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Sniffer dogs


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I have, although it was a little tongue in cheek. When doing a local series I tried to get my retriever to have a good smell of the first cache and then once at the next GZ encouraged him (as we do when he hunts for his ball/toy).

Unfortunately he was not the slightest bit interested and was much more interested in the other multitude of smells out in the countryside. A lot more work to do i'm afraid.

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Sounds good in theory but don't these dogs go based off a predetermined scent so they know what they're tracking? What is the predetermined scent for a cache since they're all different, made of different materials, house different items, and placed by different hands?

 

I saw a sniffer dog at work outside Istanbul airport last weekend. Presumably, what it may have been sniffing for may also be made of different materials, different sizes, contain different materials, and would have been placed by different hands. I saw an episode on Mythbusters a while back on sniffer dogs and saw that they are extremely good at what they do. If you wanted to use one for geocaching, just wave a moldy log sheet under their know and they ought to be able to find most caches.

 

 

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I've tried to train my rough collie to find caches but I have been slack with the training and she isn't very motivated to find them. At this point she'll check pointed holes and indicate if the cache is there or not. She though makes false alarms sometimes because she thinks I want her to indicate any hole. Collies are very sensitive to disappointment in their handlers.

 

I mostly look for caches that are 'under the rock' and such are common in the area and thus my dog is adjusted to that. She already knows that many caches are in holes. So she looks in them at first. And she is pretty visual. I would like to make her use her nose more and encourage her really search instead of just guessing to please me. Caches above her nose level are difficult for her.

 

I want Alva to indicate by laying down. I don't want to raise attention by barking. I don't want her to fetch the cache because I fear erosion and that I could not return the cache where it was. Thus I don't want her to scratch either.

 

I think that if I ever train another dog to find caches I'll pick a command that is quite nonsense. So I can tell my sniffer to search even in front of muggles and they only think that it has found the scent of Fido from next door. Alva's command is 'find cache' and that could raise attention.

 

What the dog might be sniffing when it searches a cache:

- an item that has been touched by humans lately. Problem: does the dog still indicate if the cache has been unhandled for many weeks or even months.

- smell of typical contents of a cache. Problem: the content varies. But they might learn to look for combinations of these: plastic, silica, paper, pen, duct tape.

- tracks: where did people who have visited this place, go and what did they touch.

 

I live in Finland and we have dog sports that include sections where the dog must find items hidden in a marked area in given time. Finding a recently found cache should not be difficult for a such trained dog. Breeds common in these trials are shepherds like German shepherd or Belgian shepherds. Rottweilers, Airedales, Dobermanns, collie breeds, Labradors and Golden retrievers for example have been seen there too.

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My dog usually comes caching with us, and he's quite 'nosey' but has only ever found one cache on his own; I suspect because somebody had left some sweets in it! I'm not sure I'd actively encourage him to seek out caches, though, for fear of damage to the cache or its contents or injury to him; you can never tell quite what you might find!

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Sounds good in theory but don't these dogs go based off a predetermined scent so they know what they're tracking? What is the predetermined scent for a cache since they're all different, made of different materials, house different items, and placed by different hands?

 

That would depend. You can have dog trained to look for weed, or any other drug, TNT, Gunpowder etc. Those are specifically trained dogs looking for specific smells. You could train a dog to search for playdoh if you felt.

 

Then there are dogs that look for specific articles. You give them something from the suspect, or lost child and they look for that specific scent.

 

Third there are dogs used for search and rescue or evidence collection. These dogs are trained to look for the general human scent. So they could find a lost person, a lost wallet, gun. Pretty much anything a person has touched or anywhere the person has been. Now this would have to be done fast as possible because the scent will blow away and get mixed with others.

 

Any of these dogs can be trained in more than one of the above.

 

To look for a geocache you would want a dog in the third category. The cache (unless brand new) would have enough human scent, that if you took a dog to GZ it would(under ideal conditions) be able to get to the cache. Granted a micro/nano is harder.

 

I actually met a Search and Rescue volunteer and his dog found a geocache.

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If people have been handling the cache, a dog can find it.

Motivating the dog to be interested in finding it is the problem.

 

Kind of true. When looking for a dog to do this kind of work it needs to have a high prey drive. That means it will go play fetch for hours on end. It will chase the cats, mice, birds. Pretty much what most you don't want a pet to do. If you have a dog with a high prey drive, training is easy. German Shepherds, Standard(the big ones) Poodles, Retrievers, Bloodhounds are good choices.

 

What it comes down to is it finds a scent it gets a reward- GOOD BOY!! Whose a good boy? *throws ball

It starts with looking for something when it see you hide it. Then he won't see you hide it. Then you hide it farther away, and farther away.

 

It's simple to train them, just takes a lot of time.

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An acquaintenance of mine owns a dog that is trained to scent cadavers. Yes, they need to be trained to scent a particular item. I think the best you could do is train them to scent multiple persons converging on a common point. I'm not sure how long the scent lasts after someone leaves, so I'm not sure even that is possible.

 

Perhaps someone who caches regularly with a dog could chime in and advise if their dog provides any assistanc e greater than companionship on the hunt? Usually, the dog and the handler work as a team. It's not all dog.

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I read this thread with great interest, as it's something I've been considering for a while. My girlfriend and I want to get a Weimaraner and I can't wait to try training him to find caches! I think it will be somewhat successful, as a dog should be able to find human scented containers in the wild.

 

That breed is a hunting breed and excels at tracking (or so I've heard. I've never actually seen one)

so it is a good dog to try this with. You will get best results if you get it from a good breeder with good family lines (that's not to say one from the pound will fail)

 

Just remember pick up a couple books. One for basic obedience-after all if you can't get that you won't have any luck. The second book should be on tracking or search and rescue dogs. Or if you can find someone who knows what they are doing. Training a dog like this WILL require a LOT of work-at least 4 or 5 times a week, and you have to keep it up as well. Like I said it's a lot of work, but it is so worth the reward.

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An acquaintenance of mine owns a dog that is trained to scent cadavers. Yes, they need to be trained to scent a particular item. I think the best you could do is train them to scent multiple persons converging on a common point. I'm not sure how long the scent lasts after someone leaves, so I'm not sure even that is possible.

 

 

What I've bolded is not true. Read my first post on the topic-a dog can be trained for a general human scent. For example a person could throw a gun in a ditch. You take the dog out there(without ever smelling any gun or that specific person) and it can find the gun-based on the fact that someone once held it.

 

For what I've underlined-The scent will a last for a long time-but it does diminish. Best results are less than 24 hours after it has last been handled-but it is possible(Ideal conditions) for up to a week or more. Now if we are talking a LnL that hasn't been camo'd or found? The dog might have some trouble.

 

But a LnL that gets found at least once a week and has been out say 3 months? With all the handling the dog should be able to find it(again ideal conditions) You may have to get the dog within say 20 meters but you could do it.

 

I do know this from first hand experience in working and seeing demonstrations of these dogs.

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A friend of mine has a lab that finds caches. I've seen it several times. Once I went with the owner and his daughter as they looked for a new cache of mine. The Lock and Lock was under a tree root. I laughed out loud as the two humans stumbled around in the swamp and this great dog went straight to the cache. If I remember correctly, the dog once found a tupperware cache with either people food or dog treats in it and ever since has associated the smell of plastic with something good. I've seen him pick up a small Lock and Lock and run off with it before the rest of us could get to it.

I expect another Long Island cacher who prowls these forums will come along and verify this. The dog is a local legend. He's got a lot of caches named after him too...

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Sounds good in theory but don't these dogs go based off a predetermined scent so they know what they're tracking? What is the predetermined scent for a cache since they're all different, made of different materials, house different items, and placed by different hands?

Okay, I've got it! You can't train a dog to find any & every cache. But every town has human "cache mill" CO - you know, every hide is the same, and the listing even says "my usual hide," etc. Your average dog could find those hides in 10 seconds after seeing one of them. Great for power trails too -stay in the air conditioned car & let poochie bring the cache to you!

;)

 

Will poochie need his own account? Will VAT apply?

Edited by wmpastor
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You just need the right incentive.

 

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CharlieDog has found about ten, one by sitting on it! He is really good at finding the geotrail right to GZ and then saying here is what you are looking for and then he heads off to sniff a rabbit trail like at http://coord.info/GCW6BE.

 

And he also likes to run away with our locknlocks and ammo cans and hide them! Usually with a cryptic note.

 

We love our Geodog!

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You just need the right incentive.

 

b39e03a3-e05e-4b28-b6a2-c737bb4432c0.jpg

 

4e5b710f-5709-4830-aff0-7dd97b224bd7.jpg

 

 

CharlieDog has found about ten, one by sitting on it! He is really good at finding the geotrail right to GZ and then saying here is what you are looking for and then he heads off to sniff a rabbit trail like at http://coord.info/GCW6BE.

 

And he also likes to run away with our locknlocks and ammo cans and hide them! Usually with a cryptic note.

 

We love our Geodog!

I see CharlieDog selected the tennis ball from among the swag. What did he leave behind of equal or greater value?

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since dogs follow a certain scent when sniffing out something, and since caches are all different and thus have different scents, i doubt highly that something like that would work

 

CharlieDog's fastest find was an old peanut butter jar hidden deep in the forest at Beach it or park it, linked above. And ones with tennis balls inside. Not so good at MISTs or nanosecond.

 

And he does follow the human scents on the deer trail to GZ as he knows that he makes his people happy when they get there.

 

And a true scent hound could probably do better!

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