Doggy GPS

[Northern_bushrat]

This is a fun and useful thing to teach your dog: how to lead you home on command. I was in the habit of always saying "let's go back" to the dogs when we turned around on our walks. We now live way out in the woods and always have to bushwhack, there's only game trails. My old dog Blizzard started wanting to take the lead when he figured we were heading back (we're using a compass and sometimes GPS). So one day I tried him out and said "Blizzy, let's go back". He just briefly looked around, then swung into the direction of home and lead us in an almost straight line right back to the cabin! We've double-checked with the GPS and compass, he is always dead-on. By now we have some routes that we frequently walk and then veer off into the bush from there. Blizzard will now lead us back to the closest route! He's very business-like about it all. I totally love doing this with him because I often have not the slightest idea where the closest of our routes is and he never fails to bring me back (I still carry a compass though!). Our other dogs get too side-tracked with scents or are to wimpy and keep looking for reassurance. Blizzard will be 15 next year, what a great guy!

[Deberosa]

This is a fun and useful thing to teach your dog: how to lead you home on command. I was in the habit of always saying "let's go back" to the dogs when we turned around on our walks. We now live way out in the woods and always have to bushwhack, there's only game trails. My old dog Blizzard started wanting to take the lead when he figured we were heading back (we're using a compass and sometimes GPS). So one day I tried him out and said "Blizzy, let's go back". He just briefly looked around, then swung into the direction of home and lead us in an almost straight line right back to the cabin! We've double-checked with the GPS and compass, he is always dead-on. By now we have some routes that we frequently walk and then veer off into the bush from there. Blizzard will now lead us back to the closest route! He's very business-like about it all. I totally love doing this with him because I often have not the slightest idea where the closest of our routes is and he never fails to bring me back (I still carry a compass though!). Our other dogs get too side-tracked with scents or are to wimpy and keep looking for reassurance. Blizzard will be 15 next year, what a great guy!

What a great dog! We have our first farm dog and he is a year and a half old now. I had two "city" dogs(one passed away a year ago) that were simply not much help around the farm but Jake is going to be very productive and I bet he would find his way back home also. What kind of dog is Blizzard? Jake is half Australian Sheppard and half Blue Heeler. He seems to read my mind sometimes he's so smart. He can separate out chickens and catch strays - holding his paw on them for me to pick up. This is a great idea for a new skill to teach him!

[Northern_bushrat]

Jake sounds like an awesome dog! Did you train him or did he already have some training? Mine would be tempted to eat the chickens, I'm afraid......
Blizzard is from the local Native Reserve, descended from a long lineage of mutts. There's no purebred in there for at least 4 generations back. He's very sweet natured and totally fearless. Last year he herded a curious grizzly bear off the property all by himself. I hope he'll be around for another year or two.

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh154/Northern_bushrat/blizzyonramp.jpg

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh154/Northern_bushrat/sharingthepillow.jpg

[Deberosa]

What a sweet dog you have!

We got Jake at 8 weeks old. He did chores with us from the day we got him. He could barely make his way through the gardens and the chickens were bigger than him! Kurt worked quite a bit with him on basic commands but he's also incredibly smart. I've never had a dog like that before and it's a pure joy!

My old Chessy got so that we came to "agreements" on things but she sure was headstrong! She still was a great companion but never could get the hang of farm chores like Jake has.