Trainer Teaches Dogs To Be Afraid Of Rattlesnakes

YUCCA VALLEY (CBS) — Thousands of dogs each year are bitten by venomous snakes. Now one Yucca Valley animal trainer is hoping to keep dogs safe by teaching them to be afraid of the reptiles.

CBS2's Inland Empire reporter Greg Mills spoke with Erick Briggs, who teaches the 10-minute rattlesnake aversion training course.

"It's about 99 percent effective at keeping dogs from engaging rattlesnakes. It's about 80 percent effective from keeping dogs from being bitten by rattlesnakes," Briggs said.

Briggs admits that he uses a decades-old method – giving the dog negative reinforcement with a positive electrical charge when seeing, hearing, or smelling a rattlesnake.

"It's not comfortable, but its not something that's gonna affect the entire animal or the nervous system," he added.

Briggs charges $75 per day and says he's trained thousands of dogs over the last 10 years. He finds they usually need to do this once a year for three or four years and then they are set.