I guess this thread applies mostly to people in Australia, but I would like some opinions and ideas from everyone. It's coming into summer here. How do you keep your dogs safe from snakes when out bushwalking or camping or hiking?
Don't go places with long grass, especially long grass around water. Keep dog on lead unless you know for sure there are no snakes. If going into an area that hasn't had other dogs or people active on it in the last few minutes do a patrol before letting your dog off lead. We've had a close call or two with brown snakes so l err on the side of caution.
Thought you might chime in @Oberon Thanks for doing so. That's what I was thinking myself. I had him off lead at the river earlier today. Didn't go too far from the water where I knew it was clear. I'm a bit paranoid about this. I've had visions of me running through the bush carrying an unconscious puppy. And he weighs 30 kg, so not a small boy either. But yeah, it's a bit of a stick between a rock and a hard place kinda scenario
That's exactly the image I have in my head - how on earth would I manage to carry 28kg of dog back to the car.....
You do manage I've done it a few times not for snakes but with injured dogs. I had a practice and always have something in the car which I can roll a dog onto and drag if I have to. I always have a first aid kit with me too
Scary stuff! I do like hearing about the exotic animals in other countries - but, you know, I'm really happy that the UK doesn't have dangerous stuff. I like that. I like my countryside without dangerous snakes and stuff.
After I stopped screaming at the thought of coming across a snake, I can only echo @JulieT 's sentiment - thank goodness the UK doesn't have dangerous stuff like that!
You still get adders in the UK, which is our biggest threat where we are in Spain, too. I was only saying the other day (after J saw a big adder in the pipework in our derelict kennel block) how glad I am that we don't have to worry about too much here. I guess it becomes a way of life to shake out your clothes and shoes before putting them on, and checking before you start disturbing undergrowth, but I'm happy it's not something we have to do!
We're got adders here too there not to bad. I've only known one dog die from a bite. Hornets can be a problem too my chimney sweeps little Jack Russell got stung and he had to rush her to the vet as she had a bad reaction .
When I was looking up the poisonous plants lists online, one was on an Australian vets' site, which also had a Snake Avoidance Training clinic advertised. After getting my head round it, I suppose it must be a big worry in Australia, so makes sense to try and train avoidance (I'll go and see if I can dig the link out). EDIT Just went and googled it and there are lots of sites discussing the topic, so probably easiest to search for one in your area yourself. Good luck!
I think it's difficult to get positive reinforcement snake avoidance training - I read about that on a Facebook site.
I don't know how you even cope with walking where there might be poisonous critters. So glad we have nothing like that. At all.
You just try not to think too much about it! Otherwise every stick or piece of bark you see looks like a snake! Honestly though, you just get to the point where you can look at a scene and think "definitely not going there... Could be snakes". Ella's breeder trained her girls to stay out of certain garden beds, especially during the drought as the brown snakes would come all the way up to the house
I remember about Rachael's story.....it was a stick/snake misidentification with Obi. I too am thankful that our most dangerous animal is a haggis.
Snakes would be a worry. We have dangerous animals here, but they are not all that common for the most part, so although you do have to think about the possibility of encountering a cougar or bear whole out walking as they are around here it's really not that likely. But I imagine snakes are quite plentiful there? We have snakes here, but the non-poisonous type. At least where I live. There are rattlers in southern Alberta, they could certainly do some damage.
I'm not sure of Rachael's experience but I'd say I've seen two or three in the last ten years. I live in suburban Melbourne though so we don't see quite as many as you do in woop woop.
Our favourite park has just had the very long grass mowed as they couldn't do it due to the huge amount of rain we've had in Adelaide. Unfortunately Bailey absolutely loves running through long grass and we have had a definite difference of opinion when it comes to being allowed to do so. We live in the southern suburbs of Adelaide and snakes are quite prevalent here. Both of our neighbors have had them, which I guess means we have too but I didn't and don't want to see them. Bailey's breeder lost one of her dogs to a brown snake after a drought. I'd struggle to carry Bailey to the car if he was bitten. We'll just be noisy as we walk and hopefully they'll all run away
A friend of mine who lives out of town came home one day from work to find both of her dogs dead from snakebite. Horrible. She now has a snake proof fence round her entire property. You do just kind of get used to being careful about snakes.
