The World's Dumbest Snake

This probably doesn't exactly qualify for engineering, but it is science and is strange enough I wanted to share.

Yesterday afternoon I was working outside my shop door when I noticed one of the dogs (mixed breed Doofus) dancing around a bag of potting soil nearby. I went over and found the dog was nuzzling a foot long garter snake, turning it over and sniffing it and trying to do??? with it. I picked up the bag, shooed the dog away, and guided the snake out the gate and up the driveway. Up till this point the snake showed no interest in either the dog or me.

However, as the snake crawled up the driveway, he kept close to the side of the house and he came to a timer that I had been using on an outside light. I had disconnected the timer and the power cord was hanging down with the two-pronged plug about 2 inches above the drive. The snake stopped, struck the plug several times, then continued up the drive apparently believing the cord was now dead.