Cedarholm

I would like to see something where I could list caches I want to visit, but without having to get emails each time someone logged a find. I keep certain caches on my watch list so I don't forget the names and/or to make it easier to get to the cache page. It's not that I don't care about other's posts, it's just that I don't want all the email!

I was in Brownies, which I enjoyed, even though I don't remember much (I was a Sprite and a Pixie), other than being taught how to wrap parcels to mail...very useful at age 6...also I remember having to bring a note in saying I made my bed every day for a week and did a couple of other chores to get a badge or two. And of course, I remember our pledge: "I promise, on my honour, to do my best, for God, my Queen and my country. To help other people every day, especially those at home." And yes, that's from memory not google! I then got to "fly up" to join girl guides, and thereby advanced from a two-finger salute to a three-finger salute! Did guide camp and learned some basic camping/ orienteering skills (like how to read a compass!). But then we got a new Guide Leader who focused more on "girl" things, like how "ladies" sit on the floor, get up gracefully and walk. I think that was my last year! But some 30 years later I still remember the song we sang to march into formation: "Who are we that (grammatical note: should be "who") sing along the road, With a pack on our back, a song in our hearts, to ease our load. It's been 60 years or more, since we travelled throught the door, And we're coming along, as gay in song, as ever we did before. We are guides, all guides, and in unexpected places, you'll see our friendly faces, we're ready and besides, There's not much danger, in finding you're a stranger to commissioner or ranger, We are guides (stamp, stamp) all guides!" Ok, this will rank as my most embarassing post. For the record though, I only scored 9% on the geek scale, and I worked hard to get that high, so they obviously weren't asking the right questions!! My goal is to become as wonderful as my dogs think I am!

Toby's beautiful! How old is he/she -- looks young. My own 13-yr-old beagle is having surgery today to remove a lump the size of a golf ball from his neck. My goal is to become as wonderful as my dogs think I am!

quote: I wonder what they based 'smartest' on. Beagles are stubborn, but smart. We have a beagle/cocker mix... when Sparkie was only a few months old, and with us for about 2 months, she had learned that when she went to the door that we would take her out to do her job. One day when we were eating dinner she went to the door, Beersnob got up to take her out, but couldn't find her.... she had snuck around the furniture, and was happily eating off of Beersnob's plate! Don't tell me beagles are dumb! HA! I have many, many stories like this, and this is exactly what my dog Bean tried. We had to put child-proof locks on all the cupboards as well. These beagle-antics are why I was "offended" (in a fun way) that they aren't considered smart. When it comes to getting food, they are brilliant! The research used a few different tests -- long term memory, responsiveness. I've always thought the research seemed to equate trainability with intelligence -- so I'm not sure I wouldn't be at the bottom of the list either!! Beagles are great on the trail, but get so absorbed in smells they may not hear you call them (ok, maybe they ignore you!). I've also noticed that if the forest is very dense it's hard for them to get through it, and even more difficult with the leash on. This may be true of many smaller breeds. I've had more than one "are you crazy?" looks from mine. However, my hound/lab cross has the best traits of both! Doesn't Jeremy have beagles? My goal is to become as wonderful as my dogs think I am!

One thing I did notice while caching with my two hounds, was that they have a great sense of finding the trail back out. Last weekend we were in a spot where many trails intersected, my hound/lab cross was at the head of the pack and made all the turns to get us back to the car. Of course, I reflected later that between the two dogs, they'd probably peed on every third plant, so they followed their own scent...but nonetheless it was comforting, and while he's only 65lbs, he's big enough to make me feel safe. My goal is to become as wonderful as my dogs think I am!

quote: Our Border Collie is the best dog we've ever had. She's extremely smart, but was slightly harder to train than the Aussie due to a slight tendancy to get distracted There was some research done a few years back that ranked Border collies and poodles as the smartest breeds, based on 5 different factors. I was insulted that my loveable beagle was 76th out of 79, with the bassett hound in last or near last place -- so just because he chooses to sit there for five minutes with a towel over his head before he does anything to remove it, loses him marks? Maybe he's on to something! There are many days I feel like that! All to say, yes training is important -- as much for the owner as the dog! Smarter breeds likely train better or are more responsive. My beagle barely passed. He still can't heel. In the class where they taught us, they did a session where they put piece of meat on the floor...ha, no way on earth was my boy going to walk pretty right by that! Nearly ripped my arm out to get it and took off to keep it! My goal is to become as wonderful as my dogs think I am!

I have a beagle and a hound/lab cross that looks like a big beagle. Both are very loving and affectionate -- great with kids and people. They have only been on two caches with me because they are older (13 and 11) and one suffers from arthritis. However, they both love the woods and when the beagle was younger he could walk for miles with no problem. I suspect the larger dog could too as he can go for quite a while, but I've only had him a few years. However, as hounds, they follow their noses, so I have to keep them on lead, which is a pain on some caches, especially if bushwhacking is involved. Not to mention that they think when I'm opening the cache, it's to get them a treat! Since one of my dogs is a rescue, I have learned quite a bit about dogs and their behaviours. Most dogs will reflect in some way the behaviour of their owners, so normally gentle dogs can be aggressive, and not all aggressive breeds are non-gentle. My recommendation would be to really research the breed. You may find a dog that is good with kids or enjoys lots of exercise, but has tendencies in other directions (may be territorial, or anxious, or something as simple as sheds a great deal or requires lots of grooming; some also have tendencies to certain health problems). Second, really research your breeder. You should see the kennels they run, get references (local vets, other customers), and get a sense of how they feel for the dogs. For instance, a reputable breeder will help place one of his/her dogs if there is a problem -- I'm not saying they will refund money, but they may help find another home for the dog if it isn't working out. A reputable breeder will care about the dogs. If you've selected a breed, you might see if there is a respective rescue group. These groups help find homes for dogs that may not be acceptable to the Humane Society, not necessarily because they have behavioural problems, but because they are older than is popular or bigger than is popular. I got my hound/lab when he was 7 because they considered him too old to adopt out. Again, research is the key, and a rescue group will be concerned that the match works well both ways, so they won't be inclined to present you with an animal that has behavioural or health problems if you aren't prepared to accept it. In general, I think working/sporting dogs would be better suited to caching -- labs, retrievers, spaniels, but like I said, that is a generality! My other generality is that people who enjoy the outdoors, tend to go toward breeds that do the same. I'm not sure how many pekinese dogs cache, but hey, I'm sure there are some! Good luck! My goal is to become as wonderful as my dogs think I am!

Fantastic, I'm happy to hear this. Here's hoping that the family love will hold her close if the next few months are difficult. My goal is to become as wonderful as my dogs think I am!

quote:Originally posted by LowranceTracker1:I dunno, probably would have told him to put some clothes on, that he had a small pecker and shouldn't be proud of it. I'm still new here, but would that qualify as a micro-cache?! My goal is to become as wonderful as my dogs think I am!

new and improved with colour My goal is to become as wonderful as my dogs think I am!

Ok gotta work on the animation thing... http://img.Groundspeak.com/user/159038_300.gif Good. Fast. Cheap. Pick two.

My turn to test now... The tip about actually typing .jgp made a big difference! thanks to whomever(s)! http://img.Groundspeak.com/user/159038_300.gif Good. Fast. Cheap. Pick two.

Ok, will try that one more time! Dexter and Bean geo-couching. My apologies if it doesn't work out -- I'll retire to remedial photo posting.

Dexter & Bean -- geocouching! Bean is 13-year-old beagle, Dexter is 11-year-old hound/lab rescued dog. http://img.Groundspeak.com/user/159038_700.jpe[/img]