new helper

[MIdeerslayer]

well once the snow is gone i will be out looking for some sheds. my wife got a new dog, a golden retriever. i am hopefully going to train him to help find sheds and wounded deer. i have been put some horns out in the snow and burying them a bit and he is doing pretty good so far. here are a few pics of Buddy doing what i hope he will do in the woods. he is only 10 weeks old. does anyone else use a dog to find sheds and are they pretty good at it.

 

[Predator 1]

Great looking pup MI! Looks like you guys are on the right track. I use my dog to help find sheds. He's a 7 year old black lab named Champ. I got him when he was 2.5 years old. His first season (sheds that is) I never did any fomal training with him. All I did was threw a few antlers for him to get him used to it. His first time out he picked up 3 on his own. Ones I would never have found.

Since then I've done some training with him and he definitly knows the deal! Having said that, his passion is birds, and I do hunt with him. I think if I had him as a pup he would be more fired up about antlers. He does seem to improve (interest in antlers) every year though.

It's great to have a buddy to go shed hunting with and he loves getting out!

Have fun with that little gaffer!

 

[Canon]

I tried last year with my blue heeler/black lab mix. She was 4 when i started with her, we would work for maybe 10 or 15 minutes each time and after the 8th training session i took her out. All i did was hide 4 or 5 sheds for her to see how she would do when we got out of the backyard and park. No good though, she has hip dysplasia already, and even though she found them really well, she could barely get up that night. Needless to say, she was retired before she had a real go at it. when they are trained right...they are a lot better than any human can do. good luck and post some pics.