After some basic shed hunting dog training like this when you see that your fido has mastered in house retrieving take the antlers outside.
Teach your dog to find shed antlers.
Take a tennis ball and rub it on a shed the fresher the antler the better.
If you have spent countless hours walking through the woods up and down the mountainsides and racking up.
Place a practice antler in front of your dog and say find it or hunt or whatever you want your command to be.
Wear rubber gloves to avoid contaminating the shed with human scent and then coat the antler s base in the artificial scent and hide it.
I also bought another training booklet from tom dokken a renowned shed dog trainer and some rack wax scent and have used both of these items to refine my training approach.
First lock your dog in the house while you hide the.
Repeat during several short sessions until your dog is eagerly picking up the antler each time you set it down.
Once your dog is retrieving the antler dummy for you it s time to introduce scent.
Teach your dog to identify the smell by using a bottle of antler scent bought from a local archery shop.
How to train your dog to find antler sheds introduction.
How to train dogs to find antlers step 1.
You ll want to give deer antlers to your dog as early as possible to get them used.
Once your dog is accustomed to the scent of deer antlers it s time to step up their training.
Or store the ball and.
There are several products online for this purpose and are an essential tool for transitioning your dog into retrieving hard antlers.
To get your dog excited about shed hunting you need to get him excited about the scent of sheds.
Position your dog downwind of the hidden antler and give the find the shed command.
Practice tons and use lots of rewards.
Most importantly have fun and enjoy the time with your dog.
The biggest thing your dog needs in order to be able to track down things like antlers is his sense of.
Step 3 the.
Lastly stay off private land respect wildlife habitat don t chase the elk deer and moose around looking for antlers and pay attention to shed hunting rules seasons and licenses in your area.
The antler dummy will help the dog start to associate the shape of an antler with a reward.
How to train your dog to find antler sheds step 1 introducing deer antlers.