Why Use Us?

After reading Karl Kauffeld's "Snakes: The Keeper and the Kept" at 13, I fell "in love" with rattlesnakes (I was living in Florida, and had just caught my first Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake - a magnificent creature!). The picture above is a Midget Faded Rattlesnake. In the chapter, "The Last Rattlesnake", Kauffeld describes a journey to fulfill New York's Staten Island Zoo with every species of rattlesnake indigenous to the United States; the last one that was needed to complete the collection was this species (Yes, that's one of mine).That book completely captured every emotion of my being, and set me on a course to become a herpetologist. I still keep a pair of Midget Faded Rattlesnakes at home to this day! 

My name is Carl Person; I will admit that previously, I had no interest in dogs at all. I have worked primarily with reptiles since 1976. My specialty is venomous snakes and Crocodilians (I am a herpetologist first, geneticist second; my Ph.D. (in progress) is speciation of rattlesnakes).

Several years ago, I was asked to help with a rattlesnake avoidance training clinic. I found it intriguing! I wanted to understand how well dogs would actually learn and remember this training.

I worked with a dog trainer for a year, and the next year, I took over the design of the course.

Being a biologist, and very curious, I started studying the physiology and behavior of dogs (I spent many hours trying to understand dogs, their habits, life histories and mutualistic interactions with humans). There is no doubt in  my mind that we could not have conquered the planet without each other!

Any behavior that an animal has is tied directly to their physiology. Because of that, we redesigned the course to maximize the impact – particularly to engage the vomeronasal system.

The big problem I found in all of the training approaches was that most dogs could not deal with the babies (which made sense as I started to study). Previous training techniques from different companies didn’t seem very effective – I wondered why. While every training system out there claims sight, sound and scent, I found that few really do more than sight and sound. Dogs depend on their noses for almost everything – Why? Because that is their number one information system! Understanding the vomeronasal system, I knew we could do better!

I now digress; Suppose you live in the “High Desert” – Mohave rattlesnakes seek out rodent holes in the evening, then crawl in to await the return of their inhabitants – they sit and wait. Dogs like to put their noses into anything that smells different, and a hole with a interesting odor is a “prize” … meaning, perhaps a bite! What means more? The dog’s vomeronasal system, or sight and sound? Understanding rattlesnake behavior and how the vomeronasal system of dogs works is crucial! We knew we had to deal with this – and we did! We developed a system that, while it includes sight and sound, engages the gift of the vomeronasal system (Sight and sound are worthless most of the time when rattlesnakes rely on procrypsis [camouflage]); the first line of defense for all rattlesnakes is to avoid detection by not being seen, and not understanding this is where the problem is, and we did.

Why use us? Because it truly is the best technique, and we will not stop trying to make it better!

I believe that we have the best program available! While nothing will ever be 100%,  I do know that what we do is the very best available.

I am sure you will be happy with the results … and , NO, it is not perfect yet;  there is nothing else even close!