K9Dax Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 Hey all! I just joined the site today after stumbling on my third Geocache while training with my dogs. I'm involved in K9 search and rescue as well as tracking for sport, and each time we've stumbled upon these caches, I've wondered if there are other dog lovers out there who would be interested in making caches for dogs and their human to find together. All it would take is hiding a Geocache with a scent source that dogs could recognize and find, similar to any working or hunting dog searching for what ever scent they have been trained to find. The scent source would have to be uniform in each Geocache, but unique enough for the dog to distinguish it as something different in their environment. Any one have thoughts?? Quote Link to comment
+TreasureFerret Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 It sounds like a cool idea, I am always looking for new sports to involve my dutch shepherd in. However, it might be difficult to find a good scent that won't attract bears or other destructive animals to the cache. Quote Link to comment
+mtn-man Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 (edited) I've hidden and found caches with my dog, yes. The scent thing is a double edged sword though. For my dog to find it, the cache would need to smell like Milkbones or bacon. The problem with a cache that has a scent to it is that other animals will also be attracted. I've had an ammo box in the woods for nine and a half years now. It is in perfect shape and is in a black bear aware area for several reasons. Since it is scent neutral, it is not noticed by animals. It basically smells like leaves and pine straw and dirt at this point. Perfect. Edited April 18, 2011 by mtn-man Quote Link to comment
+jacob501 Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 Why don't you just ask Knowschad??? :unsure: :lol: Quote Link to comment
knowschad Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 Why don't you just ask Knowschad??? :unsure: :lol: Mtn-man can speak for me in this situation. But thanks. By the way, I have this little itch behind my left ear... would you mind? Quote Link to comment
+uxorious Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 My dogs generally ignore the caches, they just like to chase each other around while I hunt for and sign the cache. However there was a cache my male dog found first, and I think it may have been the scent on the cache. I just managed to stop him before he added his scent. Quote Link to comment
+gsmX2 Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 My dog loves the smell of baggies; she'll dig through my pockets to find one...even if the baggie has been removed. I keep thinking that I should foster it into a geocaching skill since almost all caches contain a plastic bag of some sort or another. That's the smell we could train a dog to alert on. Quote Link to comment
+The Puffin Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 Hi , I like the idea, a good universal scent could be a piece of sandalwood. The scent will keep for a long long time, and bears dont associate it with food, neither do rodents. Have fun caching. The Puffin Quote Link to comment
+clumzyfly Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 I actually learned of Geocaching at a trailing seminar. I have often thought of doing a cache something like this. Any dog trained to find human scent would not need a significant scent source. The container itself would have enough on it and in it. This would be easy for an article search dog. My dog is scent specific, so I guess I would have to hide a container with the scent article for stage 1 and then walk a distance and hide the final. A trained trailing dog would easily find the final after being scented on the first stage. Quote Link to comment
+jacob501 Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 Why don't you just ask Knowschad??? :unsure: :lol: Mtn-man can speak for me in this situation. But thanks. By the way, I have this little itch behind my left ear... would you mind? Oh dang, I forgot to go buy a flea collar this morning while I was at the store! Oh well... Quote Link to comment
+hukilaulau Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 A friend of mine has a dog that was with him once (years ago) when he found a Tupperware cache with some food in it. Now the dog can find any ground level, plastic based container before anyone else in the group. I have witnessed this several times, but the funniest was when I went with them to hunt one of my new hides. The two humans were wandering around looking at their gps's while the dog went directly to a stump and pulled out the cache! Ammo cans, the dog can't find if you tied a metal detector around his neck. Quote Link to comment
+Manville Possum Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 Our Dachsund really loves ammo cans. We spend alot of time at the gun range, which he sits in the truck while we are shooting. I'm sure that he smells the GSR on us and has connected that to the ammo cans. He loves to hunt with us also. I have a retired Bloodhound that is a great tracking dog but he is old and does not get around well anymore. I was an avid coon hunter for many years and have had lot's of different kinds of hounds. One of my favorites was a English red-tick named Corn Stalk. Sad to say, but he was stolen by someone. That happens to hunting hounds alot. The dog thiefs sale them out of State most of the times. That's really why I gave up the sport. I get too attached to my dogs. Quote Link to comment
K9Dax Posted April 19, 2011 Author Share Posted April 19, 2011 I was thinking some type of rubber or plastic that would emit odor for a long time could be used for the scent source. Something synthetic that would last and mean nothing to any other animal to come across it. Neither of my dogs that have done article work, or tracking and area search, hit on the two that hadn't been disturbed by humans in a long time (ie- a couple months.I checked the log book). But, one of my dogs did find one that was made from a film tube that had been human found within that week, which was the first one I'd ever seen. How would someone start some type of doggie geocaching? Quote Link to comment
+The Geo-Goldenz Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 I would love to do this. I've thought about putting squirrel or rabbit scent into a cache, hoping that geodogs who are not scent trained might still be able to find it. Seems that would open up the available searching dog population more. BUT would it work? Would bears etc. also be attacted? How long would the scent last? Quote Link to comment
diggingest_dogg616 Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 I think it would be possible. I wouldn't go with animal related scents or food related scents as they might attract other critters, but someone mentioned like, gunshot residue on ammo cans and their pooch finding the ammo can. Another user said their dog can find plastic tupperware containers. I don't know if everyone's dog would go after a container that smelled like, oh say, a pine tree in a desert where there are no pine trees, but I'm positive if you taught a dog to scent and find and then had a container that smell like a pine tree and gave the dog the scent then he'd find it. I am always amazed at what search and resuce dogs can do! I help train one (I just lay a scent trail and then the dog will come find me) and I've been blown away. I'll be in my work jeans and I work with animals, so they smell like a bajillion dogs and cats, plus my own animals. Even not brushing against anything except some weeds, this dog can find me because of the scent in the air. Her owner will give me her GPS unit and will use my trail on that to compare with where the dog is going, and it's just remarkable! So to everyone who trains these dogs-- thank you! They are so amazing and they help save so many lives and provide closure for so many others. Thank you! Quote Link to comment
+Totem Clan Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 Just rub down the inside with RDX. Then just train the dogs as bomb dogs. Done! Quote Link to comment
diggingest_dogg616 Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Just rub down the inside with RDX. Then just train the dogs as bomb dogs. Done! :laughing: Use that for micros! Quote Link to comment
+Manville Possum Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 I would love to do this. I've thought about putting squirrel or rabbit scent into a cache, hoping that geodogs who are not scent trained might still be able to find it. Seems that would open up the available searching dog population more. BUT would it work? Would bears etc. also be attacted? How long would the scent last? I think it would be a bad idea. My Dachsund is scent trained for squirrels and has located a few downed deers this last season by blood tracking them. I have worked with Hounds in the past scent training them with older mature dogs. My lap dog geocaches with me and I always let him examine geocaches that we find. One day while taking coordinates he found a hole under a rock at a trail head that was of interest to him and started to dig, as I pulled him back he made a grab and pulled out a set of keys and a fob. I pushed the button and sure enough a van in the parking lot answered. A jogger had stashed those keys there. It sure was fun hiding and watching the man search for his keys, seems I put them a little farther back in their hiding spot. It's human sent on geocaches that the K9 smells. Try a moldy stinking log book, it may work. Really, just let your dog examine the cache and sniff it. When they try marking it like dogs do, then you are making progress. Quote Link to comment
+Afterburned Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 I saw the title and thought 'that's mean, a dog might not last in a cache without food'! And what about trading up or even? Could be a while in there...! Is an interesting concept, however you may have to have a second way of finding so that cat lovers stand a chance. Quote Link to comment
+Planet Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 No scented items in caches! Animals will chew open any container they think might contain food. Even candles, bubbles, or that can of fish filets in mustard sauce I once found beside the remains of a cache. Quote Link to comment
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