Training a Shed dog by OutdrDave …. A collaboration of information I have put together in threads on other forums…. Getting started - Get a rubber ball and put a tine through it so it sticks out the sides a little. Wouldn't suggest using a tennis ball, they trap a lot of scent. Start playing ball this way and only with this type of ball. When the ball hits the ground say "fetch it up". Take a couple rubber balls and do the same if you can and play fetch. The ball will add color and bounce to the game and the pup is less likely to hurt itself on the tines. When done playing give your pup a treat. Next step would be to play with an actual antler. When the antler hits the ground say "fetch it up". Same game in an open area. Do this often with the same antler. Then change it up and use multiple antlers. When done playing give your pup a teat. If you have multiple shed antlers, get a milk crate and keep them in there. Keep the crate in a common area the pups allowed in. When he/she sniffs around the crate, say "what’s in there" in an excited voice. Every once in a while, grab an antler and go out and play. (in addition to the times your already playing). Make sure to give your pup a treat after playing and put the antler back in the crate. It keeps the game associated with rewards. To each his own but I wish I had not let my Lab Daisy play with the antlers in the house whenever she wanted. They are not chew toys. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Next - Take your pup out to a field that has some growth, just enough to cover the antlers. Throw the antler into the taller grass while he/she watches. Make sure your on the downwind side of where you are throwing. When the antler hits the ground say "fetch it up". This is all getting your dog comfortable playing with the antlers and familiar with them. Throwing the antler in the tall grass helps your dog trust its nose and use it. I was lucky and was able to use the same field every time which was behind my house in PA (at the time). I let my dog see me throw a couple antlers in the higher grass but wouldn’t let her go get them right then. Often we would go back into the house to do something. Sometimes this was at night and she wouldn’t be back out till the morning, other times it was just a very short time. She had seen me throw the antler in the high grass and knew it was there. I would take her back out hours later or the next morning and tell here to fetch it up. She would go in and search for them. When she would find these antlers, she got a treat for each one. What you can do and I have been doing with Daisy now that I live in NJ is take some antlers to a park. As you walk throw an antler off to one side or the other. Do this a couple times. Let your dog see you throw them. Go 75 yards and throw another. Throw out 3-4 antlers. Tell your dog to “leave it”, which is a command you should teach him/her early for things you don't want em chasing or going after. Come back to the beginning and tell your dog to fetch it up. Remember to stay downwind from the antlers. You dog will learn in time to work the wind. With every antler your dog finds, give a treat. Amazing what a dog will do for a treat. Remember that the antlers you have are yours, "mine" is a command you need to teach early. It means mine, leave alone. Heavily suggest not picking up antlers when you find them, instead allow your dog to hunt for the one you see. If you pick them up, your dog will think you know where they all are and stick right next to you instead of working the area. When you go out looking for sheds walk into the wind. remember that at the end of the day if you don’t find any it was still a great walk with your dog. The best dog in the wrong part of the woods is not going to find sheds. Your dog depends on you to get to the areas where there is likely to be sheds. I have walked right past sheds Daisy has found. I have seen ones she has walked right by. She turned 3 in August and if you want to see the struggles we went through the first year of her life check out this link- http://www.newjerseyhunter.com/article54103.htm She beats me on most days. You will know which sheds she found and which ones you did, but always give your dog a treat for picking up the shed. A rope is a good thing to carry in your pocket. Tie the antlers to the rope as you go and sling it over your shoulder.
Notes – I don’t believe in blind hides and hide n go seek for shed training. The largest thing you can teach your dog is confidence in its ability to use its nose to find sheds. As hard as it may be, you shouldn't rush certain steps. I know peak shed season is right around the corner and some are already hitting the ground. You want em trained now, but it doesn’t happen like that. Sure you can get lucky and bring em out every shed trip and get lucky with a find but don’t rush the process of truly training your dog. Take your dog on the walks with you if you are not already doing so but continue the training as well. Playing with the antlers should be done in the yard, not the house. The game should start and end outside. I wouldn’t play with the sheds till your dogs done playing and tired, leave them always wanting more when playing with the sheds. Playing till tired is a different game, one with the ball, Frisbee, neighbors cat or some other play toy. Keeping your sheds in a milk crate in the common area lets your dog smell at the antlers but not play with them. If you doubt the ability of your dogs nose – Take 2 pillow cases, take 2 dirty shirts you have worn, ball one up by itself and the other with an antler, put each one in a pillow case and put them over against the wall, don’t say anything and see which pillow case is more interesting to your dog. Just chill, watch tv and see what happens. When he/she finds it take it out, show he/she was right and give a treat. Don’t do this game a bunch, it’s really pointless but just shows that no matter how much human scent is there, they can pick up the shed smell. Some questions I have been asked - Do you wash the sheds with anything so your scent or any other scent isn't on there? **** No. The idea is to get them comfortable with 1 shed while doing the training at first. They learn the scent, learn to work the wind for that scent and you reward only when it’s a retrieve “worked for”. As far as your scent being on the sheds, don’t stress it. If you don’t let them chew on the training antler and the sheds are of any size there is plenty of natural scent. When you took the game outside, did you play fetch or simply hide and seek with the sheds? **** played fetch first for nearly a month getting closer and closer to the tall grass. Maybe 1 out of 5 throws went in the grass just inside the taller stuff. I always let her carry the last shed retrieve to the house. They have to be comfortable carrying the sheds as you’re not always going to be 15 feet away. Never played Hide and seek with her, its confusing to the dog and doesn’t instill confidence. Instilling confidence in their ability to use the wind to find a shed is the single largest obstacle you’re trying to achieve. When your dog SEEs you throw the shed it knows its there somewhere, working the area and eventually learning to work the wind. No training is better than bad training. **** after a month of this is when I started throwing a shed in the tall grass while she watched and then went back into the house before letting her retrieve the shed. This progressed into multiple sheds in the tall grass and longer times before letting her go find them. Sometimes it was a whole weekend before letting her go for it. I always let her see me throw them in the grass though. At first it was 5 yards into the cover consistently and then progressively 10, 15 and 20 yards. Today we still play by going to the park. As I mentioned above – I throw an antler off into the grass, walk 50-75 yards, throw another one and do this for 3-5 sheds. Then I come back to the start and have her search for them 1 by 1. Treat with each find. I keep the treat in my balled hand. If she comes over without the shed, I send her back out for it. When working with Daisy did you use a clicker or training collar to get her to come back to you in case she runs after finding the shed or runs after another animal? – ***** She wears an e-collar by sport dog. Get a DVD and follow it. Its an electric leash and nothing worse than a dog that doesn’t understand what your tying to convey when either you beep or “chirp” (momentary push of the shock button) the collar. The collar is for basic obedience enforcement and has progressed into other things for us, like too far, and come here (multiple push of beep button). A single push of the Beep button usually gets her attention if needed. A role of the thump on the intensity dial gets her attention if she goes to take off. Its important for you not to yell and yell and yell. If you don’t want your dog to do something and then goes to take off and you say “No” the next step should be an intense shock, no bs, no 2nd warning- no means no. If you are going to be working your dog off the leash like looking for sheds, you have to set the ground rules. Hope that makes sense. I know it seems like training, training, training and it is. I can tell you when she comes across the smell in the field, she is locked and loaded and you can tell she is onto something. I have seen her working from my left to right 20 yards out in front of me and turn on a dime, go straight away 15 yards and grab a shed. Bottom line – spend the time training your dog to use its nose to find sheds. They will know what the smell is in the woods. If you have watched a deer coming through the woods, hit a scent trail where you walked through and it dead stops and looks around or bolts…. this is what you want your dogs reaction to be. You will get that by training your dog to trust its nose, how to use it and what sheds smell like. Add- Wearing gloves and keeping some sheds outside doesnt hurt anything unless they get chewed up by mice and squirrels. If you feel more comfortable doing that, great Spraying a shed with coon, fox or yote pee is not a bad idea also. I have picked up a good bit of sheds that were marked by these critters and the scent of these critters is way stronger than the sheds natural smell. Your dog may investigate these smells in the field if you train this way, not a problem if you dog was trained on antlers by themselves first. Hope this all helps, happy to answer any questions for anyone else that happens across this thread looking for advice. Dave
at 3 your lab is still a pup if its anything like other labs. IMO it will take more training in the grass and getting your dog excited about the smell. Judging by your handle, I imagine your dog is used to the smell of sheds and might not associate the smell with reward. Dave
Its my mothers dog, I may end up with the dog. I gave my mother sheds to let her give to her lab since she was a pup. She's had them in her mouth since she was a baby but has never been trained, she's even packed in a couple sheds to moms house randomly. Dave, thanks for posting this info nevertheless, good stuff. I may need to get a pup. Makes sense that she knows sheds, knows there smell but wouldnt associate with reward..
I bet your moms dog will have no problem adapting. Help it learn to use and trust its nose. At the same time, bring a reward into the equation (treat, favorite toy, pat on shoulder, excited attention). You dont have much to loose other than spending some time "playing". Dave
