A Dog’s Life: Avoidance clinic another tool to prevent dogs from snakebite

Published 10:27 pm Friday, August 1, 2025

It was typical dove season opening weather for Texas, hot and dry. I was sitting in a corner of a large sunflower field in Coleman County not really hunting, but I had my Lab, Sadie, with me just in case any birds happened to come my way. For the most part they did not, but I did shoot a couple and sent Sadie out to get them.

Sitting on a stool with my back to a barbed wire fence I happened to look down and saw a rattlesnake approaching. I probably should have shot it, but instead I got up and Sadie and I moved over a few steps while it passed directly under the stool.

As unnerving as that was, it was not 10 minutes later that I saw two more rattlers less than 20 feet away. I decided then my next move was to kennel the dog and climb into my truck.

Rattlesnakes are a concern not only for Texas hunters, but for their dogs as well. Where there is a lot of bird hunting snakes are active during the fall, and in some portions of the state it never gets completely cold enough for the snakes to hibernate during the winter.

So, the best bet is for hunters to get proactive and prepare their dogs the best they can by first getting them a snakebite vaccine. No, the vaccine does not prevent the dog from being bit, but it can help mitigate the damage done if it is bit by a rattlesnake.

The second thing is to put a dog through a snake avoidance clinic in which a professional handler introduces it to various species of snakes with the use of a training collar to encourage the dog to avoid the reptile. Like the vaccine, the avoidance training is not perfect, but continues to be the best option for teaching dogs to stay away from snakes the best they can.

“They use all the senses when doing the training — scent, sound and sight,” explained trainer Alex Huff.

For the fifth year Huff’s One Shot Retrievers Kennel in Frankston will be holding an avoidance clinic. It is set to start at 8 a.m. Aug. 30, and owners are encouraged to arrive before 10 a.m. so training can be concluded before it gets too hot on the dogs.

Veteran avoidance trainer Wayne Lain will be conducting the clinic, which annually has attracted about 60 dogs. Although the clinic is geared toward hunting breeds, it is open to any dog that could find itself encountering anything from a copperhead in a backyard or hiking trail to a moccasin lake side or a rattlesnake in the western portion of the state.

The training is done by walking a dog past several species of snakes. In the case of rattlesnakes some will rattle and some do not, which introduces the dog to snakes by sound, sight and smell. As the dog shows curiosity in the snake, they are hit with a short charge from the collar, enforcing the lesson that the snakes are a danger to be avoided.

Huff said that based on the dog’s temperament some will retain the lesson for a lifetime.

Others go through the training annually.

Her best example is her own Lab, a now-11-year-old dog, that went through the training when it was one. Two years ago, the dog was working on a long blind retrieve when it suddenly balked and refused to sit at its second point. Going to the dog to see why it had reacted so violently at that point, a water snake was found lying in the grass.

Even though the snake was removed, the dog was still cautious until sent further on its retrieve.

“We have had a lot of different situations where we have seen it in training, and not just water moccasins, but any kind of water snakes the dog gets around. They won’t even run a blind,” Huff said.

She said she has also heard of stories of dogs that had gone through the course reacting when getting out of a four-wheeler or headed to a boat in which there was a snake under it or nearby.

The biggest weakness to the training is in the field if a dog is hard charging on a retrieve and bumps into a snake before recognizing it is there. In that case there is probably nothing that can be done to prevent a bite, but it does bring up a third protection option.

“You have to be smart as a handler. If you are hunting in an area with a lot of snakes, do you really need a dog to pick up the birds? Also, a lot of time in dove season it is too hot to take a dog hunting anyway. This time of year, I can work a dog about four retrieves, and you can think about what can happen during a dove hunt. It is super dangerous,” Huff said.

Cost of the clinic is $100 per dog, cash only. One Shot Retrievers is located just off U.S. 155 at 22082 F.M. 2215 north of Frankston. For more information, call Huff at 903-681-1954.

— Contact Steve Knight at outdoor@tylerpaper.com