Keep it simple!
Training dogs is not complicated and we should do everything in our power to keep it that way. When it comes to training a dog to do something, whether it be shed hunting, retrieving birds, or basic obedience, we are doing nothing more than forming habits. Habits are always formed through repetition and consistency. Another thing to keep in mind is that dogs are ALWAYS learning, so we as handlers have to be ALWAYS training. This certainly doesn’t mean you should be dedicating hours and hours each day to training, instead you need to figure out how to incorporate your dogs learning into your daily routine. When you do this, dog training takes NO extra time. This training can be working towards reinforcing positive or desirable habits, but should also include avoiding the bad ones. There is an old rule we follow closely that I learned a long time ago from our friends at Wildrose Kennels and that is “don’t train something into our dogs today that we will have to train out later”.
Jeremy trains a dog to find shed antlers during one of his handler’s workshops.
Condition the shape first and make sure it is positive.
Although most dogs may rely their noses over their eyes, I always start out by introducing my dogs to the shape of an antler. I try to tap into their natural “predator/prey” instincts when it comes to making retrieves whether it be an antler, a bird, or a tennis ball. The biggest thing to keep in mind is that for many dogs, retrieving will come pretty natural and the retrieve itself will be the greatest reward for them. This is where the idea of conditioning the antler shape comes in. Like I said earlier, many dogs retrieve naturally and we as handlers have to make it understood to our dogs that certain objects will get them rewarded.
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A duck dog doesn’t retrieve a duck because they like ducks. I’ve listened to guys argue over this time and time again, “my dog is bird crazy, just loves birds more than anything!” The picture I paint for them is an ice-covered marsh with freezing temps and high winds (an uncomfortable situation to say the least). I ask them if their dog will retrieve a crippled duck that sails into the cattails across the pond. The answer is always, “Of course, and that is proof that my dog love birds”. My next question for them is, if I were to throw a stick over in the same place, would your dog retrieve it? Of course the answer is yes, but by this time, they get it and see where I’m going. The retrieve is what your dog loves, not necessarily the object they are retrieving. Certain objects are trained to equal that reward and a shed’s shape needs to be one of them.
What about training their nose?
A dog will rely on their nose as much as humans depend on their eyes, consequently you want to ensure that you train your dogs to use both their eyes and nose for locating sheds. For most dogs, using their noses to find things is very natural, so it’s simply conditioning what a shed smells like and connecting that to the reward (for most, the reward is the retrieve).
So what does a shed smell like? The answer to this is pretty easy, yet totally complicated. An antler obviously smells, if you don’t believe me just put a few “fresh” sheds in a Tupperware tote with the lid on and keep it in the cab of your truck for a few hours on a sunny day. Take the lid off and grab a whiff, it will nearly knock you over. That is because the scent is concentrated.
A puppy learning how to become a shed antler finding machine!
So what actually smells on an antler? It will vary and no two are the same.
Here are a few smells that are always there:
- Bone smells. All bone is calcium and will produce scent – fresh dropped sheds as well as old chalk sheds.
- Hair and blood. Fresh sheds often times have these caked into the pedicle area.
- Forehead gland scent. The forehead gland is used when making rubs and for distributing scent to communicate with other deer. Make no mistake, this scent is found on shed antlers as well and serve as a scent clue for your dog.
- Speaking of forehead gland scent excreted while making rubs…have you ever seen evidence of tree bark left caked into the antler? Of course you have, and don’t you think that has scent? A fresh rubbed cedar has a distinct scent, same is true with other varieties of tree species. As this rubbing debris deteriorates, the scent will continuously change. These are all scent clues to your shed dog. We train tracking or game recovery dogs to connect the scent created by a broken branch to act as a scent clue when trailing…same idea here with that scent found in a shed antler.
- Coyote scents. Coyotes are canines and canines benefit from calcium, hence all the antler chews sold in pet stores today. Coyotes will gather shed antlers in the wild and chew on them also. Take a close look at the tips of your sheds as they often times are chewed. It is very easy to see the difference between a rodent chew (mice, squirrels, porcupine’s, etc.) and a coyote’s chewing. When coyotes get to sheds first, guess what? They have left their scent all over them. Another thing a male coyote will do much like his cousin the domestic dog is “mark” his territory. I can’t tell you how often I have found yellow snow next to a shed in the woods. This is a major scent clue that our dogs will investigate. These are all scent clues for your dog if you prepare them accordingly.
- Rodent scents. We just talked about the impacts of those pesky chewers. Rodents all have scent and the moment they come into contact with a shed…you got it, another scent clue.
All of these scent clues and more are found on sheds, both fresh and old. Those scent clues are all important, but what might be more important than understanding what scents make up an antler is how your dog processes those scents. Dogs smell differently than we do, they smell in “layers”. What I mean is they have the ability to process tens of thousands of scents simultaneously, but individually, unlike the way a human smells.
Here’s an example. When I walk into the kitchen and my Mom is making vegetable soup, I smell vegetable soup. When my dog walks in, they smell salt, pepper, water, carrots, dirt that may have been left on the carrots, celery, peas, etc. Dogs don’t smell like we do, so the sooner we understand that, the more effective we will be as trainers.
What about MY scent on the training antler?
We just got into the impacts of scent and how it relates to our dogs training in pretty good depth, but honestly, we didn’t even touch the tip of the iceberg. I did want to address the concerns human scent may have on training your dog how to find shed antlers. I can’t tell you how many people have been fooled into the fear of scent contamination when it comes to training a shed dog. I’ve heard all about the idea of specially designed washes or even boiling your antlers, rubber gloves, etc…
The issue I come across with the idea of washing antlers to eliminate scents and then handling them with rubber gloves, is that the process does not discriminate in what scent(s) it reduces or eliminates. When you start washing antlers to clean them of scent, you begin to rid them of the stuff that you want, as well as, the stuff you don’t. As far as rubber gloves go, my nose is nowhere near as sensitive as our dogs, and even I can smell a rubber glove (I can’t detect human odor).
If you are using a rubber glove you may be minimizing human odor to some degree, but you are simply substituting another un-natural odor to the shed during training. If a handler spends the amount of time worrying about attempting to eliminate all un-natural scent for training purposes, the reality is they will not have time to train. They will be preparing for scent elimination (and even that is questionable) and once the dog makes a find they would have to repeat the process completely due to inevitable contamination. I first heard about the idea of washing sheds, rubber gloves, etc. a few years ago from a gun dog trainer…my question has always been, do they go through that process when they train their gun dogs? I’ve never heard of anyone washing, spraying down or handling with rubber gloves all their ducks, pheasants, bumpers, and tennis balls each time they train. In my mind that doesn’t make sense and I assume those trainers feel the same way. What difference would there be when it comes to training a dog to hunt sheds?
Next steps
So what’s next for you as a trainer? Remember that training doesn’t have to be complicated. Continue to encourage your dog to form and build good habits through daily repetition and consistency. From there, begin to work small, incremental training sessions into your day with our shed training system and you will be well on your way to having an excellent shed dog on your hands!
