We live surrounded by Australian wilderness. My dog Rusty is very
disciplined and doesn't chase, bite, chew or eat other creatures. He
reacts with great curiosity to anything alive, usually wagging his
tail anticipating some great excitement. Strangely, I can recognize
from a distance whenever he has spotted a snake. He always backs a
step and freezes, totally tense and focused. It seems, there is a
warning light flashing in his brain - though he never had a bad
experience with snakes. I observed similar behavior with my previous
dogs. Is there something hard-wired in dogs which makes them
automatically apprehensive of snakes?
Greetings - Klaus
www.rent-a-cloud.com
The Nature Cards

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In message , 
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> I observed similar behavior with my previous
>dogs. Is there something hard-wired in dogs which makes them
>automatically apprehensive of snakes?

We had chickens that would go berserk at a range of about 100 metres 
whenever we produced a deckchair with a brightly striped canvas seat. So 
far as I know they'd never been attacked by a deckchair so I put it down 
to the coloured stripes hitting their panic buttons.

-- 
James Follett. Novelist. (G1LXP) http://www.jamesfollett.dswilliams.co.uk
The Silent Vulcan trilogy, starting with 'The Temple of the Winds', on BBC7
Sundays 1840.