Hunting snakes....no this is not a joke:-)

[manumuskin]

Hi,
My name is Al and this is my first post here.
I"ve been doing research on what would be the best breed of dog to use to locate snakes in the field.i found very little info on the net.theirs a guy in NC trying to use pointers to hunt snakes but they keep going after birds. The national park service is having more success with beagles tracking pythons in the everglades to get rid of them.Theirs a whole trove of info on how to teach dogs to avoid snakes but very little on how to teach them to hunt them.My fear with beagles would be that they wouldkill the snakes before i could stop them.I need a dog that will air track all snakes in the area and not harm them but just bark when he/she finds them.
I have never trained a dog to do anything before though I"ve owned my share and just love to take them on woods romps.I"ve always hunted my own.Needless to say nothing hides better then snakes and my nose is no match for a beagles though I have located several snakes by smell.hognoses smell like toads and water snakes are notorious stinkers and rattlers actually smell like cucumbers.
My reason for hunting snakes?I am volunteering for NJ herp atlas project that inventories reptile and amphibian species in NJ and I quite frankly want to cheat.It's not a contest anyway just a gathering of stats that the state can use to protect endangered and threatened species which translates into more wildland for everybody which is at a premium in NJ,even the pine barrens where I"m from.
What I need to ask of you beagle experts here is whether first of all do you think the beagle is a good choice?secondly how do I train one to air track snakes?thirdly whats the better sex if their is one?
I"m leaning toward the beagle because of it"s reputation as an awesome tracking dog plus my wife used to own one and claims their the nicest all round dog their is,very friendly and kid friendly too.
Thaks for any help you all can give.
Al

[show dog]

Post on the main board to get some answers. I only have experience with small snakes in ONtario and my dogs don't seem to even notice them. Imagine it would be like any other scent/tracking training. Not sure you need to worry about air scenting, beagles will pick up the scent wherever it is. Air scenting is better with a shep or a blood hound.

Do you have time limits? A pup would take at least a year to get solid at doing this. An older dog may already be set on rabbit or whatever trained to scent. Ask the Food and Ag how they train beagles to scent food (actually not hard for beagles to find food, natural lol).

Let me know how your search goes.

Carolyn

[manumuskin]

thanks for the info carolyn.I think I may try a pointer since i have found info that they are known for pointing snakes wether trained to or not.they just cant be stopped from pointing birds which is ok with me as long as they point snakes too:-)
Al