Winter Kennels

My one year-old, 13 pound cockapoo took the snake safety class here. It was phenomenal! Felt a little traumatizing at the time, but we found a copperhead in our backyard a couple of nights ago. Magnolia steered straight away from it! Now, she's afraid to go in the garage where the boots and machete are located. Don't judge - we can't have another den of copperheads in our backyard after I was bit two summers ago. Thank you so much to Winter Kennels for helping us avoid another trip to the hospital, and even worse, a potential trip to the emergency vet. You were amazing! We will be back next year for a refresh. Literally, life saving!

I recommend Winter Kennels for the snake avoidance training. Working with Kay was very easy. I took my two year old chocolate lab in for snake avoidance training. It is never fun taking your beloved dog somewhere, knowing that they'll be using a shock collar for training purposes. However, I'm very glad I did. My dog was introduced to three separate snakes (venom glands are removed), and the idea is that once they pick up the scent, see the snake and move in to investigate, they get a shock to the system to reinforce that the snake is not something to be curious about or move towards. You definitely want your dog to associate a snake with a quick shock, and to be fearful of a snake. I was amazed at how small the snakes were as well - you really can't see them very well until you're 8 feet

I have had 3 of my hunting dogs snake avoidance trained by Kay Winters over the last 10 years. Each has left this training with the ability to not only avoid being snake bit but also left with the ability to ensure that myself and my family members have never been threatened by a snake near by our cabin. Each dog has warned us of the presence of rattle snakes several times around our cabin over the last 7 years. It is essential that the dog realize through the training that a snake will kill you and Kay's process is humane and successful. Their charge in comparison to not training is of no consequence!!!

The snake training is not fun but intents to save your dog’s life. We took the training and our dog picked up on the idea pretty fast. Our dog was shocked only when expressing interest and trying to approach the snake. The dog jumped from the shock, and was a bit jumpy after the trading but he calmed down in a few hours. Yes, it’s no fun to watch your dog go through this, however, it is a right thing to do and from my experience Winter Kennels did this training professionally and with due care.

I took my goldendoodle, Lula, to get snake avoidance training at Winter Kennels. We do a lot of off leash on the trails and greenbelts around Austin, so I wanted her to be trained just in case we bumped into a rattlesnake. Snake avoidance training is much more affordable than taking her to the vet should she get bit by a poisonous snake. Kay at Winter Kennels was professional and kind. Scheduling was easy as she was very flexible. We saw her on a Sunday, and the training took about 15 minutes. She was clear on explaining the process and sweet to Lula. It worked so well! After being 'trained' that the snake was bad, Lula would not approach it when we went for it 2-3 more times. She actually ran away from it! I feel a lot more confident now taking Lula on our adventure walks knowin