Deadly conibear traps: can I teach this?

[Muskeg]

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-

Save your dog's life: release him from a conibear trap - YouTube

Save your dog's life: release him from a conibear trap - YouTube

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.

[Liesje]

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?

[Lilie]

Originally Posted by Liesje

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.