Rattle Rattle

This morning we drove an hour or so out of Phoenix to do the dogs snake re-test. On the way we made predictions about how each dog would do.

Sparkie went first. We were a little surprised by her reaction. She didn’t make any sudden movement away from the snakes at all. It didn’t even looked as though she glanced their way. She went by the snakes many times but was about 10’ away each time. We then took her to the garage to see what she would do with those snakes. Her reaction was exactly the same. She wants “no trouble with no body.” We think she just figures that if she totally ignored them they would realize that she is no threat and wouldn’t bother her. I think her strategy worked as she was the only dog that the snakes didn't rattle at. We were going to have her go by the snakes again but all she wanted to do was get in the car. This made it quite clear that she wanted nothing to do with the snakes.

Slugger was next. He was so excited to go for a walk in the desert. About the time we got 15 yards from the snakes they started rattling. The split second Slugger heard that he stopped in his tracks, did a little air sniffing, and ran the other way as fast as he could. GOOD BOY! Perfect. The exact same thing happened in the garage and then Slugger ran to the car. He wanted in NOW! Perfect.

Wazzu was the most excited to go for a walk. She was up on her toes and well ahead of us. As soon as the snakes rattled, Wazzu stopped in her tracks, turned and slunk away. Poor Wazzu, so much for a nice walk! She wasn’t any happier about the snakes in the garage. She too just wanted to get in the car.

Fearless Boogie was the last to go. He started on his walk, smelled the odor of the snakes and got very curious walking right up to the cage. Darn it Boogie. Poor guy had to get shocked. He jumped away but then went right back toward the cage. He stayed about two feet away but this is close enough that the snakes could strike him (if they hadn’t been caged). We decided to see what he would do in the garage. Same reaction – he is just too curious. Hopefully the three big dogs will keep him safe as he obviously hasn’t learned to respect the snakes enough.

The guy that does the training has two small dogs – one is a border terrier. He said his dogs love other dogs so we let the three little dogs have a big play time out in the yard. They all had a great time hunting around the desert yard for rats and other critters. Then they did a number of huge chases around the front yard. We always thought Boogie was fast but that little border terrier girl left him in the dust big time. It was like Boogie was running in molasses! By the time we left Boogie was nice and tired. Well at least we accomplished one thing with Boogie on this trip.

Debbie
1/10/08