Dog Scout Camp 2010!

 

Rowdy, Seelie, and I just returned from a fun-filled week at Dog Scout Camp, my fourth journey to this heaven-on-earth in Michigan’s north woods. The whole concept of summer camp is awesome, with good friends, loads of activities to try, craft projects, campfires, hikes, water fun, and games. Combined with all of us bringing our dogs to focus on our shared hobby of choice, I can’t imagine a better way to spend a vacation. It also has “all-inclusiveness” since you park your car and leave your wallet for the whole week, with everything within walking distance and an honor-system camp store “tab.” Lisa Basial and I made the trip together (with her dogs Nano and Ransom), and had a blast as roommates.

Merit Badges! Gosh I love these cute little things, each one holding a memory of time spent learning something new together. Seelie earned some of her “first year camper” badges:

Puppy Paddler (learning to swim)

Boating

Obstacle 1 and 2 (Agility)

 Art of Shaping (painting) - hers is top left, a stingray 

I used the clicker to teach Seelie to raise her paw and hit a board, and also to wear a little mitt – later to be used by her to paint a picture which earned first prize in the “art contest.” She’s a quick learner, and gave a great demonstration of latent learning (like when you “sleep on it” and then grasp a concept better the next day without any further studying) – at our first Shaping class, we managed to get a couple swipes of paw on board and I decided we’d just end early on a good note, since we had all week to train with Shaping class each day. The next day, as soon as we sat down she picked up the behavior immediately and began striking the board – on with the Painting Paw mitt and paints, and whamo there she is painting in two ten-minute training sessions. Wow. But the big achievement for the week for Seelie and I was strengthening our relationship and communication – I definitely feel like we’ve crossed a bridge to a place where training is easier and the awkward new-ness has worn off of our relationship.

Rowdy has already earned most of the easier badges, but he got three neat ones this year.

 

Water Racing

Carting 

I’m especially proud of Rowdy for earning the new Messenger Dog badge (whose patch isn’t complete yet.) It simulates the job of military messenger dogs who in wartime would take messages back to base camp, and lead reinforcements to the forward platoons, tracking the platoon to its new location if they had moved. My friend Lisa took Rowdy about 200 yards down a wooded, winding trial and with the command of “report!” she sent him back to me with a message, Rowdy flying at top speed to reach me, never mind the wildlife, woods, and lake he needed to pass to get to me – he was on the job! He then led me to the location she released him from, but she had by then moved another 100 yards away, choosing one of three paths and then hiding off of the trial. Rowdy used his nose to track her path, not wavering even a moment as he chose the correct trail. As we passed Lisa’s hiding spot, Rowdy stopped when he lost the scent on the trail, just a few feet past where she had went off trail. It took him a moment to figure out what to do, but then he doubled back where he knew the scent was, picked up her scent again and then found her in her hiding place! Amazing! We only trained on this for a few days, and he did great.

Training for the Messenger Dog merit badge reminded me that I should never underestimate Rowdy – if I just can figure out how to communicate what it is that I want, he is always willing and able to carry it out.