Zora earned her Barn Hunt badge at Dog Scout Camp in July. She had to find a rat that was hidden in a PVC tube in hay bales in a barn. Don’t worry, the rat was perfectly safe! The pvc tube has holes in it and the rat has bedding and is very comfortable.

There are three tubes hidden, one is empty, one has dirty bedding in it and the third has the rat. The dog has to find and indicate on the tube with the rat. The dog also has to go thru a tunnel made of hay bales and climb onto a hay bale. All this for the Barn Hunt badge!

On the first day we got an introduction to the rat. The rat was in a cage, so the dogs could see and smell them. After that, the rats were safe in their pvc tubes.

Zora has taken several scent detection classes. Her indication for those classes has always been to paw or hit when she makes her find. The first tie she found the rat she was so surprised that she froze. I didn’t realize that she found it and we ran out of time. You only have 2 minutes to find the rat, tunnel and climb!

The next day she was on it and pawed when she found the rat!