Deadly conibear traps: can I teach this?
 

Last night the skijor club hosted a presentation on how to get dogs out of traps where members of the trapping association came and let us practice releasing leg-hold and deadly conibear traps. An example of what we learned is here- How to Release Your Dog from a Conibear Trap..

Apparently, trapping is legal pretty much anywhere in the state- traps do not need to be marked, and the wolverine size conibear sets are large enough to snap on all but the biggest of dogs- easily GSD size. I personally know two people who had dogs caught in conibears- if it doesn't kill on strike, the dog will suffocate in less than ten minutes unless you can release him/her. Which is hard to do.

So I'm wondering if I can train my dogs to stay away from a conibear set. We cruise the backcountry regularly.

The set for a conibear that would be large enough for a GSD is generally a bucket, with food in the back like stinky salmon. The conibear is a square trap which is placed in the front of the bucket. When an animal- like a curious dog- puts it's head into the bucket to smell the food, it triggers the conibear which will snap shut on the dog's neck with 90 lbs of force. Example here-
Is it possible to use one-time aversion techniques to train my dogs to avoid this type of set? I can borrow a conibear (and make sure it is NOT set during training), but I wasn't sure what aversive to use, or how to make sure the dog makes the correct connection between the trap and the aversion.

I know what to look for to know if there is a trapline in the area- generally- but this type of training could save a dog's life if I for some reason don't see the signals that there are traps around.

What do people think?

I am also curious as to how the MWD for the Vietnam War were trained to detect trip wires and snares- could I train my malinois for this and let her alert me to the presence of traps? She has started detection training generally and is well suited for the work.

I've never heard of this but it reminds me of "rattle snake aversion" training. Maybe look into what techniques rattle snake people are using?

Exactly what I was thinking. There are actual classes offered down here for Rattle Snake aversion. They utilize an e-collar. Most dogs will even avoid hose on the ground after that type of training. I've been told that you should do yearly re-fresher course as well.

Some people don't take the actual course. But still use the same method of the e-collar.