Snake dog??? Pic added for you snake lovers...LOL

[crackerc]

I have a 4-5 month old CD pup. I haven't done anything with her but let her be a pup since I got her. I had 4 dogs cut up in the middle of Feb and got Monkey cut up (again) two weeks ago. So I haven't been hunting much.

Anyway, last Thursday I got home from work, turned the CD pup and a couple other dogs loose, went in the house to change clothes and the CD pup went to barking. She was the only dog barking (out of 11 dogs here) and I had 3 other dogs loose with her. I went outside and she had a garter snake hemmed up in the flowerbed, barking every breath at it. No big deal, she is a pup right??

The next night I got home, turned the same dogs out and by the time I got changed the CD pup was barking again. I think, well she must have that garter snake again. Instead she had a 3' long yellow rat snake hemmed up over by the fence. It was mad like the garter snake and striking at her. I killed it (because it will eat my chickens) and went on about my business.

Saturday morning Cricket jumps on the CD pup (Cricket can be a royal B*TCH at times- reminds me of my ex.... ), and the pup limped around Sat, so no snakes. Sunday I am mowing and I hear the CD pup back behind the barn in the palemttos barking. An hour later when I turn the mower off she is still barking. I go back there to see what kind of snake she has this time and as I get close I hear a buzzing sound....somewhere in the back of my mind I think I should know what that sound is. I get close in the palmettos and the CD pup has a 5' diamondback hemmed up. It is rattling and striking and she is steady barking at it....not good. She has been messing with him for at least an hour, so I was afraid she had been bitten, as the snake was some kind of mad. I get her out, put her and the other 3 dogs that are out up and end the rattling! I put the CD pup in the box on the 4 wheeler so I can watch her and check for signs of swelling, but she never got sick or showed any signs of being bitten. So she was lucky... I just have never had a dog that went looking for snakes when you turn them loose. This could be a bad thing as there are lots of snakes and lots of poisionous snakes where I live and hunt...

Anyone else  ever have a dog do this??

[Mike]

Never had them look for snakes... but i've had several bayed up in the yard. A couple years back, I had two pups with a big rat snake bayed in the pasture. You'd have thought they had a big boar hog bayed the way they were working it.

[Purebreedcolt]

Never seen it bet that is something to see but if it was me I would break her off them now she will get braver and get bit just my thoughts.

[Case]

I have a German Shepherd that will run circles around one and bay all day, but I don't think he goes to looking for them. I'd much rather him find them, than one of the kids though. Hes must be pretty quick, cuz he's found quit a few and aint ever got bit, knock on wood. Good Luck!

[BarrNinja]

Mark,
I've had pups bay em in my yard but never went looking for them. At least she has enough since to keep from getting bit..........so far.

[crackerc]

She was very lucky Sunday. That rattler was big enough and mad enough to hurt someone....... It just worries me that 3 out of 4 days she found snakes when none of my other dogs have ever messed with one. It would not be good for her to start finding them on a regular basis as sooner or later she will get bit. I need to get a big rat snake and put it out in the yard, let her find it, then light her up with the tri-tronics and see if that slows the snake finding down.

I also worry about her barking, have one of my other dogs go to her and them get bit...........nothing good about a snake dog!

Allen, you heard anything from Chance? I sent him a PM about two weeks ago but never heard back from him.

[BarrNinja]

I think the rat snake and the tritronics will fix her just fine.
I talked to Chance last week. He has been as busy as they come here lately. Hog hunting,cows, and a ranch rodeo he is putting on this coming weekend has going pretty hard i would imagine.

[Hog Dog Mike]

I have a rat terrier that will point them like a bird dog.

Over the years I have trained lots of bird dogs to be de-snaked. Caught a rattler and pulled its teeth and sewed its mouth shut just to make sure. I probably did about 60 dogs with that snake.

What was strange was that some dogs naturally would not fool with it. You could not melt them and pour them on it. One was from Minnesota so you know it probably had never seen a snake. One strange thing I noticed was that lots of the labs would just wade right on in even after you had lit them up good. Same thing for German Shorthairs. Most dogs avoided them naturally and after shocking would not go near one for any reason.

One of the dogs I did was a real good high dollar dog. That day you could not get him to go near a rattle snake. He was later killed by a cotton mouth. The only thing I figure is that it smelled different.

A dog is not like a tool that you take out of a tool box. Just because you have it trained to do something one day does not mean he will do what you want a year from now.

[cward]

Cracker I have been super busy I am sorry for not answering your PM me and Crystal were just talking about you today and I think we are up to 17 baby mice now!! But the boys are in one cage and the girls are in another! Might have to get your CD pup to find me a good mice eaten snake!LOL
Hope all is well!

[T-Bob Parker]

My oldest dog " Gator" is a snake finding fool, id be willing to bet I've killed close to 60 snakes thanks to him. We've got cotton mouths and copperhead where I'm at, no buzztails. He's been bit more times than I can remember and has lost part of the roof of his mouth to one real nasty copperhead, but he always pulls through. He's only fooled with snakes a handful of times n the woods, generally he fools with them at the house or when I take him catfishing. I think he does it to protect me but maybe he just likes a fight?  

Good luck.

[NechesBobcat]

I've got a rat terrier that gets bit on a regular basis. He swells less and less everytime. He got bit a couple weeks ago and you'd never know it now. My cur dogs have bayed some rat snakes but won't go near a poisonous snake. My older cur did get bit in the lip last year by a water moccasin. It swelled up a little but he was fine. If I were you, I'd keep a bunch of benadryl with me and let them get bit, give them benadryl and keep an eye on them.

[kader-curs]

I'd much rather him find them, than one of the kids though.

I had a cur that wouldn't hunt for them when we were hunting but if they came around the house he's sure kill them.  I know for sure he was bit 7 times by rattlers at the house(killed them all). I wouldn't have traded anything for him.

[Peachcreek]

I think if i had all of them snakes i would move...

[tnhillbilly]

I think if i had all of them snakes i would move...

Thats what i was thinkin LOL..... we got  copper heads and rattlers but very seldom see one.

[crackerc]

Well, I am glad I don't have the ONLY snake dog out there, but I need to work on her about it. Like I said we have LOTS of snakes, so a snake finding dog isn't good!

Chance, good to hear you are still around. I had sent you a PM and Dave said he sent you an email about a 3 dog coupler that was left in his truck, but neither had heard back from you. We thought maybe you had been busy hunting with all those TX gals and forgot us....

Other than finding snakes the pup is doing good. Growing like a weed, she is almost as big as Cricket now. I can send you as many snakes as you want to cure your "mouse problem", just tell me when you want them....

How the chickens and that male pup doing? You may have to send him back to Fla. I read in one of your posts where you didn't like your curs to put their mouths on a hog and that may be a problem with him!!  LOL Just kidding, hopefully he will work out for you.

Everybody else, thanks for reading and replying to my post. Turkey season ends April 24, Monkey got stitches out this past Monday, so I "hope" to get back to hunting by the end of this month. Just in time for 90 degree weather!!

[rdjustham]

Mark cant blame you for not wanting a snake dog and with rainy season coming theyll all be out.. luckily (knock on wood) i aint run accross any diamond backs in a few years, cotton mouths on the other hand  ..  turkey season ended here on sunday so im itchin to get back at it...

[curdawgs]

I had a lab, one of my duck dogs that was like this. Couldnt stand a snake and would hunt one up and bay it for a while and eventually kill it. She had gotten bitten several times buit I havent every had an adult dog die from a snake bite. She was bitten several times but eventually got better and better at hunting them and got to where she didnt get bit or either it didnt effect her anymore. I still got that lad, shes 14 and will still bay a snake. where I live the rattlers arent very bad though. It is mainly cotton mouths, so not sure if it would matter or not. Ive had other dogs do similar to that but after they got bit they learned to only bay and bay the snake very loose. Its good to have a dog that will find a snake before you step on it in the swamp   .

[HDMdogs]

I've got a 1/2 red heeler and 1/2 cur dog that will work snakes like no other.
Last summer around mid June i heard him barking right outside the door,didnt pay it any mind at first.
twenty minutes later i still heard barking.. walked outside he had a 3' king snake bayed right beside the doorstep.

Wasnt even an hour later i was working in the yard heard barking so i grabbed the 12 gauge and headed out.
Once again he had a snake going crazy under a ol truck we got....

idk what it is either man some dogs just like snakes i guess??

[crackerc]

Having a pup that finds things like this, isn't for the faint of heart, I can tell you that. I walked back behind the barn in shorts and tennis shoes after I got off the mower, and waded into chest high palmettos in the woods behind the house......and this is what she had last Sunday.
Gives me the willies.....

[rdjustham]

Dang Mark thats a good one...