Survival dogs

[offdalip]

luckily we don't have any rats.....

now talk about lizards ( good ), snakes , roaches and bugs is another matter.........

[Dame]

Have you considered a mongoose?

[opsec]

Mongoose is only effective against cobras because the cobra only strikes in a predictable downward arc and is actually pretty slow. Human reflexes are fast enough to avoid a strike by a cobra. A rattlesnake will eat a mongoose's lunch and then eat the mongoose too. Every time.

[Beeherder]

Mongoose is also effective against habu (native snake of Okinawa) but these are NOT people friendly critters. Taming one would require as much effort as taming a wolf or cougar. They were used as killing machines in caged paid for carnival midway's on the military bases in the 60s. It usually took 4 or maybe 5 snakes to put the mongoose down for good, but by then the snake was always dead. Dead snake, no problem we got more snakes in the cages, dead mongoose, no problem we got more mongoose in the cages. No winners here, not the critters nor the ghouls paying to see this exibition of death. Mongoose is not house pet material but maybe out in the woods nearby they would be just fine as a natural snake supressor.

[opsec]

In California they have King snakes. Everybody loves them because they eat rattlesnakes.

[Beeherder]

Here its bull snakes that eat the rattlers. I have my lab vacinated for rattlesnake bite every spring because rattlers are a very real issue here. It was once common to defang a rattler and use them (about two maybe three days before they die) for avoidance training of hunting dogs. It takes 3 years to make a good hunting dog from good stock and the finished product (if one were ever sold) would bring over $10,000. Hunting dogs want to stick their noses right into stuff, that's how they work. A snake bite to the nose is almost always deadly to an unvacinated dog and sometimes to vacinated ones.

If i was gonna get a dog for the long run, those mentioned early in this thread as survival dogs sound inexpensive to me. But don't be surprised if the trainer expects you to participate in the training too. Working dog breeds need a job or they always develop behavior problems just from the frustration they feel from not having a job. So when you get a dog there is no day off from being the dog's companion, you may leave them with others for temporary care but they are still your dog and its your job to see they get what they need. Glad i have a dog.