Zora and I worked on her Messenger Dog badge at July Dog Scout camp last week. This is a fun badge to work on. She didn’t earn the badge, but we burned a LOT of calories working on it. The requirements for te badge can be found on the DSA website:
For the badge the dog is lead away from base camp by the Primary Handler (friend) to a secondary location 100 yards away. The Primary Handler then sends the dog back to the Secondary Handler (Mom) at base camp.
While the dog is going back to mom, the friend leaves a scent article (sock) at the secondary location and then hides in third location. The dog needs to lead Mom to the secondary location and find the sock. Next, the dog needs to lead Mom to the third location, tracking or air scenting.
A very strong recall is necessary for this badge.
We trained all of this using back chaining.
Day 1 in our training: Send dog between Mom and Friend, the friend should have the treats. The friend should hand the treats to Mom, with the dog watching, then Mom gives treats to the dog. This teaches the dog that they get treats when all three of them are together.
Work at progressively longer distances, starting at only 5-10 feet. Move to 50 feet or so and hide behind small trees. This is the find Mom, recall portion of the
1 – the Friend walks away with the dog
2 – the Dog recalls to Mom
3 – the dog and Mom return to the Friend to get the treats
For this day, we practiced hiding around the lodge in relatively open areas.
Day 2 in our training: Add the tracking portion of the test. The friend needs to bring a dirty sock for this part. Have the friend hide, then have the dog get scent from the sock and track to the friend’s hiding location. Start with small distances and work progressively longer distances.
For this part, we went out on the trails and hid in the woods. We only worked from the third location to the hiding location.
Day 3 in our training: Working the tracking portion from the second location to the fal hiding location. For this part, the distances are much longer and we had to learn how to read our dogs. Zora has different signals for scent work and barn hunt, so I expected a different signal for this too.
Day 4 was Testing: Zora didn’t pass the test, but she did burn lots of calories.
Leaving with the Primary Handler
Go find Mom!!
I found Mom!! Now I’m coming to Find Lynn.
Can you spot the Primary Handler (friend) hiding in the woods?
Where’s my cookie?
Positively Puggle 
OH WHAT FUN! When we thought about it, we figured mom would start the walk, send the dog back to friend at camp, and then bring friend to find mom…..does it matter which way you do it?
Yes, they are more motivated to leave a friend or stranger to find mom on their own. Most dogs will not leave mom to go find a stranger. The rest of the time mom goes with them.