Adorable video shows snake catcher teaching puppy to stay away from snakes
A four-month-old puppy named Koda is melting hearts on the internet, after footage of him being trained to steer clear of snakes was shared online.
A video posted to the Snake Catchers Adelaide Facebook page shows the the little Jack Russell puppy peering into a blue bowl containing a small red-bellied black snake.
But he is told “no” in a stern voice and after a few persistent commands the little pup sits down.
Koda stills seems curious looking at the venomous reptile moving around the container, but stays seated as he is repeatedly told not to go near it.
“He did well actually,” the dog’s owner, snake catcher Ange Broadstock told Yahoo7.
While it is cute to see Koda being a “good boy”, it is also important he has this training, as he will go to work with Ms Broadstock, who also has about 40 snakes at the moment.
But the little pup also has a four-pawed friend Coco who leads by example.
“She would seriously sit on the back lawn and take no notice of the snake. She got to the stage that she found a blue tongue and guarded it,” Ms Broadstock explained, adding Koda follows her around and copies her behaviour.
As the weather heats up and the snakes become more active, the snake catcher offers some advice to other dog owners.
“Use the same word over and over and lower your tone,” the snake catcher explained.
“As soon as your dog goes after one – get your command in.”
She acknowledged everyone has their own commands that work with their own pets, and said repeat that same word so the animal doesn’t get confused.
“If you just keep at it then surely it’s got to pay off with rewards.”
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And pet owners don’t have to teach curious animals with snakes, there are other options.
“You can use lizards, skinks and blue tongues, if they learn to leave them alone they should leave snakes alone, any training is better than none,” the snake catcher wrote online.
One Facebook user who seemed to use a similar technique said it paid off for them.
“We’ve taught out 2 rottweilers to ‘leave it’ which came in handy a few weeks ago when we had a brown snake at the farm we live on!” they said on the video.
Ms Broadstock also said teaching pets to stay away from snake skins could help.
She suggested people who don’t have access to one could call a local snake catcher and ask if they have one they might spare.
