Hi. It has come to my attention that my last two letterbox clues were
never posted on the web site, because I listed my own web site as a
source for the clues. Can I ask to please have these most recent two
letterboxes listed on the web site, in addition to the first one that is
out there already. Thanks so much.
Good Dogs need Training
(#2 in the Dog Scouts of America Good Dog series)
The clues for finding the letterboxes in this series all have to do with
creating a good dog. To decode the clues, answer the questions in the
clue choices. Select A or B for the correct choice of answer, then
follow the directions that A or B (whichever you chose) gives. For more
information about training your dog see the Dog Scouts of America web
site www.dogscouts.org
you need a lot of help with the answers. There are a LOT of common
misconceptions about dog training. People have been doing it wrong
for many years.
This letterbox is at the Red Pine Area, in the beautiful Au Sable State
Forest, with lots of huge and very old Red Pine trees. Theres a
self-guided tour trail with numbered posts coinciding with the points of
interest along the loop. Select the correct statement (A or B) to test
your knowledge about dog training and how dogs learn. I have alternated
the color of each set of statements/clues, to make it clear which set of
clues goes with which statement.
Location: Near Kirtland Community College in Roscommon County, Michigan
Placed: February 7, 2003
By: Dog Is My CoPirate (Saikou, Karli and me)
Clue difficulty: Easy
Terrain: Easy (mostly flat trails in a hiking pathway)
Distance: Im guessing 1 miles if you complete the loop
Walking time: The sign says hour for the walk
Contact to report problems or condition of box: Lonnie@dogscouts.com
Hyperlink to web page with this and other boxes in this series on it:
http://www.geocities.com/dogscout2000/DogIsMyCoPirate.html
Take your dog and enjoy the beautiful area. Please act responsibly and
clean up after your pet, and dont allow him to harass the wildlife.
Please leave nothing but footprints.
When you arrive and park your vehicle, head East on the trail until you
come to a split. You will pass numbered sign posts with points of
interest to read about at each one. Youll go past 5 numbered posts
before you get to the fork. When you arrive, follow the clues below to
find the box.
True or False Of each of the pairs of statements below, one is CORRECT
and the other is a COMMON MISCONCEPTION. Choose the correct statement
from each pair (which answer is true? A. or B?). (I recommend that you
cross off the incorrect answer, so that you dont follow it by mistake)
A. Just as every parent has the responsibility to train their
child, every dog owner has the responsibility to train their dog to be
well-mannered, respectful of people and obedient.
B. Obedience training is only for people who want to enter their dog in
competitions or do some kind of specialized sport with their dog.
If you chose A. take the trail to the right at the fork.
If you chose B. take the trail to the left, and please tell us how
youre managing to coexist happily with an untrained dog in your home.
A. If you use food for training, you will make the dog dependent upon
always receiving food. You need to show the dog youre the boss.
B. Using food as a reward is a very fast and effective way to have
the dog make a positive connection with a particular behavior, and will
cause the dog to always want to choose the behavior that was connected
with the food (walking or sitting in the heel position is a good place
to hang out for the dog, because treats are often delivered to this
position).
If you chose A. you get NO HINT, and you should volunteer to work the
next three months without pay. Your boss is allowed to occassionally
pat you on the head, though.
If you chose B. your hint is that the letterbox is between trail markers
6 and 7.
A. Attention is a strong positive reinforcement for a dog. So much
so that a bored dog will repeat a behavior that has been rewarded with
ANGRY attention, like screaming, chasing and scolding (running off with
the floppy disk causes the dog to get LOTS of attention in a big hurry,
follwed by a game of chase; lying there and being good causes the dog to
be ignoredthe worst form of punishment a dog could ever have).
B. If youve shown your disapproval (punished the dog) for doing
something he did that you dont like, and he keeps doing it, he must be
doing it out of spite, or else he is a masochist, or very stupid. It
couldnt possibly be that he is so deprived of stimulation that he looks
forward to any kind of attention from you that he can geteven if you
call it punishment.
If you chose A. the hint is to look for a really big RED pine that has
an eye on the prize (at shoulder level), looking directly at the
letterbox.
If you chose B. the hint is that you need to look for a huge OAK, and
start giving your dog more attention when hes making good choices (not
getting into trouble). Youll see a lot more of those good behaviors
and youll end up with a GOOD DOG.
A. To train your dog you must have had some kind of formal education
in dog training and behavior, like a dog obedience class.
B. You can have a very well-behaved dog by just practicing a few
simple impulse control and indirect access exercises on a daily basis in
your home, without using a leash, collar or commands.
If you chose A. take your next compass heading at the base of a large
White Pine to the right of the trail, and go to www.dogscouts.org
Training to read.
If you chose B. take your compass heading at the base of the large Red
Pine to the Left of the trail (Hint: If you do not know your PINE,
visit trail marker number NINE).
A. Dogs are Command-driven, so if you want them to understand what you
want, you must use commands in an authoritative tone of voice. If they
are stubborn, you need to yell louder.
B. Dogs are consequence-driven, and will happily repeat any action
which results in a favorable consequence, making them very easy to train
(teach to make correct choices) without the use of any commands, force,
or punishment.
When you think youre at the correct tree
If you chose A. take a compass heading of 245 degrees, and see your
doctor about your blood pressure level. Youre inadvertently creating a
very bad dog.
If you chose B. take a compass heading of 62 degrees
A. You dont have to take a procactive approach to training your dog
and preventing bad behaviors. Just wait around until he starts doing
something you dont like, then punish him.
B. Anyone can train their dog to be well-behaved by offering choices
and providing pleasant consequences to the correct choices (sitting at
the door causes the door to open; jumping and acting like a maniac does
not cause doors to open).
If you chose A. walk in the direction of your compass heading for SEVEN
(the number of days a shelter dog usually has to find an adoptive home
before he is euthanized) FEET, and I certainly hope that you havent
also used this method on your children.
If you chose B. walk in the direction of your compass heading for about
51 feet (the distance your dog runs between the starting line and the
flyball box, if his hobby is flyball competition).
A. A dog can learn the difference between right and wrong by punishing
him when he does something you dont like.
B. The dog doesnt care if hes right or wrong. The dog learns the
difference between behaviors that are followed by pleasant consequences
and ones that are ignored. A dog will always choose the actions which
lead to the consequence the dog perceives as favorable.
If you chose A. you will find the letterbox in a hole that a bad dog
dug into the dirt, and start chanting to yourself, I LIKE to clean up
after my dogs poor choices, I LIKE to clean up after my dogs poor
choices... (youre going to be doing a lot of it!)
If you chose B. you will find the letterbox in a very old, fragile stump
in one of the furthest easterly sections of the trail system, and you
realize that bad dogs are created by bad owners!
Neutered dogs are Good Dogs
(#3 in the Dog Scouts of America Good Dog series)
The clues for finding the letterboxes in this series all have to do with
creating a good dog. To decode the clues, answer the puzzle
questions that appear before each clue section to fill in the blank.
For more information about neutering your dog see the Dog Scouts of
America web site www.dogscouts.org
visit our other letterboxes in the area: Good Dogs are Socialized, Good
Dogs are Trained, and Good Dogs are Contained.
This letterbox is in the Lost Twin Lakes Hiking Area. This is a
beautiful Au Sable State Forest, with lots of huge and very old White
Pine and Red Pine trees. If youre like me, you wont be able to keep
from stopping frequently to admire their majestic appearance. Answer
the True/False questions to test your knowledge about neutering and the
effect it has on a dog, then put the answer in the blank line of the
sentence clue below it.
Location: Near Houghton Lake in Roscommon County, Michigan
Placed: March 8, 2003
By: Dog Is My CoPirate (Koda and me)
Clue difficulty: Easy
Terrain: Easy (mostly flat trails in a hiking pathway)
Distance: 3 miles if you complete the loop; 2 miles if you just go
out to the box & back
Walking time: The sign says 1 hours to do the 3 miles
Contact to report problems or condition of box: Lonnie@dogscouts.com
Hyperlink to web page with this and other boxes in this series on it:
http://www.geocities.com/dogscout2000/DogIsMyCoPirate.html
Take your dog and enjoy the beautiful area. Please act responsibly and
clean up after your pet, and dont allow him to harass the wildlife.
Please leave nothing but footprints.
If youre into Geocaching, theres a cache in this trail system, too.
The area is 7 miles south of M-55 in Houghton Lake on Reserve Road.
Youll see the sign and a small parking lot on your right.
Neutering is a generic term meaning to remove the sex organs. Males are
neutered by castration or testiclectomy; females are neutered by spaying
or ovariohysterectomy.
T South
F Northwest
Pull in, and go to the ______ end of the parking lot, near the brown
wooden posts.
Neutering a dog will prolong your dogs life by making it less
susceptible to cancers of the reproductive organs.
T No Motor Vehicles
F Dogs must be on leash
There, you will see a trail that heads off into the woods, marked with a
______________ sign.
Your female dog should have a litter of puppies before you spay her
because it will settle her down.
T take a compass heading of 214 degrees, and ask yourself if the words
wives tale mean anything to you.
F take a compass heading of 360 degrees (North)
Walk past the many beautiful trees you see until you come to a sign post
with no information on it. At this sign post, take a heading of
_______, and continue down the trail.
Neutering your dog will make it less likely to run off and/or be hit by
a car while in search of a mate.
T 107
F 73 (and try not to get very attached to your dog).
You will arrive at one of the blue, triangular pathway markers after
about ______ steps. This will tell you if you went the right way
Neutering your female dog will eliminate heat periods, so that your back
yard will not be a stray dog magnet, when she is in season.
T 107
F 52 (and you might want to put an 8 foot fence around your backyard.
If its chain link, make it a double fence (dogs can do amazing things
through a fence when their sex organs are doing the thinking for them).
Dont forget to bury it two feet into the ground, too.
Keep going on down the trail until you are standing amongst some trees
with burls on them, that look diseased. This will be roughly _______
steps.
You should wait until sexual maturity before you neuter your dog,
otherwise, it will stunt his or her growth.
T 29
F 107
Continue for another ______ steps, which should place you in the center
of something wood
Neutering your male dog will take away his desire to do
testosterone-driven behaviors, like humping things, scent marking
things, challenging other males to fight, and becoming obsessed at the
smell of a female in heat (roaming).
T 114
F 71
In another ______ steps, you will come to a tree with the blue hiking
pathway triangles on both sides.
Neutering your dog means that you will not be contributing to the pet
overpopulation problem, causing millions of dogs and cats to be put to
death each year, because there are not enough homes to care for all of
the unwanted puppies and accidental litters.
T 75
F 30