What this shed dog training system helps you do

• Shape Conditioning: Teach your dog to understand the awkward shape of the antler, and get comfortable picking up, carrying, and retrieving it without the risk of accidental antler pokes and a negative experience.
• Teach the scent: Using Jeremy's hand crafted scent formula, familiarize the smell of multiple scent clues associated with a shed antler. Teach the dog that something that smells like this equals a retrieve and a reward!
• Understand the Training Process: What are the steps and progressions to train your dog to find sheds? The training booklet gives you the knowledge you need.
• Make it transferable: from backyard drills to real shed hunting, the kit helps bridge the gap from training to shed hunting.

What’s included (and why it matters)

Shed Antler Training Dummy

Made of a soft yet durable material to safely introduce the shape and feel of an antler without the risk of poking. It’s realistic in look shape to familiarize your dog with the awkward feel of an antler before going to the real thing.

* Just like dogs can become gunshy from a negative experience with guns or loud noises, the same is true with their first interactions with a deer antler. This is how the idea of the Shed Dog Training System began! In one of Jeremy's first attempts at training a dog to find sheds, the young dog poked himself when running out to the antler, and going forward wanted nothing to do with them. This is the reasoning to start with the Shed Training Dummy.

• Best for: pups, young dogs, and any dog new to antlers
• Why it matters: builds confidence picking up, carrying, and delivering the antler shape without risk of injury, while also building understanding that something that looks like this and smells like this is something I should retrieve!

Liquid Antler Scent

An antler has a multitude of scents associated with them, including blood, hair, pedicle wax, bone, and more. Dogs don't just smell a "shed" they break down each individual scent clue separately. The DogBone Antler Scent combines many of these clues to teach the dog that when it smells these, it should be investigated. This scent can be used not only on the training dummy and real sheds, but as well on tennis balls and incorporated into other training drills to teach the dog to hunt with his/her nose!

• Best for: adding to the antler dummy, tennis balls, and eventually real antlers to bring the dog's nose into the equation.
• Why it matters: Your dog's nose is the best way for them to hunt out shed antlers, bring out this natural ability and teach them what to be smelling for!

Informational Training Booklet

This is your roadmap. It lays out the training progression so you’re not bouncing between random advice. Follow the steps, stack reps, and build on every training session until you bridge the gap to actual shed hunting.

How to train a shed dog (simple DogBone progression)

DogBone tip: Consistency beats “perfect.” Short sessions, more reps, steady progression.

Common shed dog training mistakes (and how to avoid them)

• Starting too hard too fast: negative first interactions with real shed antlers can ruin a potential shed dog. You don't start training a duck dog or bird dogs with a real bird... you start with dummies. The same is true with your shed dog.
• Giving dogs antlers all the time: The antler should be looked at as a big reward and hold high value. Don't give your shed dog antlers to chew on around the house! If they have it all the time, the value of it is diminished.
• Not diversifying training locations: When you train in the same spot, and hide the antlers in the same spot, the dog figures out the game. Real shed hunting is not like this. Diversify your locations!
• Too many too quick: As you progress in training, there's a balance between "keeping it fun" and "building hunt duration". There is not a shed around every tree in the real deal, and your training should progress towards that. Build time and distance between finds, teaching the dog to hunt longer for the find.

Real customers. Real results.

Hunters use this system to build shed dogs — and many roll that foundation into other work in the off-season. (See reviews on this page for real photos and feedback.)

FAQ — Shed Dog Training System

Can my duck or bird dog be trained to shed hunt?

The easy answer: absolutely. Many of the skills needed for a good shed dog are mirrored for a duck dog, bird dog, and pheasant dog. Quartering and casting, using their nose to seek out the object, and retrieve. All you are doing is teaching the dog that a shed is just another thing to find, pick up, and bring back to dad!

What age can a dog start shed training?

Any age of dog can be trained to shed hunt. Where you start may very by the age and the characteristics of the individual dog.

No. Many breeds can learn shed hunting. Teach the dog the game, keep it fun, and give them opportunities.

No - You want the shed antler to be a high value item. If you have a bar of chocolate in your pocket at all times, are you going to be excited when someone gives you a bar of chocolate? No! The same is true with antlers. When the dog finds one, it should be treated like finding a bar of gold, not something they see every day.

Also, letting the dog chew on antlers can create an issue where they chew on the antlers they find instead of retrieve them... and why wouldn't they? Giving them antlers all day and letting them chew on them teaches the dog that this is what I do with antlers. This is not a habit you want to develop with a dog you want to bring you sheds.

Want Video Shed Dog Training & more?

• DogBone Training Library —Over 140 hours of video dog training content on just about everything you can imagine, including a dedicated category of Shed Dog Training Drills and Videos. Learn it all by subscribing to the DogBone Training Library!