After months of hear work, Zora and I have finally completed the last requirement for her Geocache 3 badge. We held our owe geocache event today. We ran a CITCO event, Cache In, Trash Out. The purpose of the event was to clean up trash at Bluff Point State park.

We picked up 21 bags of abandoned dog poop after irresponsible dog owners. We carried out 38 bottles, mostly nips. I guess someone had a really great party.

I’m really proud of my little puggle and how hard she has worked to earn this badge. Its taken us a while, but we finally got it. 🙂

The Zora report

I have lots of friends from camp.

These are my corgi friends. They are the best hiking buddies, because they are my size. They are Willow and Kyle.

This is Sam. Sam is my table buddy. His mom thinks he’s too big for the table, buts she’s wrong.

This is my buddy Shol’va. We go geocaching together.

The Zora report

Mom says I need to practice posing for the camera. I thought I was already really good at this. I pose all the time and mom is always taking pictures of me. Because I’m a princess. She tells me so.

Mom had me sit on  a log by the pond and told me to watch her while she moved around me and took photos.

Then we worked on our advertising skills. I had to pose with a can. I’m sure everyone wants this can not that its gotten to sit with fabulous me!

My favorite part was when mom took pictures with me! She made the camera beep and flash a lot, but we got pictures together.

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!

July 2014 Dog Scout Camp Report by Zora

Mom and I traveled to Dog Scout Camp again! I saw my friends and sniffed rats and danced and got a trophy.

I earned my Freestyle badge. Mom says that one is for dancing with her. We danced in the talent show and took first place! I got a trophy that is almost as tall as me. Everyone loved me, because I am the princess.

Wacko Sign

The Wakeda Report as told by Zora:

Mom said we were going camping. When we arrived, I knew this wasn’t Dog Scout Camp, because it didn’t smell like dogs. So how could this be camping? Mom checked up in and took us to our cabin. But then we found our cabin and its great! Mom brought all my blankies and my favorite toys.

Cabin sweet cabin

The first person we met at camp is a man mom called Bubs. She says he’s a Wacko. I knew immediately that he needed therapy. So I barked and barked, so he would know he was welcome to come over. I lept off of the picnic table and snuggled with poor Bubs. I gave him kisses and lots of puggle therapy.

Therapy for Bubs

Then we went for a walk with new friends. We found boxes in the woods. Mom reminded me that they are letterboxes. We walked for hours and I got to sniff lots of trees. We met new people on the trail and they scratched my ears. We saw a fat bird too.

Then there was a scary storm. So I hid in my nice safe Subaru. Mom told me that she was going night boxing. That sounded scary, I wanted to stay in my Subaru. Mom told me about night boxing later. I still don’t think its a good idea. But she liked it. Mom said you have to find boxes in the dark with a flashlight.

Night box on CAT

When the storm stopped, I got to meet our roommate! We’ve never had a roommate before. I kissed her face and checked her nose for boogers. Then I marked her as my person by farting in her face. This is puggle love!

Saturday morning, we went on a realllllly long hike with our new friends. Donna, Lynn, Tara and Patti. It took ALL day to find the boxes. I almost missed lunch!

found a box

circle of boxing friends

Boxing Team Puggle

After lunch, mom and I napped in the sun and I got a special teat for being such a good puggle. I know I am. I napped in the chair next to mom. I napped on the ground on my mat. I napped on a bed of pine needles. I was trying to become one with the ground.

one with the ground

Then we found boxes all over the Wackos campsites. I made new friends. I like all the little girls, they would stop making noise and quietly pet me and scratch behind my ears. I let them know that I liked them by kissing them.

It was really cold that night and I was really tired. Being an awesome puggle is exhausting. Mom tucked me in under my blankie and went night boxing without me. I told her it was ok.

We had a pugglin time at Wakeda with the Wackos. I hope mom brings up back next year.

Mommy and Me at Oswagatchie Hills

Getting a Bird’s eye view of the trail

This is a great view

I’ve been asked for instructions for making my camouflage letterboxes and geocaches.

1. Gather all of your supplies
-Lock & lock containers, I get mine from Job Lot
-Goo Gone
-Rubbing Alcohol and cotton balls
-Spray paint for Plastic, in flat, natural colors
-Custom stencils

2. Clean any stickers or labels off the containers with the Goo Gone. Clean off the Goo Gone with mild soap and water.

3. Prepare the plastic containers for spray paint by cleaning with rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball.

4. Cover your painting surface with cardboard or newspaper. Don’t use plastic, the painted containers will stick to the plastic. Always paint outdoors or in a well ventilated room. Spray painting must be done when it is warmer than 50-deg F, follow all directions on the can.

5. Lightly spray the containers with a dark color, such a black or green. This is the base for your camouflage.

6. Spray your containers lightly in small splotches with your lighter colors, such as tan or light green. This is the top layer of your camouflage.

7. Allow to dry at least 1 hour.

8. The custom stencils are optional. I got mine from My Geocaching Store, they come with a reusable sticky back. Press down on all the stencil edges to prevent bleeding. Cover the edges with painters tape to prevent overspray. Spray vary lightly with a contrasting color, such as red. Remove the stencil as soon as the paint is tacky.
http://mygeocachingstore.com/customgeocachestencils.html

Have fun and Happy Travels!

We had our last scenting class last Friday. Zora loved it, she worked so hard. For this last class, we added difference surfaces. There were tarps with sand, mulch and rocks.

Our first turn, there was a hide on the mulch in a little plastic container, she really didn’t want to walk on the mulch and it took some coaxing to get her to do that. Which is odd, because we have mulch in our yard and she usually plays in it all summer.

There was also a big tent set up in the room and there were hides in the tent and around the tent. She was having fun going in and out of the tent.

We have kept training this weekend. I found some small plastic cups at Christmas Tree Shops. These are perfect for scenting, with holes cut in the lids. I hid these in our stash of boxes, then around the boxes and all over the room. Zora was having fun picking them up and smacking them. She needs me to up them though.

Our 4th nosework class was really great. Zora loves the sweet potato crunchies I made for her with my new dehydrator. She really works enthusiastically for them.

During this class, we started adding more distractions and moved the searches to different rooms. We did a couple of searches in the school bathroom. The searches themselves were simple, but the room smelled bad and that was a distraction for the dogs. We also started putting the treats next to the box, so that they would start searching outside of the boxes.

Our homework is to move our searches to other rooms and start placing the treats next to the boxes. We should always have the boxes because they are the foundation for the dog learning to search.

Yesterday I moved everything into the kitchen and we practiced in there. She loved it!