Shed Hunt Supplies
The sport if shed hunt requires a few supplies. I made this guide to help students know what supplies are needed with information about each item. It is also important to remember what works for one dog may not work for another and what collars, leashes, etc you use may vary depending on your dog.
Collars/Harnesses
I reccomend for many teams to have a specific collar or harness specifically for nosework. I personally use a flat collar on my personal dogs but every dog is different and different tools may work better for them. I personally feel I can guide and move my dog around a search area better on a collar rather than a harness. I recommend if you use a collar to get one with a different type of buckle than you use on your normal collar.
For collars the Air Light collar K9 Tactical Gear sells is a very nice collar for nosework. It has a plastic cobra buckle which makes a different click sound than most other dog collars buckles which is an auditory cue to my dogs that we are searching for odor when it’s put on. It is also sturdy enough to hold up well if your dog does accidentally pull in their search. The Air Light collar works best on large breed dogs due to the width of the collar.
For harnesses I recommend a Y-front type of harness because they don’t restrict the motion of the dog. Here is a good video demonstrating how harness types can effect motion. Hurtta and Ruffwear both make nice y-front harnesses.
Antler Wax Scent
Bone Clone
Rubber Antlers
We start training with rubber antlers
Real Antlers
There is a few things to consider when getting real antler sheds for training.