Shed Hunting Puppy

[solomike]

I may be re-treading some waters here but I would love to hear others who have been training their pup to look for sheds?

Meet Moose! He is a 9 week old Labradoodle and is hands down the smartest puppy I have ever encountered. I want to take advantage of his smarts and continue training for sheds. What has and hasn’t worked for you?

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[Milestone522]

Never used a dog on sheds but that is a good looking pup!

 

[LightFoot]

Great looking dog and great name for him.

Good luck with training.

>>>----JAKE----->

 

[slick]

Simple stuff. Always having a couple sheds on you and dropping them occasionally when there is a lull to keep a young dog’s interest and their search high.

I let my pups chew on antlers, so they’re always around. Same as all training, set them up to succeed.

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[kickemall]

I'm with Slick, keep it simple. You can buy shed training kits. Some dogs are a little hesitant to pick up real horns and the plastic ones help with those. I have a friend who has a labradoodle and its a fetching machine so if yours is anything like that one I think you'll be fine. I'm currently working with my 6 month old cowdog and he's picking it up faster than I expected.

 

[bigsky2]

Has anyone used the shed antler scent they sell for training? I am also planning on training my lab pup to find sheds, I'm just wondering if the scent is a useful tool or if I should stick to just plain shed antlers.

 

[solomike]

Simple stuff. Always having a couple sheds on you and dropping them occasionally when there is a lull to keep a young dog’s interest and their search high.

I let my pups chew on antlers, so they’re always around. Same as all training, set them up to succeed.

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Some great info! He packs his sheds everywhere. I’ve heard of playing fetch with an antler but some trainers say that it can confuse the pup in the hills.

 

[Billy Goat]

Mine picks them up but it was way down the list for things he was supposed to do. I'd get a hold of some and work them into his free time. Hide them along walks, reward him when he finds them. Try to keep your scent off them, he needs to be searching them out. That is both a scent and visual thing.

Mine went and got one on an upland hunt a few weeks ago.

 

[Briant_az]

What a cool looking dog!
I think it would be awesome to have a shed dog!

 

[ethan]

Has anyone used the shed antler scent they sell for training? I am also planning on training my lab pup to find sheds, I'm just wondering if the scent is a useful tool or if I should stick to just plain shed antlers.

I recently bought some for my 6 mo old lab pup. It looks like a stick of deoderant. I bought a training dummy. It's basically just like the hard plastic throwing dummy guys use for waterfowl training but it's made of canvas. I rub some on it and we play fetch with it and I hide it some. He's getting the hang of it nicely. I've been told it's very important to not use hard antler until they're a little older and their mouths are a bit harder and they have learned more bite control. If they hurt their mouths on a shed when they're young, they likely won't want to mess with them when they're older. Plan on moving up to the rubber antlers soon, then finally to the real thing. I've also been told to keep it fun for the dogs and don't worry about doing long training sessions. Kind of like a horse, always end on a good note as well.

 

[Willglaus09]

I just got a silver lab for shed hunting next season.
I have introduced a small shed for them to familiarize the shape and smell. Fetch is a good way to work on the find and retrieve instinct.
Goodluck and happy shed hunting!

 

[TSAMP]

Lots of good info. Make it fun for the dog. Its going to be about 90 percent visual for the dog so i start with big sheds in the beginning. Be realistic, a bird or animal will always Trump an antler.

 

[Jetboy]

Lots of good info. Make it fun for the dog. Its going to be about 90 percent visual for the dog so i start with big sheds in the beginning. Be realistic, a bird or animal will always Trump an antler.

Good looking dog


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[SwampBone]

I’d love to have a bird/shed hunting dog but I’m not sure they exist. I’ve got a German Wirehair that’s got a great nose for pheasants. Loves playing fetch, launch them balls out as far as you can throw into the woods, he’ll bring them back. Throw a shed into the yard to get him interested and he’ll run up to it and piss on it.

 

[TSAMP]

Thanks!

Thats a start. Just follow him around and check where he pisses.