Course Details
From Fetch to Go Find!
Are you ready to take the leap into one of the fastest-growing dog sports out there? Shed hunting combines scent work, retrieving, and the great outdoors, and this class provides the progressive, layer-by-layer training plan you need to reach the start line of your first trial. To get the most out of this course, your dog should already have a functional retrieve—it doesn't have to be fancy, and it doesn't have to be antlers. If your dog enjoys a basic fetch game with a ball, a sock, or a stick—and is reliable off-leash or on a long-line—you are set! We’ll take that natural desire to fetch and channel it into a specialized, confident search and retrieve covering all the scenarios you'll encounter in a trial setting.
You’ll start by generalizing your dog's basic retrieve to antlers and then merging that skill with growing search patterns.
You'll also learn:
- how to avoid human scent contamination for wild antler hunt training
- where to hunt for wild antlers
- how to prepare your dog for the very well-scented antlers they'll find in trials.
- how scent travels outdoors
- how your handling influences the search
- how to create fair challenge increases choose
- strategies for trial situations that give you the highest odds of success.
By the end of the class, your dog will have the skills to get started in competition, or to find naturally shed antlers in the wilderness. During the last week you'll even have the opportunity to participate in two Virtual Mock Trials, helping you to build your own confidence for online testing opportunities too!
Teaching Approach
At the start of each week, all lectures will be released so that students are able to plan for the amount of homework for that week. Each lecture will contain detailed written directions, diagrams, and demonstration videos. Students are encouraged to plan for short, but regular training sessions throughout the week.
Feedback for gold and silver students is detailed and encouraging- typically, the feedback is provided in written form but occasionally screenshots with markups or video demos are provided in order to help clarify next steps. You will receive feedback on what is going RIGHT as well as what needs changing.
This class will have a Teacher's Assistant (TA) available to help the Bronze and Silver students! Directions for joining will be in the classroom after you register.
Instructor: Erin LynesErin (she/her) is a lifelong dog enthusiast from Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada. Erin is certified as a Karen Pryor Academy Training Partner, a Certified Professional Canine Fitness Trainer, a Licensed Family Dog Mediator, and as a Cani-Fit Leader, ...(Click here for full bio and to view Erin's upcoming courses)
