Dogs! Dogs!

[+Polgara]

Just wondering how many geo dogs are also specially trained for other tasks such as Search & Rescue etc.?

[+TeamK-9]

Casey the golden cache retriever is in training as a therapy dog. (Visiting kids in hospitals and stuff)

 

It's not very intense training, she just has to be calm and not freak out when a wheelchair rolls towards her.

[+TotemLake]

I'm just content mine doesn't take off on me anymore and cause me to bad owner yodel.

[+Robespierre]

The black dog is trained to sleep all day, until I get out the cachin' boots - or any other article of clothing of any sort.

[+Pyewacket]

I trained my German Shepherd to be my service dog while I was using my manual chair. She did soooo wonderfully, and helped me immensely. Now that I'm in my power chair, though, I don't use her as an aide; she doesn't like the power chair, so I assume the electric motor emits a sound I can't hear, yet is disturbing to her. When the weather cools, I'm going to try taking her caching with me, and see how she does.

[+Malystryxx]

Pepper competed in obedience for several years before retiring to geocaching. It's SO nice to be able to be out on the trail, have a slack leash, and watch passers-by struggling with "leaning dog syndrome" as the passing dogs strain on their leashes to see the new people and new dog.

We were talking last night about training a dog to scent out a tupperware box, but we decided it'd be something like this:

"Dear cachehider42, please go hide a piece of steak in your cache before we visit it. We'll be able to fight the bear and get your cache back, don't worry!"

 

Yeah, that idea was shot down pretty quickly.

[+Kealia]

2 dogs that have cached with me:

 

Kea: My in laws Golden Retriever. Kea was trained for Search and Rescue and went out on many searches for the Sheriff's office in Santa Cruz County. She was a trailing dog that had the best nose you could ask for. She was credited with many finds and was used to teach others how to train thier dogs for the same. She had to be put down about a month ago .

 

Brix: Our German Shephard. Brix was a fully trained police dog that my wife bought right before we got together. She used to help train cop dogs and was charged with taking him home and finishing his last 5 weeks of training. SHe fell in love and bought him.

He was trained in area search, handler protection (yes, the bite suits you see on TV) as well as being fully trained for narcotics searchs. We lsot Brix a little over 2 years ago.

 

Our two current Shephards both came from the same breeder as Brix (one is even part of his blood line). They are both trained for couch protection, and attacking bowls of food with no mercy. All kidding aside, they have basic obedience training and protect my wife and daughter when I travel.

 

They're part of the family and I can't imagine not having them around.

[+Two Geeks and a GPS]

 

Osgood and Thor are well trained in the newest organized canine sport - couch sitting!

[+FangFour]

My Geocaching buddy is named ChucChi. She is a Malemute mix and is now pushing 11 years old. She has no formal training but she has some natural talents that lend themselves well for the outdoors.

 

One of those is Trail Lead. She likes to be out front in the backcounty trails I prefer in North Idaho and Western Montana (or for that matter wherever we happen to go). When she see's something ( and she see's a lot) she'll stop and stare. I just have to look where she's looking and I'll see a moose, deer etc. At that point she's the most perfect dog in the world. But, after she stares for a moment she lets out a subdued "Ruff" and then like a racing horse out of the gate she's off after what she spotted. She doesn't go far and she seems to be hearing impared when I yell "NO" (we're still working on that. Did I say she's 11 years old?). But she'll come back soon and we'll continue our hike.

 

Another is Rescue Swimmer. We like to frequent a lake in North Idaho called Priest Lake. They have a nice campground there called Lion's Head with a little section that you can take your dog swimming. We bought ChucChi a bright orange doggie life vest so she don't have to work so hard swiming when we dive in. Whenever my wife or I go into the water, ChucChi gets a very serious look on her face and swims out after us. Her doggie vest has a grab handle on the top. She'll swim up to us and when we grab the handle she'll turn around and swim back to shore. We never taught her to do this. She just seems to think we should not be out swimming. We were having fun jumping off the dock and taking turns having her 'rescue' us. All this time a small crowd began to form on the beach. We kept looking beyond us thinking that there was something going on that we did not see. As we all swam back to the beach a woman said " Is she a rescue dog?". And then it dawned on us that with her bright orange life preserver and our taking turns having her play resuce that the crowd was for us.

 

P.S.

Sorry, I'm still trying to learn how to post a picture. If someone would be so kind as to give me a brief overview I'd appreciate it. Until then, you can look at my profile to see ChucChi (the Schooch for short).

Edited July 19, 2004 by FangFour

[+Desert_Warrior]

My avatar shows it all. Parker has a champion pedigree, an AKC (CD) title in obedience, passed the CGC test, is a TDI dog, and the mascott of the Franklin Mountain State Park. Best dadgum dog I have ever had!

[+fly46]

My caching 'dog' is a cat who is 'trained' to sense my bad moods, yow from every room in the house repeatedly, and then, when I'm entirely pissed off, hide under the bed so I can't get to her.

[+SuzyQhoo]

My canine caching buddy is MaceyBB (see my avatar). I had hopes of her being a therapy dog, as I work with adults with disabilities. She came to my program as a puppy and my clients loved her. But she is too excitable and only visits on occasion. She just turned four...I've been told dogs personalities tend to "calm" a bit after four...we shall see. She is "trained" to keep the two house cats in line and knows many tricks thay you wouldn't think a bulldog would bother with!

 

She loves going caching and has logged 75 so far. Macey's ProfileShe's on hold until the fall though. The hot summer weather finally hit Alabama. I ordered her doggie backpack yesterday for the short, fall hikes!

 

Happy Caching!

[+Criminal]

I took Patch to the beach the other day, he waded into the Sound about chest deep, and took a dump.

 

Never saw a dog do that before.

[+Team Flying Dachshund]

My geodog is a Dachshund. He is trained to... well... be cute.

[+Metaphor]

My Golden Retriever is trained to search and rescue food in any form...

Her other job is retrieving the morning paper for me. Yesterday she retrieved my next door neighbor's newspaper. Good dog! When I get her trained to randomly select other neighbors for their papers, I can cancel my subsription.

[Fakk 2]

I went to take my goldfish caching with me, he was all flopping around I thought from excitement. but before we got there he stopped flopping I thought he fell asleep on the drive, but when I parked he wouldn't wake up, He was bored to death of caching already :-( So I drove back home and look for another caching buddy that is low maintenance.

[+CompuCash]

I trained my German Shepherd to be my service dog while I was using my manual chair. She did soooo wonderfully, and helped me immensely. Now that I'm in my power chair, though, I don't use her as an aide; she doesn't like the power chair, so I assume the electric motor emits a sound I can't hear, yet is disturbing to her. When the weather cools, I'm going to try taking her caching with me, and see how she does.

 

The motor controller likely uses a frequency that she can hear and bothers her. You might talk to the support people for the chair - it might be able to be adjusted above or below her hearing range. They should be made aware of this so that they can change the electronics. They might not be able to do anyting for your chair immediately (or at all) but they should fix it for the future.

 

If it bothers your dog it might bother one you don't WANT to bother.

 

I see many muglers on the trail with dogs - they are SUPPOSED to be on a leash - most are not. My cane seems to bother many dogs (must look like a big stick to them) and I have been nearly attacked a few times. Got me pretty skittish about large loose dogs on the trail. I usually just stop and don't move till they pass.

 

The cane can (and WILL) be used if I need to. In our general area there have just been too many attacks on people by loose dogs - even a couple deaths. Pretty scary.

 

I love all animals but when a 100 to 200 lb dog comes running and barking at me I get just a little bit nervous!

[+Polgara]

 

 

The cane can (and WILL) be used if I need to. In our general area there have just been too many attacks on people by loose dogs - even a couple deaths. Pretty scary.

 

I love all animals but when a 100 to 200 lb dog comes running and barking at me I get just a little bit nervous!

I used to have a husky/shep mix. I'v considered getting a Malamute sometime next year, not sure yet, but it looks like a nice sturdy dog for long hikes and rock scrambling. I've also considered a small dog that when necessary i could shove him in my backpack with his head out till the rough parts of the trail were over...but I'm not a small dog person so that thought isn't going over very well. I'd like to wait till i have more time to spend with a dog to get it trained properly.

 

I understand how you feel when dogs come running at you. I love dogs, but my former husky/shep did not always like other dogs, especially if they go too close to her face or her feet, she would snap, snarl and bite. Most owners when walking the trail with an unleashed dog would yell to me that their dog is friendly, not to worry, but what they forget is, although my dog was leashed, she was not so friendly with other dogs.

[+HoundGrrls]

my two doggies have a few performance titles under their collar.

 

I really wanted to pass on this info- the American Red Cross Dog and Cat Pet First AID and CPR class stinks. Don't waste your money or time unless you need a cert for work. The info was very poor. I could rant on and on, but I will just leave it at that. Pick up a book and/or chat up your vet techs, you'd get better info.

[IronMaiden]

Edited August 10, 2004 by IronMaiden

[IronMaiden]

Okay it's been one of those days I'm having trouble getting the pic of our 2 dogs to load up. But they are Rusty and Spunky. They are Brittany Spainels, full of energy and love.

 

Rusty we bought almost 4 years ago(he's got the pedigree) and Spunky we adopted over a year ago. They are best buddies.

 

They were featured on the Q13 Fox in Seattle as the pet walk forecast dogs on July 15th. So they have a little bit of fame.

 

To us they are our like our kids, and also a little bit of protection when Ironman is out of town working. They alwys let me know if someone is around that shouldn't be.

Edited August 10, 2004 by IronMaiden