SHED HUNTING DOGS

[CC Hurl]

I have purchased myself a Black Lab puppy with the intent of giving him a great life and doing some shed hunting with him. Other than that he will be my fishing partner and will have to stay home during Bow season.

The question I have, is there any good reads on the topic of training dogs to shed hunt. I have looked on line and have read what I can find on there but was wondering if anyone has found a good book about training?

I am also all ears if anyone has some pointers on how to train Labs to shed hunt.

At this point he is in potty traning and is doing real good for only being 7 weeks.

I have given him one normal dog toy and four different size sheds to play with. When he brings me the toy I give him the ata boy and when he brings me a shed I give him a treat. Just got started on that part last night but he seems to show some intrest. Must be the treat huh? Lol Anyway if anyone can steer me in a good direction on this topic that would be awsome. This should be fun and I can't wait till the day he brings me his first shed.

[Code-Man]

I have heard lots but not sure what will work but when I was in Scheels in Des Moines shopping I saw in the pet isle they had "toys" that were soft "sheds." Probably not a bad idea to try one of those and go from there.

[bmc]

My buddy has trained his 2 year old yellow lab to find sheds. He plays fetch with the dog using a shed antler.

Before they go shed hunting, he'll leave the dog in the truck, hide a couple of sheds in the woods out of the dogs view, and give him the command "find horn". That gets the dog in the right frame of mind.

He also carrys a shed w/ him so while they are out shed hunting, he'll play fetch with the dog once in a while to keep him in the zone.

The other day they were out and the dog flushed a covey of 3 grouse. My buddy figured the dog was in "bird mode" then he took off and came back w/ a shed.

If you find a shed before the dog, don't pick it up, give him the command and let him find it.

The treat reward is a good idea too!

My buddy and his pooch have 9 or 10 so far this spring.

The dog will probably bring back bones too, give him at atta boy then too.

Brian

[CC Hurl]

Thanks for the tips Brian. I started trying to get him to fetch last night with a spike shed and he brought it back two times from 10' so that was very exciting. He got a treat for the good work for sure. I have a post in the hunting dogs forum too and got some feed back. I hope it goes good. If not I am still going to enjoy the Lab (Boyd)alot. From what I understand If it don't work out it will more than likley be the trainer who is no good. Lol Thanks again.

[killerelement]

I saw a article in peterson's bowhunting sometime this winter, where they train labs to find sheds,,, kinda interesting... I looked for it last night but musta thrown it....sorry man!

[Outdoor Authority]

I have a choc lab that I trained to find sheds. Somethings I did when she was a pup, gave her a elk and small deer antlers as chew toys. I also used the plastic antlers off a decoy. For training I would walk in a field and hide the antlers. Using bird techniques I would have her work in front of me to find the antlers. For scent I would drag them and then place them. Trying to get her to use her nose more to smell them than just eye sight.

Hope this helps you to start and if you need more let me know. If you find a book on it can you put it on here for us all to look at.

[CC Hurl]

Well Boyd is doing real well on fetching antlers now and loves it when I get them out. Must be the treats he gets when he does good.Lol Last night was the best yet as I can throw them way out there and he will retreive it and drop it at my feet now. Lots of fun for sure. Treats with antler playing only is paying off well. I still have not picked up a book on shed training but think it is getting to be that time as I am not sure were to go from here. Does anyone know what a good scent to use for the sheds that will mimick what they really smell like and were to pick it up? I would like to start working his nose and hiding them on him in the next few weeks.

Going to get him out for some swimming this weekend now that his stitches are all gone. Took him on a fishing trip again and things went much better than our first trip out. Cheaper too. Lol Thanks for your time.