Hi all you dog owners,
I do a lot of letterboxing alone with just my dogs. When I get to a
spot but can't find the letterbox I always wish I had another person
with me. Sometimes another person can see (or think of) something
you missed. This can often times make the differenece between going
home with a successful stamp image or comeing back to look for the
box again another day.
I've been thinking ..... dogs have a great sense of smell & they LOVE
to stiff around in the woods. Has anyone thought of teaching their
dogs to "find" letterboxes? This would work great for boxes under
the snow, in stone walls, etc.
My old dog, Katie, already knows the command "find it" to find an
item that has my scent on it. I was thinking I could teach her to
find either a rubber stamp or a plastic container (since those are
the 2 main ingredients of a letterbox.) I bet I could teach her to
find a letterbox in no time by putting dog treats in a letterbox and
hiding it around the house and the yard.
Wouldn't it impress your friends the next time you take Fido out
letterboxing and you tell him to "find it" and he leads you right to
the letterbox!!
Has anyone ever thought of doing this?
Moonstone_baby
question for all you boxers who have dogs
8 messages in this thread |
Started on 2003-02-09
question for all you boxers who have dogs
From: Janet (moonstone_baby@yahoo.com) |
Date: 2003-02-09 13:46:40 UTC
Re: question for all you boxers who have dogs
From: Drew Family (drewclan@aol.com) |
Date: 2003-02-09 16:23:37 UTC
Has anyone thought of teaching their
> dogs to "find" letterboxes? This would work great for boxes under
> the snow, in stone walls, etc.
>
> My old dog, Katie, already knows the command "find it" to find an
> item that has my scent on it.
Terrific idea! Our chocolate lab, Otis, knows "hurry up!" (Great on
these bitter cold mornings: "Hurry up, Otie!" and off he runs to the
nearest tree to do his business.)
How do you train dogs to alert on certain scents? I've seen them do
explosives and narcotics daily on my commute through a nuclear
submarine base gates...and I'd love to work on "where's the box?"
Jay
> dogs to "find" letterboxes? This would work great for boxes under
> the snow, in stone walls, etc.
>
> My old dog, Katie, already knows the command "find it" to find an
> item that has my scent on it.
Terrific idea! Our chocolate lab, Otis, knows "hurry up!" (Great on
these bitter cold mornings: "Hurry up, Otie!" and off he runs to the
nearest tree to do his business.)
How do you train dogs to alert on certain scents? I've seen them do
explosives and narcotics daily on my commute through a nuclear
submarine base gates...and I'd love to work on "where's the box?"
Jay
Re: question for all you boxers who have dogs
From: thelionandsanddollar (pmoriarty01@snet.net) |
Date: 2003-02-09 23:17:59 UTC
Howdy,
We've on occassion had help from Ruth, our (almost) 4 year old
black lab, in finding letterboxes. However she's much better at
finding trails that we can't seem to find. So much so that she's
guided us out of certain areas where
our.....aahhhhhh....compass....aaaaaa.....malfunctioned...yaaaa.
There's no doubt in my mind dogs can be tought to sniff out lb's, I
believe Max has done just that cool trick. The one problem with it
is that if dogs can sniff out the box using a commercial spray, so
can most other critters in the woods. I believe a few boxes have
been destroyed by critters, because of people opening a box after
having food on their hands. (I think this was talked about a few
months ago.) I don't know how most animals would react to most sprays
and air fresheners, though.
Hey just a thought.
Patrick and Amy and Ruth
--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "Janet
> Hi all you dog owners,
>
> I do a lot of letterboxing alone with just my dogs. When I get to
a
> spot but can't find the letterbox I always wish I had another
person
> with me. Sometimes another person can see (or think of) something
> you missed. This can often times make the differenece between
going
> home with a successful stamp image or comeing back to look for the
> box again another day.
>
> I've been thinking ..... dogs have a great sense of smell & they
LOVE
> to stiff around in the woods. Has anyone thought of teaching their
> dogs to "find" letterboxes? This would work great for boxes under
> the snow, in stone walls, etc.
>
> My old dog, Katie, already knows the command "find it" to find an
> item that has my scent on it. I was thinking I could teach her to
> find either a rubber stamp or a plastic container (since those are
> the 2 main ingredients of a letterbox.) I bet I could teach her to
> find a letterbox in no time by putting dog treats in a letterbox
and
> hiding it around the house and the yard.
>
> Wouldn't it impress your friends the next time you take Fido out
> letterboxing and you tell him to "find it" and he leads you right
to
> the letterbox!!
>
> Has anyone ever thought of doing this?
>
> Moonstone_baby
Re: question for all you boxers who have dogs
From: thelionandsanddollar (pmoriarty01@snet.net) |
Date: 2003-02-09 23:26:57 UTC
Sorry that line is to read
"our.....aahhhhhh....compass....
aaaaaa.....malfunctioned...yaaaa."
sorry it can't be read through the ad.
Patrick
Re: question for all you boxers who have dogs
From: mothermoo2001 (cstearns07@hotmail.com) |
Date: 2003-02-10 12:09:04 UTC
Has anyone thought of teaching their
> dogs to "find" letterboxes?
> Has anyone ever thought of doing this?
>
> Moonstone_baby
Hi all lots on the latest DOG thread - I did have our old dog Gemma
working on finding boxes . We made a big fuss when we found it and
she got her biscuit and play she was pretty good. We started with
boxes we knew where they were to zero in on a box we started close up
she was a good help on some and no help on others . She was the
daughter of the town's police dog and was even better at scaring
anyone who came upon us on the trail she looked most imntimidating!
She was a devoted friend. A degenerative spinal condition took her
this past December she will be missed. Now we have Abby ( black
lab)I am working on getting her to walk. Not run , not yank my arm
just walk please. Sniffing for something specific is a long way off
in her thought process. Being protective is even further. Not diving
into lakes and ponds and taking Mom may be impossible. Try walking
past a pond when a flock of Canada Geese lands.... wet feet - I hate
wet feet! Oh well as spring comes I hope to take her more and then
you can get her exchange too. Good luck I'm sure boxing dogs is not
far off! They are happy hours spent anyway. Leader of the Pack
> dogs to "find" letterboxes?
> Has anyone ever thought of doing this?
>
> Moonstone_baby
Hi all lots on the latest DOG thread - I did have our old dog Gemma
working on finding boxes . We made a big fuss when we found it and
she got her biscuit and play she was pretty good. We started with
boxes we knew where they were to zero in on a box we started close up
she was a good help on some and no help on others . She was the
daughter of the town's police dog and was even better at scaring
anyone who came upon us on the trail she looked most imntimidating!
She was a devoted friend. A degenerative spinal condition took her
this past December she will be missed. Now we have Abby ( black
lab)I am working on getting her to walk. Not run , not yank my arm
just walk please. Sniffing for something specific is a long way off
in her thought process. Being protective is even further. Not diving
into lakes and ponds and taking Mom may be impossible. Try walking
past a pond when a flock of Canada Geese lands.... wet feet - I hate
wet feet! Oh well as spring comes I hope to take her more and then
you can get her exchange too. Good luck I'm sure boxing dogs is not
far off! They are happy hours spent anyway. Leader of the Pack
Re: question for all you boxers who have dogs
From: thelionandsanddollar (pmoriarty01@snet.net) |
Date: 2003-02-10 17:31:26 UTC
We're very sorry to hear about Gemma, she was one of our first
exchanges.
Patrick, Amy and Ruth
Hi all lots on the latest DOG thread - I did have our old dog Gemma
> working on finding boxes . We made a big fuss when we found it and
> she got her biscuit and play she was pretty good. We started with
> boxes we knew where they were to zero in on a box we started close
up
> she was a good help on some and no help on others . She was the
> daughter of the town's police dog and was even better at scaring
> anyone who came upon us on the trail she looked most imntimidating!
> She was a devoted friend. A degenerative spinal condition took her
> this past December she will be missed
Re: question for all you boxers who have dogs
From: an_irish_mum (e_r_nurse32@yahoo.com) |
Date: 2003-02-11 18:56:56 UTC
Knowing a few K-9 touting officers, I have heard ---supposedly that
the dogs don't eat unless the find the drugs ---they are trained on
the scents of drugs,and daily before they can eat, they have to find
drugs hidden by their masters or trainers --(who are allowed to
possess these ilicit materials for training purposes only)
Probably a little extreme for Letterboxing Pups!! My dog is a bird
hunter, he is very well trained to do that--he has an excellent nose
and is a "blind retrieve" expert--I have followed him to a few boxes--
I don't think he knew what he was doing--probably smelled people/
dogs that have previously came thru---hmmm ---maybe I can train him
to find RUBBERMAID!!
Irish Mum
--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "Drew Family"
wrote:
> Has anyone thought of teaching their
> > dogs to "find" letterboxes? This would work great for boxes
under
> > the snow, in stone walls, etc.
> >
> > My old dog, Katie, already knows the command "find it" to find an
> > item that has my scent on it.
>
>
> Terrific idea! Our chocolate lab, Otis, knows "hurry up!" (Great on
> these bitter cold mornings: "Hurry up, Otie!" and off he runs to
the
> nearest tree to do his business.)
>
> How do you train dogs to alert on certain scents? I've seen them do
> explosives and narcotics daily on my commute through a nuclear
> submarine base gates...and I'd love to work on "where's the box?"
>
> Jay
the dogs don't eat unless the find the drugs ---they are trained on
the scents of drugs,and daily before they can eat, they have to find
drugs hidden by their masters or trainers --(who are allowed to
possess these ilicit materials for training purposes only)
Probably a little extreme for Letterboxing Pups!! My dog is a bird
hunter, he is very well trained to do that--he has an excellent nose
and is a "blind retrieve" expert--I have followed him to a few boxes--
I don't think he knew what he was doing--probably smelled people/
dogs that have previously came thru---hmmm ---maybe I can train him
to find RUBBERMAID!!
Irish Mum
--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "Drew Family
> Has anyone thought of teaching their
> > dogs to "find" letterboxes? This would work great for boxes
under
> > the snow, in stone walls, etc.
> >
> > My old dog, Katie, already knows the command "find it" to find an
> > item that has my scent on it.
>
>
> Terrific idea! Our chocolate lab, Otis, knows "hurry up!" (Great on
> these bitter cold mornings: "Hurry up, Otie!" and off he runs to
the
> nearest tree to do his business.)
>
> How do you train dogs to alert on certain scents? I've seen them do
> explosives and narcotics daily on my commute through a nuclear
> submarine base gates...and I'd love to work on "where's the box?"
>
> Jay
[LbNA] Re: question for all you boxers who have dogs
From: Candlelight (candlelight2@weatherwitch.net) |
Date: 2003-02-11 11:34:38 UTC-08:00
I think there's a mailing list for teaching dogs to track a scent using clicker training. I don't know for sure. It might the ClickSport list that has a few people doing that.
Having a dog find drugs, if that's the dog's job, before it eats is not really that much different than making your own dog sit, down, or roll over to get a treat.
-C
Having a dog find drugs, if that's the dog's job, before it eats is not really that much different than making your own dog sit, down, or roll over to get a treat.
-C