We went to Olsen’s Grain Equifest at the Prescott Rodeo grounds today. We saw a demo of how dogs are trained to avoid rattlesnakes, which are common in this area. They use a real rattlesnake which had its fangs trimmed and was milked of venom.
A shock collar is placed on the dog, who get a shock when he goes near the snake. After a few iterations the dog develops a snake phobia.
During the demo the rattlesnake struck the trainer’s boot. This photo was shot at 1/350th of a second and the snake’s head has a motion blur, so you get an idea of how fast the strike is
Dagny's Desk 