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Shed Dog Project

Quantum673

Black Hat Cajun
Supporting Member
A little over a year ago the wife and I got a new dog, Gracie. Thanks Dave @giles . I told Dave when we picked her up I was going to make a shed dog out of her. Well between life and working with her on all the basics I didn't get around to it.

Well about three weeks ago I got the motivation again and jumped online to buy some training materials. Picked up the Dog Bone kit which is a rubber antler, some scent, and a little training booklet.

Two weeks ago I started playing fetch with her using the rubber antler and using the command Get the Antler. We have played fetch since the day we got her but now it was with the trading antler. I would work her 10-15 minutes here and there.

After about a week I took the antler and sprayed it down good with a scent elimination spray then put it outside. Each time I work with her now I put some antler scent on it and only handle.it wearing rubber gloves.

We play fetch for a few minutes each session now then she goes back in the house. I go out in the yard and place the antler randomly in the yard. I take her out and put her downwind and give her the command to get the antler. She has done great. She picks up the scent and zig zags her way to it.

Since she has been doing so well. Yesterday I went as far as placing the antler in the edge of the treeline on some snow to help hide it. She did great again and had it located and bringing it back to me within a minute.

We will continue on this path for another week or so then I will start taking her to some unfamiliar places and will do the same things there.

We are having a blast and she is definitely eager to please.
 

Quantum673

Black Hat Cajun
Supporting Member
We went out for a real quick session today. The biggest difference was it was windy as heck and we didn't start the session with fetch like we normally do.

This time I left her in the house and went and placed the antler in the yard. It went to a part of the yard we haven't worked in.

Only hiccup we had was she grabbed her soccer ball on the way out and wanted to play. A few minutes of her wanting to play ball I got her focused and gave her the command. She took off into the wind and within 90 seconds was on the antler and bringing it back to me.

I think I am going to pick up a vest for her. Get her to associate the vest with work time. Hopefully get her to know when it's time to focus and get after it.
 

triple_duece

Ragin Cajun.
9,126
159
Best learning tool is exposing them to as much as you can. Low expectations are better than nothing. They will learn even when your not “training”. Then after the summer training your dog will be more in tune and you will have better results.

Look at it this way. When in school you take chapter by chapter w a test every week. How hard would it be if you got the book and took the exam at the end of the semester?
 

giles

Cull buck specialist
Supporting Member
She’s a natural. It was the first thing she did when she walked into my house the first time. Found every antler and was hiding them behind the couch. Second favorite was the soccer ball.
 
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