training dogs for shed hunting

[turbo1967]

been training my yellow lab for shed hunting for a year now,she picked it up right away,she pulled 8 sheds last year .what I am having problems with is Im in an areathat has mule deer,white tail and elk,cant find a training sent for elk or mule deer.She has a problem with being able to tell the diff between the actual animal trail and the scent of the antlers.any ideas out there?

 

[MT_mulies]

I would say practice practice practice. Keep giving her horns from the differnt animals to train her with. Eventually she will get it.

 

[kikinhorse]

This is a good idea

 

[K9Kodi]

yes it is a very easy thing to train, or train out, whichever way you want to think about it. Glass half full, or half empty. 

"she has a problem telling the difference between an animal trail and the actual antlers"

Well, they do not smell the same. While they may have some contributing factors that have the same smells, the total smell is made up of different ingredients if thatmakes sense.  If your wife cooks a cake, you smell a freshly baked cake. A dog can smell the eggs, flour, sugar, frosting and so on.

Yes the trail may  have same ingredients in it that the antlers do as well, but the smells are different.

Your best bet to overcome this obstacle is with what we call "conflict" training.  Explosive and narcotics dog handlers will do this to proof their actual ability to find source.

You need to make sure your foundation work is solid and proofed. Find a game trail or  make one with natural urines and such.  Train the finding of antlers in and around the conflict and only reward when the dog alerts on antlers.  Ignore the unwanted response to the game trails, but do not coax her off as she may become handler dependent. Id have to know how you set up your foundation work to give specifics