What is Reddit's opinion of Dokken's Rack Wax Dog Training Scent, .15 Ounce (4.25 Grams)?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

I'm no expert, so take the following lightly.

I've got a young lab pup (about 7 months) who I've been working with for the past few months teaching him to shed hunt. This is my first time teaching a dog to do so, but I think he's got a pretty good chance at finding some this year and what I've done is the following.

First, I starting working with him on fetch (assuming your dog already does well with retrieving something and bringing it back to you, this is probably not necessary). I just wanted to get my pup into the habit of bringing things back to me.

Next, I started adding RACK WAX (Amazon link to RACK WAX) to a ball, and throwing it into the yard at first, letting him find something having that scent on it first, and slowly progressed into throwing it into thicker coverage so he was now following that scent to find the ball (and hopefully bringing it back every time!).

Then, after he could consistently find the ball with his nose, I started using the wax on some antlers I had in my garage (older ones, have been sitting for years some of them), and tossing the antler into thicker cover like I was with the ball and letting him get used to finding the antler with the scent now, since he already knew to follow the scent!

Slowly, I used less and less wax to really test my dog's nose. (Here is where I will add, if he was having trouble, him being such a young pup through a lot of this training, I would throw out a few easy ones that would bring his spirits back into it. I could visually tell he was getting frustrated when he really struggled some days).

Now, I leave my dog in the house for a few minutes while I go into the woods and throw the practice antlers with no added wax on them (like I said a few are even pretty old) into some of the thickest stuff the pup is willing to go through. Most of the time, I don't even know where the antlers go so if he doesn't find them, neither will I! Then I go back to the house, bring the pup, and let him run some until he winds them and he is now finding them very quickly and consistently.

As for the getting distracted, I purchased a remote shock collar for him that I only use when we're shed hunting. He knows (from his invisible/underground boundary fence) that beeping collar means he's doing something wrong and might get zapped. So if he starts trying to eat sticks, or deer turds, I beep him a few times and usually straightens him back out onto the trail without even needing to shock him.

As an added tid-bit since I've already written a whole lot more than I thought I was going to end up with, I'd say just to watch your dog when he seems like he's getting distracted! You know your dog better than anybody else can tell you, if he responds to your voice telling him to stop, that's great! If he needs a corrective collar, that's ok too! That's what they're for (within moderation of course, don't want a hurt pup on your hands!). It's a lot of gauging what the dog is able to do, and how they feel about it. My older dog has no desire to find sheds. And when I say older I mean 4. Also a lab, actually the father of the pup. But he just doesn't care to find them like the young one. And that's ok! Some dogs just may never want to really pursue it. So if a dog is continually getting distracted from finding sheds, but isn't distracted easily any other time, they may just not enjoy it.

I know with my pup, he also loses interest/gets frustrated when he is tired. Dog's brains have a huge portion allotted to smelling, so using their nose really intensely will tire them out! And as they tire out, they will have more trouble finding sheds. So don't be afraid to take breaks. Personally I never go past finding 4 sheds in a session. I can tell that's just when my pup started to get tired and had trouble. There's always another day to go back out. Just have to get a feel for the dog individually!

Hope this now-novel helps! If anything isn't clear, feel free to PM me! Happy hunting!