Scotty the Shed Dog

[wbpdeer]

Update on Whistle Training (Acme 211.5 Whistle)

I ordered two identical orange Acme Whistles and they came in right after lunch. We did three sessions with the new whistle. One short blast for sit and Scotty is doing great.

I started with him in the heel position on a leash. He caught on quickly. I made sure to deliver food treats and praise for compliance.

We went to the woods with 4 rubber antlers and worked some there and worked some on a short distance. He is not ready for distance work yet. I will do that in his exercise pen.

Finally, for the wife's viewing, we worked 5 minutes this evening inside after supper. The pup knows to sit on the whistle without the command being said. I am very pleased with his performance on day one.

We will continue the whistle training on sit and then we will move to three blast for come.

Thanks to Jeremy Moore at Dog Bone for telling me the specific whistle to buy.

 

[wbpdeer]

Brown Rubber Antlers for Training

I ordered two brown rubber antlers from Dog Bone and they came in today. I was shocked at how dark they are. It was not what I expected. These move my antler total to 2 white and 2 brown. It was a wonderful day in the mid 60s.

I was waiting for the brown antlers to start the "scent work." I took him to the city nature area and tied him to a cedar tree and when out of sight to plant 4 rubber antlers with scent. Two (one each color) were partially covered with leaves.

I got him calmed down and in a good frame of mind after being tied away from the action. Then we moved into the area the antlers were placed. He worked good on casting at a good range. I called him into the center of four antlers to watch how he dealt with the scent cones.

He did a cute turn when he caught a whiff of the first antler. It was a white one and has plenty of scent.

He found 4 did a good job on 2 of the scent cones. The brown antlers are very difficult to see in the woods as compared to the white antlers. This is a good thing. I want him to have a great nose. The dogs that do great at the NASHDA Hunt Test live by their nose.

For experienced dog trainers - this is normal stuff. For a rookie like me, I was very excited by what Scotty demonstrated today.

I will measure a couple of reasonable courses 40 to 50 yards wide by 100 to 110 yards long and work the antlers at great spread over time.

I took a photo of the four antlers in front of Scotty and it illustrates how difficult it is to see the brown antlers.



Notice the prong collar on him - we are improving on heel command each day. Scotty is 4 1/2 months old.

Thanks for reading this thread.
Wayne

 

[Brushpile]

Scotty is filling out!

 

[wbpdeer]

Scotty is filling out!

Yes he is and now he is getting stronger in his muscles.

I am glad the prong collar has eliminated the pulling on leash. He really gets motivated in the woods - he doesn't have to smell everything where in the back yard he does.

Wayne

 

[Doctorbrady]

Scotty looks great. I have to stop showing his photos to my wife. She loves labs, and keeps asking me why I'm not getting a lab instead of a Hanoverian Hound, which she thinks are ugly...LOL.

 

[wbpdeer]

Doctorbrady,

Tell her that a lab could pull you and her both thru thorns without missing a step on a blood trail. Oh my! You would look like swiss cheese. Scotty had a good whistle session this morning. He did some heel work off lead in his exercise pen. He had good eye contact and I worked it in with some whistle work and place training.

Thanks
Wayne

 

[dogdoc]

You are turning into a great trainer. The only bad thing is once you get this pup trained you will want another one. Scotty looks awesome and you are doing a wonderful job with him.

 

[wbpdeer]

DogDoc,

Can you keep a secret?

I have a smart dog. He makes me look better than I am.

Seriously, YouTube is a great resource and experienced trainers have shown kindness to help me work thru my blind spots.

I have too many neighborhood dogs cruising thru my yard for effective antler training at home. Scotty has to sniff everything out. So back yard is the obedience location and the woods & farm field are the antler locations.

Thanks for your kind words. No antler work today but will get in a good session tomorrow morning.

Wayne

 

[wbpdeer]

Scotty has his second session with 4 planted rubber antlers in the woods on Friday afternoon. He did well but the wind made it hard to locate one of the brown antlers but he did find it. He just had to hunt hard to find the scent cone.

I specifically took a photo of four antlers at 10 feet with each of them laying on top of the leaves.



Notice how difficult it is to see the brown rubber antlers at 10 feet - imagine what 15 feet would be like. Regarding training, the brown antlers will put the dog in a position that their nose has to be used to close the deal.

The good news is Scotty can pick out the white antlers from a great distance and his training has paid off. I am now using scent on all of my planted rubber antlers. Soon I will begin to throw the antlers to their final destination when I plant antlers for his training to reduce the ground scent clues. All planted antler setups are completed out of sight of Scotty - he hates being tied off in the woods. He is more vocal over that than anything!!! He don't like me disappearing with his antlers.

Thanks for reading this thread.

Wayne

 

[wbpdeer]

Scotty has been to the woods / fields on 4 trips with placed rubber antlers. On his third trip (Sunday) we did 8 placed antlers with 4 set & found and then he was tied up out of sight and I set the same four again. We use 2 white and 2 brown. I love this combination - pushes sight and smell both. All antlers have a wax scent added to them.

I no longer walk to the location the antlers winds up at - I toss them in order to eliminate my ground scent. Watching him work is an education in wind direction and scent recognition. If you place an antler by a large tree the wind funnels around them - like a large boulder in a stream. He works the wind scent cone well. I am at ease with what I observe.

Pups will be pups. I have a short video taken with my iPhone and Scotty brings in a brown rubber antler but he wants to chew on my iPhone. His mouth is tender - we are chewing three times more than we were. Thank goodness for rubber antlers. On Sunday he did drop some in the middle of bringing them to me. I didn't scold or correct him.

When his mouth settles down, hold conditioning will be the next important training process. Also, I will purchase an e-Collar. I intend to start out with tone. His adjustment to the whistle is coming along well. His reaction has been natural - more him - than my training ability.

Thanks for reading this thread.

 

[wbpdeer]

On Facebook, DogBone (Jeremy Moore) does live video on training pups. Users comment so he knows names of some viewers and many post questions. This resource has been extremely helpful for me and others. If you don't see it live, the videos are on his facebook page for you to select and view at your convenience.

Youtube has many helpful videos on dog training too. I simply want to get the best out of my Scotty and not hold him back because I am short on knowledge and experience. Facebook and YouTube provide the knowledge and I am gaining experience with each training session.

Thanks
Wayne

 

[wbpdeer]

Shed Rally Across Country March 18 & 19

You might call this the National Shed Hunting Weekend as numerous companies went together to organize the Shed Rally event with some prizes. It is a great way to get family, kids, friends and yes dogs out in the woods. My pup is not ready for hard antlers but it will not only be about 5 more weeks.

Today Saturday, March 18th, the weather has been nice and we did two workouts with Scotty. The AM workout was in a field and I was pleased with how he ranged out and cast back and forth. His confidence is improving and he responds to the recall whistle. He found 4 for 4 antlers - all were tossed into their final destination to eliminate any ground scent that he could track to the antler. His head position was good - he held his head off the ground until he got inside the scent cone. Twice he got the scent and went straight into the wind to the antler. Twice he had his nose on the ground and worked into the antler.

The PM workout was in the woods. He had an excellent afternoon workout. He was 4 for 4 again and this session was over fast. He responded well to the whistle. We are seeing improvement on remote sit to the whistle - but we will get better with repetition.

I taught Elementary PE for 8 years and I understand the "law of readiness" when a new skill is being mastered. Scotty has been concerned out the height of the truck and he has not loaded or unloaded. I got him when he was 3 months and it was not possible. Today he unloaded 4 times in a row.

The weather earlier in the week kept us from getting him out. When he saw my knee boots come out this morning he was as excited as he has been since I got him. My wife enjoyed seeing his enthusiasm. The sight of the hunting boots cranked him up. When we got to the field I knew it would be likely he would come out of the truck on his own. He did and I bragged him up and gave him three treats all the while.

He will soon be ready to load into the front seat on his own. He loves riding - he just needs more confidence on the height difference.

When you train a pup some days are frustrating and some are rewarding. Today was very rewarding!!! I hope tomorrow is another good day.

Thanks for reading this thread.

Wayne

 

[lakngolf]

Glad the training is going well. And I am glad Scotty is learning.

 

[dogdoc]

What an awesome thread. Have I told you I love labradors

Really enjoy following along

 

[wbpdeer]

Dogdoc

Once a person has a lab - most everyone of them falls in love with the breed. Smart, talented and so lovable.

Scotty is making progress - the next 8 weeks will bring a many changes - both in maturity and training.

Thanks for your kind words. Headed out in an hour for his Sunday antler session in the woods.

Wayne

 

[wbpdeer]

Update March 23rd

Scotty has been doing great on his antler work. We still use 4 rubber antlers - 2 white and 2 brown - all with antler wax applied. Today he was much less focused than normal. That is a reminder he is still a pup - smart as he is - he was about 80 % of what he had shown the 4 previous antler sessions.

I can say out of 32 planted antlers with scent applied, I believe he has found 31 on his own. Today I had to direct him three times to the last antler. This pup naturally understands hands signals - it is all him not the training. I attribute this to efforts made in sight training early on with two tossed antlers in opposite directions.

We unload from the truck seat but we still aren't loading. I remain patient on this process - when he is ready it will occur. When it does - I bet I brag him up more than all previous praise the pup events.

I am waiting for DogBone to get in some fire hose dummies to start "hold training" so we aren't retrieving to hand yet. I have avoided any setbacks on his mouth and tenderness.

Thanks for watching this thread.

 

[Triple C]

Wayne...Love what you're doing. If there is anyone that knows how to occupy their time in "retirement" you do! And couldn't think of anything more rewarding than doing part of it with man's best friend.

Great thread!

 

[wbpdeer]

Thanks Triple C

Scotty has been great to work with and my wife loves him. He has some pup in him but he is smart. He likes my baseball caps because he likes to play keep away. He never showed any interest in a tennis ball but he is motivated by antlers. Sort of think he likes the motions of them when I would toss them.

His mouth is changing and I have been patient about the hard antlers. After April 21st, we will move slowly to hard antlers since he will be 6 months old.

Thanks again.

Wayne

 

[Brushpile]

What is a firehose dumby and what is hold training? I have no doubt that Scotty will be doing great things with the constant training and attention that you give him, and Scotty is very impressive as a pup. Labradors are a fantastic breed and are very versatile. Is Scotty strictly a shed dog or will he be trained to do other things. My Teckels are versatile but their sole focus is tracking deer.

 

[wbpdeer]

Brush,

My plans are that Scotty is only a shed dog. A fire hose dummy is a bumper made out of a canvas hose that will be used to training him to retrieve to hand.

Most people do what is called "forced fetch" but that relies on a form of pain/pressure/pinch the ear. I am going to avoid that approach.

Hold conditioning is a more gentle approach where you get the dog to hold the bumper / antler and you say the command hold over and over. It is a training done days on end. For Scotty looking forward to his food reward, he drops the rubber antler at my feed about 2/3 of the time. Right now I want nothing negative associated with retrieving the antler to me.

Scotty learns fast and I am hopeful two or three weeks of hold conditioning can get him retrieving to hand 100% of the time.

In a shed hunt test, it is common to hear handlers say hold over and over as the dog brings the antler to them.

A dog the size of Scotty would be too difficult to handle on a leash in the woods trailing a deer.

This is Rowdy's weekend to travel - I sure wish it had of turned out differently for you and Rowdy.

Wayne