Took the family geocaching.

[+Team_Vod]

Last night I took my wife and our German Shepherd, or GSD, geocaching. I had talked with my wife and dog about it off and on since I started. Our GSD is 110 pounds, yes they can get that large, he is the German Standard, not the American Standard, he is about 12 or 13 years old. They both expressed interest in going with me. So we went out last night to try and locate a couple of cache's. I showed my my wife how the geocache app works, if there is a hint, etc. As we were looking for the cache I stated I think this is it. As I stated this my wife was a ahead of me with our GSD. Right when I said that our GSD, who was on his leash with my wife holding on to the other end spotted the cache and sniffed it. As I approached the cache to retrieve it our GSD sat and watched me retrieve the cache. I showed him and my wife as I logged it and we moved on to the second one.

 

At the second cache site we had to park and walk about 200 feet to its location. I advised my wife and GSD to check the bench that is along the path. They were a little bit ahead of me and as they approached it she spotted it, our GSD sniffed it and sat and waited for me to approach it.

 

Our GSD was almost acting as if he was alerting to the cache container. We adopted him from the local humane society when he was about 8 years old, now he is about 12 or 13. As far as we know he was never formally trained in any type of search techniques. From what we were told he came from a family who got him from a pet store in a town about 60 miles away and we are his second home. He has never done anything like this before. GSD's are very smart dogs and can easily pick up on signals and ques from their owner even if they have not been trained at something.

 

After we got back home I asked both my wife and German Shepherd if they want to geocaching again. Both indicated they would love to.

 

Looks like I have a geocache search dog.

 

Does anyone else take their family or dog with them when geocaching?

[+Wet Pancake Touring Club]

Squirrel!

 

That's how my dog would be geocaching with me. So, no, only tried once.

[+cerberus1]

Hiking with a dog.

[+T.D.M.22]

There's at least one dog with its own account. Plus some of the reviewers are dogs. That's why they work from home - if they worked at geocaching HQ they'd just chase the hamsters that power the servers.

[+Manville Possum]

My wife and my dog both have their own accounts. My wife has hosted events and my dog is a successful Earth Cacher and has reached GSA's highest level of Platinum Membership.

[+ChileHead]

My dog has been to hundreds and hundreds of caches. So far he has sniffed out one. He just wants to walk.

[+Team_Vod]

I did ask both my GSD and my wife if they want their own accounts. Both stated/indicated no, that is OK. They just want to help me find the cache's and let me take the credit for the finds.

 

I was just amazed my dog acted like a trained search dog that alerted to finding something.

[+dprovan]

I hope you rewarded the GSD profusely. I've had a few times when the pups have said, "Hey, what's that?", but nothing as clear as what you're seeing. Don't lose that!

 

I take my lovely assistant and one or more dogs with me all the time. (We raise Guide Dogs for the Blind, so I've lost count of how many dogs I've taken geocaching in the 6 years I've been doing it.) The dogs love it, and some of them have helped on some finds, but generally even if they know where the cache is, they won't tell me because they like to let me look for it because that often means I have to crouch down where they can take advantage and slurper my face over and over while I'm looking. As much as they all like walking, that is their favorite part of geocaching.

[+Team_Vod]

I hope you rewarded the GSD profusely. I've had a few times when the pups have said, "Hey, what's that?", but nothing as clear as what you're seeing. Don't lose that!

 

I take my lovely assistant and one or more dogs with me all the time. (We raise Guide Dogs for the Blind, so I've lost count of how many dogs I've taken geocaching in the 6 years I've been doing it.) The dogs love it, and some of them have helped on some finds, but generally even if they know where the cache is, they won't tell me because they like to let me look for it because that often means I have to crouch down where they can take advantage and slurper my face over and over while I'm looking. As much as they all like walking, that is their favorite part of geocaching.

 

I praised him by saying "good boy" to which he lay down and rolled over exposing his underside wanting a belly rub. I rub him to the point his back leg started to twitch and he groaned in pleasure. No, not that kind of a belly rub, get your minds out of the gutter. The thing about a dog rolling over and exposing its belly is a sign of deep trust with its humans because it is a very vulnerable position for a dog. When we first adopted him it took him 6 months to trust us enough to do this.