I have a jack russel terrier and he is a really smart dog and was thinkin of teaching him to learn how to retreive deer sheds but didnt know how to go about doing so? any help would be great thanks.
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Here is what I would do: Get a medium sized shed (maybe from a 6 pointer, so therefor a three-pronged shed) and give it to the dog as a toy. take most of his other toys away and get him attached to shed. Do this by playing fetch if he likes it, or whatever he likes to do best with toys. Each day let him chew it for a while. Most dogs you can say, "Go get your ball," and the dog goes crazy looking for his ball. Same with "bird," or whatever. Once he knows it is his, show him other sheds, and every time you hand him the shed, say, "bone" or something like that. Get him associating the word with the toy and then start hiding them. After all this, start taking him to the woods after shed season and tell him to find a "bone." Get him in the woods and break him off small game and rodents. There was an article about this very thing in some magazine a while back, but I cannot remember which one. The guy used Labs and did something like this. He said that when they went out, his dog would find all kinds of sheds and could get a lot more than he could alone.
I've read about shed dogs but have no personal experience with them. A friend of mine is thinking about training his one lab to look for sheds as he already finds skulls and brings them back. The above advice sounds good. Anyways, I would suggest trying to find a fresh shed (or one from a friend, whatever) and letting the dog sniff the base b/c there is usually a lot of scent around that area. Maybe also try finding some squirrel scent (i honestly don't think they make any but it's worth a try) b/c squirrels will urinate on the antlers to mark their territory. Just food for thought!
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RE: Shed hunting dogs?
I took my lab with me shed hunting several years ago ,I found 1 ,let him smell it and told him to FIND.
Had a great day and all but 2 were found by him.
I do this each time to tell him what I want.
I get a shed ,he gets a treat.
I do not let him have sheds as toys ,he could chew it and swallow the peices.
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Shed hunting dogs?
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