Warm weather means rattlesnake season is in full swing across the central and South Coasts.
A rattlesnake is loudly making its presence known on the ground in front of me, in a dusty area of Toro Canyon Park in Santa Barbara County.
The snake has been placed there deliberately as part of a training course by Snakesafe Dog, which is designed to teach dogs that rattlesnakes are something to avoid, not investigate.
Dennis Kuttler has brought his beloved goldendoodle Lava along for a training session. It's something that he hopes could one day save Lava’s life.
"Lava is a member of our family; we're very close. He's nine, we've had him since a pup. He's outside quite a bit. So we're concerned about encounters with rattlers. And this, in particular, rattlesnake season. So we are just being proactive to make sure he doesn't have an encounter that results in a bite," said Kuttler.
Dog trainer Gina Gables gets to work. She is the owner of Simi Valley's Ma and Paw Kennel canine trainer services and runs Snakesafe Dog. Just one bite can become an emergency for our dogs.
"It could kill a dog easily, " said Gables. "It partly depends on a few variables. Rattlesnake bites are a very dynamic situation for a variety of reasons. The variables of the size and health of the victim, where on the victim's body they got bit."
"The venom itself is actually continuing to damage limbs, tissue, organs, your dog's heart, liver, kidneys, which you may not realize the damages that occurred until maybe months or years even later," she added.
The dogs rotate through a series of stations, learning to recognize rattlesnakes by sight, smell and sound. They’re exposed to both adult snakes and babies so they’ll learn to give all of them a wide berth.
"It's realistic this way. The babies actually sound like a cicada. They can also sound like your sprinklers," warns Snakesafe Dog's snake handler, Brad Huizenga.
"I love working with the snakes. I have several so that we don't use the same one constantly. They're rotated so that it's less stress on the snake," explained Huizenga.
While these ones do have their venom removed, they are still very convincing teachers.
"Stay away from it. It doesn't want to come near you. It doesn't want to strike at you. Just leave it alone. It will go on its way," advises Huizenga, and I am happy to comply.
So is it just social media appearance or are there more rattlesnakes around this year?
"It was warm this year, early; the adults came out early," he explained. "Usually the babies come out first because they need to eat. The adults have enough fat on them so they don't have to eat, but it was hot this year, and everybody came out really early."
We reach the last station, Lava’s training pays off, and he calmly spots the rattler and gives it a wide berth. Success!
"It's very important to read the dog's body language every second," explained Gables. "Sometimes the body language is extremely subtle, like just the slightest movement of an ear or lip or nose. They have very limited ways of communicating, so when they see that I'm reading their body language and that I am not forcing them to be more uncomfortable, you know, that I like, oh, you got it? You see that? You smell that? Good job. And then you can kind of even see that they're like, thank God, you know that somebody that I communicate and they feel like, you know they're being heard," she said.
Lava earns her treats and celebrates with a little graduation ceremony – and the Kuttlers leave with a little more confidence before their next hike.
"We're pleased. A good use of our dog and our money, so we're grateful," said Kuttler.
This is just one of a number of trainers offering rattlesnake avoidance across the Central and South Coasts.
