicle, and the last was a puppy. Hime said the training is a no-brainer for people who live in snake territory, but said those who may not be able to afford it, should control the number of rodents around their home to avoid being a feeding ground for snakes, and just have great supervision of their dog at all times. The training costs $125 for the first dog and each additional dog in the family is $75. Front Range K9 Academy is located at 4221 W. Eisenhower Blvd.. Information about booking a snake avoidance training session is available online, https://www.frontrangek9noco.com/services. She said there are other, larger, clinics in Colorado that offer training with live snakes, but that she believes hers is just as effective. She also said her training session doesn’t require owners to wait and is a more catered experience to their specific dog. Plus, if Hime feels like a dog could benefit from live snake training, she said she will pull out the facility’s pet snake, Matilda. “The vast majority come away from this training with a strong aversion to snakes,” Hime said.