Geocaching with a dog

If you like going on treks with your fuzzy friends, geocaching is something precisely for you. This way, you will liven up your trips and maybe you even discover places that you wouldn’t have found otherwise. I and my pack can’t get enough of it.

Geocaching is worldwide the biggest game focused on treasure hunt that combines hiking with the adventure  of searching hidden cases – caches. It is based on the use of GPS, when according to coordinates, you are looking for a hidden “cache”. The treasure is usually hidden in a container of various sizes, from micro ones that are barely few centimetres large, up to the size of, for instance, lunch boxes. The same way, the ingenuity of the hidings differs. You will discover some immediately and spend searching another ones even for several hours, or you won’t find them at all. In some, you know the precise coordinates immediately, in others, you have to solve a number of puzzles on the way. The case contains also a notebook to enter visits – a logbook and objects designed to be exchanged between the participants.

Many caches are hidden in nature, so in the connection with the search, you can plan a great trip with your dog. There are caches directly for dog owners. Those are hidden in places that have such road leading up to them where a dog can have a good free run, or in places directly related to dogs, such as an agility playground. With each cache, you will find information, whether it is suitable to set off to it with a dog, so that you don’t have to be afraid that you would get into a terrain that your buddy wouldn’t manage.

To us, “dog-caching” proved well. I enjoy that I am not just walking about, that I have some kind of a goal in front of me. Besides, I don’t have to always ponder over new destinations. There’s really a lot of caches, so wherever you are, you will find enough of them in your surroundings, so that you could always visit a new place, which your dog will surely welcome as well.

You can even buy  a geo-collar or geotag for your dog from Log my Dog. You register the dog, that is, the tag, on the website, similarly like any other trackable object. So you can log it in at every found cache and this way track the journey of your dog after caches. The tag has its specific code and if you meet another geocacher with a dog on your walk or chase after a cache, it can log the dog in as found, similarly as in classical caches.

In the geocaching community, you can also find buddies with dogs and take trips after caches together. This way, you will organise joint walking, during which the dogs will enjoy themselves even more than when you’re looking for a cache by yourself. I and my pack have found many new friends this way, both the two-legged and four-legged ones. We organise joint events and trips, so there’s always fun and pleasant company at hand. And what about you, have you got any experience with “dog-caching”? Has your dog, for instance, managed to find a cache or to dig it out?

If this game has caught your attention, you will learn more on its official website www.geocaching.com. And perhaps we will meet on at a cache or on a joint trip :).

Related articles

Dog History III: Balto

In this series, we will get to know famous dog personalities. Dogs play an important role in our life, so let’s take a look what they have already achieved during the time of our lives together. With his determination, Balto saved lives of many people...

How does a dog affect human health

Already since about 100 thousand years ago, when people started with domestication, we have been aware of positive effects of living together with animals. And this doesn’t concern only healing methods. Already the very presence of our pets helps us to...

Cat-sitting

If you have a cat at home, you have certainly encountered the issue of who will take care of it at times. Especially now, at the time of holidays and departures for vacations. Relatives or friends are not always able to come over and to take the cat...

Manual fostering of kittens

The time of kittens is getting closer. Outside, however, the kittens may lose their mum from various reasons. Besides, people will start getting rid of unwanted family arrivals. So it can easily happen to you, that you will find little cat new-borns....

Dogs with a yellow ribbon

You may have already met a dog with a tied yellow ribbon on its collar or on its leash in the street. Did you know, that it is not a fashion accessory, but a message for the passers-by?