During our 3rd class last night, the level of difficulty of the searches was increased. More distractions were added to the search area and the concept of height was added. The boxes with the treats were placed on chairs or on larger boxes. This forces the dogs to look up off of the ground. Zora didn’t mind this, but she didn’t like having to get the box off of a height. We also learned that Zora didn’t like sticking her head in a box while wearing her collar because her tags got in the way, so she will ware her harness when working from now on.

While working at home today, I spent some time trying to build her confidence. I let her watch me put the little treat box on top of progressively bigger boxes. Then encouraged her to pull the little box down. She was frustrated at first, because I wouldn’t get it for her, but she quickly figured out that she could reach it and pull it down. Tomorrow I will try covering her face again, so she has to search for it first.

I haven’t written an update in Zora’s blog in quite some time. We started a K9 nosework class a couple of weeks ago and Zora loves it!

The first class was pretty easy searches. Just a few boxes with treats in one box. The boxes were open and she had to find the one with the treats. She was nervous with the bigger boxes, especially the ones that were taller than her. So we worked with little boxes and practiced at home, slowly graduating to bigger boxes. We are not training an indication. The dogs are expected to get the treats out of the boxes on their own.

At home, I will have her sit on the couch and cover her head with a blanket while I set up the search area. This way she can’t see what I’m doing. Sometimes she tries to peak out from under the blanket. The cheater!

During the second class, we started working with bigger boxes and stacking boxes. Zora also had to find the treats in closed boxes. She was feeling really confident during this class and did really well. I have some bigger boxes at home now. I’ve been making things more difficult by hiding her smaller boxes inside the bigger ones or stacking empty boxes on top of the box that I hid the treats in.

We are learning to watch our dogs and let them show us what their indication is. I also have to learn not to crowd my dog and let Zora work independently. This will help build her confidence and improve her searching skills.

Zora got a special set of little stairs for Christmas. It only took her one session of clicker training to master them. To her, its just another agility obstacle. She’s so smart. Now I need her to use the stairs instead of flying off the bed.

This photo was taken at the Troop 219 holiday party.

We got about 3 inches of wet snow, perfect for snow balls! Zora thoguth this was great for playing and catching snow balls!

I’ve been negligent in posting lately. Zora and I attended the 2 Million Dogs Puppy Up in the beginning of November. This year we went in honor of a member of our Dog Scout Troop who recently passed away from cancer. Zeda was a good friend of Zora’s and they liked playing together.

While we were at the event, there was a wonderful photographer who took several great shots of Zora while I wasn’t looking. I need to share those.

We went to Groton Regency yesterday for Zora’s first Therapy Dog visit. She was really popular and remembered all of her manners! Zora liked meeting all of the residents. She was excited to go in a new place, we’ll go back again next Saturday.

After lots of hard work and preparation, Zora finally completed her Letterboxing 3 badge yesterday. All she had left to do was attend an event. So our Dog Scout Troop held our own Event! We had a great time and met a bunch of amazing letterboxers from all over the state. Everyone loved my creative event box and the hand carved stamp I hid inside it.

In the afternoon, Zora DSA and I taught Letterboxing 101 to 30 Girl Scouts! There were Daises, Brownies, & Juniors. We told them about Dog Scouts, the history and rules of letterboxing, and what you would find in a typical box. They each got to make a personal stamp with foam stickers.

Zora and I had hid 5 special boxes in the picnic area of Bluff Point for the girls to find. I read the clues for each box one at a time and the girls ran all over finding their special boxes. Their personal stamps are on buttons, pinned to their uniforms.

Before the girls went home, Zora had a special presentation about survival and staying safe on the trail. We told them about all the survival equipment Zora carries in her backpack when we hike. The girls asked lots of questions about each item and why she carries it and how we could use it.

Zora and I have done a lot of geocaching in the last few weeks. Yesterday we found our 50th geocache!!

On Saturday we went to Connecticut Collage on the shoreline and found an easy cache in a parking lot. We also took a walk around the grounds. Zora really liked the grass and was enjoying herself. I got several pictures of her by the ocean.

On the way home, we stopped at a small seaside park to pick up a another shoreline cache. Zora really liked climbing on the rocks and helping me look for this one. We were STF (second to find)! This was our first STF!

Sunday, we went to Pequot Woods for a short hike, about a mile to find a couple more caches. The first I thought was too easy, until I read the note inside. It said, you didn’t think I would hide one this easy, look higher”. I looked up and hanging from a branch was a small nano tube. Zora was standing on the rick, as if she was going to help, but she’s too short. So we traded places. I could just barely reach the tiny cache hanging in the tree. This was cache #49!

We headed farther up the trail in search of one more cache. When we reached the area, I looked all over and couldn’t find it. Zora kept running back to the same spot and looking at me. She found it! She’s such a smart puggle! And we were STF this cache too!

Zora passed her Therapy Dog test yesterday! We had drove out to Hamden CT to take the test. We had been practicing the skills for the last couple of months, especially the leave-its. This part is really hard, we have to walk past food that is all over the floor. But my smart little girl did it!

Now I have to get a health form filled out and signed by her vet, then send the forms in to Therapy Dogs International. I’m so proud of my smart little puggle!