Source : http://s1097.photobucket.com/albums/g346/mrichardson06/?action=view
Meet Lilly. She is almost 2 and loves to get out and hunt. From birds to sheds she cant get enough. This dead head was her first find of 2012. I taught her to do this by introducing her to antlers at a young age. I made the horn her favorite toy. We then began playing fetch. This evolved into me throwing it into high weeds and letting her do a blind retrieve. I could even hide it in a gym shoe in the house and she could find them.
We did not get out a lot this past year but she still finds the antlers everytime in training. If you really want to expand your hunting season and have great times with your best friend teach them to find horns. Your dog will find all sorts of bones and Lilly even found a 3 or 4 year old porquipine skull and started zeroing in at 100 yards or so. A lot of fun!!
Comments
Ken Bass II
Beautiful pup!Brandon Jones
Ive always thought about teaching my retriever to hunt sheds. What kinda success rate do you have when doing it? How many hours do you spend looking for every item she finds?Mike Richardson
I am in south western pa so there are not a ton around to find. She typically can start scenting them from 100 yards away. The dead heads she can smell a lot farther. I am not sure she knows what the bone is at that far but you can see her get birdy and watch her tail start going in circles. I have not been able to get her to bring them too me but that is because i get so pumped and she doesnt stray past 50 yards. I think it is worth a shot. I am confident that if there is any bone or dead head around she can find it. I do notice it is tough for her to turn of grousing and focus on sheds but i will never complain about her putting up a few birds. I have been trying to find a few leases that would let me on their land to shed hunt. All antlers would be returned to them i just need more "natural sheds". once they get used to the smell they can find the "planted horn about everytime" but then again these planted horns have my scent and her saliva smells into them. Give it a try what could it hurt.Nick McPherson
That is awesome. I am looking to train my heeler to find sheds, she chews on all of the ones I have at the house and when she is told to go to be she picks up her little spike and carries it with her and shes only 2 months old. Any advice?Mike Richardson
keep with it. start by playing fetch. then have her sit and go hide it in another room. When you come back in give her the fetch command but get her really exicited about it. make it easy at first. Then start hiding it under carpets and such. do some blind retrieves out in the yard. Try to use one horn for a bit then let it out side to air out and get her scent off of it. Keep her toys to just antlers for a while. It is funny how once they like them they wil play with them. Bring them to new people you bring into the house and such. Don't be discouraged if she finds shoulder bones and stuff. Praise here for these as well. I am not that familiar with Heelers but if she starts to get bored STOP! Keep training sessions short in the begining. You have 6 months before shed season so you can really have her finding bones by the time she is 7 months. Try to teach her to bring the horns to you as well. I focused too much on having her find them and not enough on the retrieve.