Caching with animals

February 12, 2003

Do any of you cache with animals?

What are your experiences in caching with animals?

I am also wondering when they will come out with the PTB (paw to bark) button on the Rino 120's

She cant work the PTT button yet

February 12, 2003

Sounds like you need a CPS -- Canine Positioning System.

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Friends don't let Friends geocache drunk.

20.7k · February 12, 2003

I have cached several times with Darby the Wonder Pup. As much as I try, I can't get her to pay attention long enough to consistently find the box. She tends to be more interested in chasing wildlife.

On occasion, she has been more trouble than she could have been. See my 5/11/02 log on this cache.

Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

February 12, 2003

We used to run a Greyhound Rescue agency so we go caching with our three Greyhounds and 1 Borzoi (Russian Wolfhound). We generally try to make sure they have the same comforts as us and consult Terrain before striking out for caches with the pooches. We made the mistake one time. In a snow squall bushwhacking with the dogs and lifting them over downed trees taught us to make SURE to check the terrain before deciding if they are going along are not. They are a pleasure to have on the hike and seem to enjoy the hiking more than us.

My wife and the gang:

http://community.webshots.com/photo/61193506/61289661uBOVzv

Wags, Russ & Erin

20.7k · February 12, 2003

I'm surprised a greyhound can't hop over downed trees. My shepherd mix can go pretty much anywhere I can, except the median of a busy road because she tends to freek.

Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

24.7k · February 12, 2003

I've got a Border Collie that comes along on occasion. She can go anywehre I can and does a better job of it. But she's gun shy to an extreme. Even a gun in the distance that I can barely here will set her to running for parts unknown. Eventually we hook back up at the rig.

So she doesn't come with me near shooting areas.

Wherever you go there you are.

February 12, 2003

They are sprinters and not leapers.

Wags, Russ & Erin

February 12, 2003

I'm sure I posted this somewhere but I can't get the search to work

My little guy isn't very disciplined, so I only take him if someone else comes with me, so one of us can hold his leash.

20.7k · February 12, 2003

If I was using my brain, I probably would have guessed that, but I gave it the day off.

Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

February 12, 2003

Once we had to climb over a waist-high downed tree (it was across the path and either side was deep thicket). I went over first, and to my surprise, before my wife could bend over to pick him up and hand him to me, Oscar jumped up onto the trunk! He's 8 lbs, and the size of a cat!

He loves going with us, but boy is he dirty when we get back to the car! Good thing for the blankets I keep in the trunk!

February 12, 2003

It's not that they can't hop over trees, it is that we can't let them run unleashed (most parks have leash laws anyway) so if we have to bushwack much the leashes have a tendency to get tangled. We use couplers too (a MUST with 4), and that helps, but it took a little bit for the pairs to learn to work together, and not straddle every tree. They do fine on the open parts of the trails though.

Wags, Russ & Erin

20.7k · February 12, 2003

I feel your pain. I couldn't imagine hiking with more than one. With just the one, a Flexi retractable leash works for me. Although I had to upgrade to their Giant leash because the pup broke the one rated at 110 pounds on the previously mentioned cache hunt.

February 12, 2003

That must have been scary and yet impressive.

Wags, Russ & Erin

4.7k · February 12, 2003

our dog likes to find things. so far it's mostly bones in the house, but we figure if we can get him to do rubbermaid and ammo cans he's all set.

it doesn't matter if you get to camp at one or at six. dinner is still at six.

2.6k · February 12, 2003

...but they have made good friends with the travel bugs like Tonttu the Wandering Gnome that I have brought home.

- All you need is a sick mind and a healthy body. -

February 12, 2003

We take our two goldens with us when we can. There are many caches placed locally in areas that do not allow dogs.

They have great noses for sniffing out just about anything, and have helped in finding caches!

1.8k · February 12, 2003

I sometimes take a border collie who belongs to friends. The first time I took him, before I had a GPSr, he found the cache. But since then he seems to have decided not to bother - he just waits and watches until I find it then comes up to examine the contents. The container in the photo is an imitation stone micro.

Bill

February 12, 2003

I wish I could remember the thread with Hamsters! Not only does the guy Cache with hamsters he CacheS the hamsters.

Happy. Hunting.

[This message was edited by '68 Dodger on February 12, 2003 at 02:50 PM.]

February 12, 2003

We've taken both our dogs with us. The last cache we visited with the dogs had 2 rawhide bones in it. A very nice treat for them. They both promptly hid their new found treasure. See...they're naturals at this.

February 12, 2003

While I'm sure most dog owners are very responsible ...

Nothing like dog 'caches' all along the trail...

February 12, 2003

i have llewellin setters and they love to go but you have to be careful, some regions have laws against animals being untethered. here it is unlawful to have a dog untethered from april 1 to september 1, just check the local wildlife laws before you head out.

February 12, 2003

I have been caching with the dogs since my first cache... My lab/mastiff mix is trained as an area search dog so he will actually alert on a cache if some one has visited it in the last week or so. If the logs show some one has been there in the last few days I have to leave the bloodhound at home or she will trail right in on it. Around here there isn't much of a problem with area not allowing dogs (at least on lead).

February 12, 2003

The three of us make up Ladybuggers. Mr, Mrs and Shelly, our poodle. She always finds something when we go caching. It may not be the cache and it may not smell very good, but she has a great time on the trails.

February 12, 2003

A well trained dog can sniff out and point to a cache. A well trained cat can spend the night downloading info for you.

I remember an article in a hunting magazine years back about a man coon hunting with a cat. Dogs would tree a coon, but the cat went up after it. (It was on the last page.)

3k · February 12, 2003

Once we took my nephew's Beagle, Miles, with us. Beagles catch a scent and they are gone, so he was straining at the leash at every deer trail. Another time we had a newbie and her dog with us. That park was the most dog friendly park I ever saw, at one spot there was an open field filled with about 15 dogs, off their leashes, who were all pals because they would all meet there all the time with their owners. It was great to see.

Cache you later,

Planet

I feel much more like I do now than when I first got here.

February 12, 2003

I'd love to take my Siberian Husky...however, she's a stubborn one. She has alot of rules for herself. The fact that she must eat at 4:00 daily, that she will only 'excuse' herself in specific areas of the yard and no where outside the yard, that I have to lift all 70 pounds of her into my jeep, she refuses to jump in my jeep, and that she'll only walk so far before she puts both paws out like breaks and pulls her head right out of the collar and trots herself back to the jeep are enough for me to leave her home. Oh well, i still love her!

True-North

February 13, 2003

but the poor thing gets car sick. I took him sailing and he got sea sick. Nothing worse than a sea sick dawg. (he is mixed chow)

Capn Skully

2.9k · February 13, 2003

Im surprized that nobody has cached with horses(Horseback riding to a cache)???

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My home page about GPS units and information

February 13, 2003

Here's a picture I took on the trail to my first Cache hide (Horsin' Around)

I also cache with my dalmation. After about her 50th hunt with me, she finally sniffed out a cache for the first time. she's not very bright!

February 13, 2003

I wish to complain about that last photo.

If we all rode horses (so we didn't have to walk to the cache) and used dogs to track down the human scent left on all caches, where does it end?

I could get a helper-monkey (toothless) and teach him to open the cache. I could have a parrot shout "Eureka" on queue by the sound of the cache being opened. I could get a racoon with his delicate hand to swap out my took and left items. And I could train a rat to chew the logbook as a sign that I had been there. I could have all the other animals ride on the horse and I could just stay at home.

Yeah, the monkey could carry a battery-powered cam-corder and I could review the tapes from my easy chair when he returned. Or better yet, a video transmitting system and I could use 2-way walkie talkies to tell the animal team which cache to head to next.

If I included some cats, I could continue to cache at night. I could have several sets and put them on rotating 8-hour shifts!

--majicman

My new book available now!: (http://www.mcwj.com )

5.9k · February 13, 2003

No babey, the monkey has a whole different purpose.

http://fp1.centurytel.net/Criminal_Page/

February 13, 2003

OK, you Criminal,

What purpose, the toothless helper monkey?

--majicman

My new book available now!: (http://www.mcwj.com )

5.9k · February 13, 2003

The monkey is there to hold your unit. You don't want to drop it in the snow or mud, right?

http://fp1.centurytel.net/Criminal_Page/

3k · February 13, 2003

The face on your dalmation has me laughing! What a look! lmao.

Cache you later,

Planet

I feel much more like I do now than when I first got here.

February 13, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by flask:
our dog likes to find things. so far it's mostly bones in the house, but we figure if we can get him to do rubbermaid and ammo cans he's all set.

So start putting the bones in tupperware & ammo cans!

Randy

February 13, 2003

Here's a photo of Guinness near the Stonehill Greenway Cache. This was a somewhat rocky area (as are a lot of parks in PA) and she had no problems jumping from rock to rock. Sometimes I think we'll have to take a different track because of a log or other obstruction and before I can find a route around, she's over it.

Most times I have her on lead, either a Long Flexi3 or a convertible service dog lead close in to me. If you haven't seen one of these, check out this link.

When she's off lead, it's in an area that I feel confident that I can regain her attention if necessary. I guess those many Tuesday nights at Obedience classes _have_ paid off.

John Esher, Jr & Guinness, GSD

Team Guinness

February 13, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by mariajohn:
Here's a photo of Guinness near the Stonehill Greenway Cache.

The original post is a pic of my dog. She is also named Guinness.. Interesting...

February 13, 2003

My Lab has come with me on every cache so far. She loves it. She's been trained out the wazoo so I don't have to worry about her off lead. Tho I do keep her on lead while hiking until I get in the vacinity of the cache. I give her a down/stay command while I go get the goods and then bring them back to her while I go thru them. She gets so excited while waiting for me to retrive the cache. I think I may even start leaving some dog toys in caches. Not bones, I don't like the idea of leaving anything with scent. Tennis balls or the like would be great I'd think. If you look in the check out aisle at most WalMart's they have a box of 88cent dog toys that would also be great to leave.

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Magellan Meridian GPS

http://www.kjjeep.com

February 13, 2003

I almost always bring my dog Bailey out when i cache. She knows when I get out my "Cachin' Boots" that we're going. She starts whining at the front door. I use a long leash and she's always on it. Only when we get to the thick brush and She blazes a trail that I can't follow do I let go of the other end. She's very well trained, Incredibly Friendly, and has gotten very good at tackling obstacles much larger than her. Even though she's just a small beagle.

...On a scale from one to awsome, I'm super great!

February 13, 2003

Leroy the cacher.

February 13, 2003

We take our Boxer and Chihuahua on all of our caches. We bought a "skidplate" for the Boxer so that he wouldn't get his tummy so torn up on thorn bushes and makes him easier to spot:

Biscuit

And the Chi gets toted with his special carrier if it's too cold (usually he's zipped up--my cordless heater haha):

Boo

Biscuit has fallen off of a cliff, slid into a creek (40 degrees out at the time), and had to be carried out of numerous holes and steep hillsides. He also went accidently ice skating across a frozen lake. I think he's finally starting to get the hang of this "outdoors" stuff

4.7k · February 18, 2003

he likes the game "sniff-it-find-it". we're playing it now with several ammo cans we have around the house. the tricky part is getting him to find a can he hasn't sniffed, but ammo can probably has a distinctice smell, just like tupperware or toast for that matter.

he's still not much of a help navigating to the area.

it doesn't matter if you get to camp at one or at six. dinner is still at six.

February 18, 2003

I often take my two dogs geocaching. However, they are much more interested in the walk than the hunt. They're still "in training", and will often pull me in the wrong directions! I wish I had some pictures to put up, but I still don't have a digital camera or a scanner.

February 19, 2003

We take Chessie the Geo-dog to almost every cache. Him being a very playfull lab, the hardest part is keeping out of any nearby water. We leash him unless the cache is really in the boonies, then he gets a little off leash romping.

Fishingfools

Caching with animals

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