Hi!
I’m Bodi, and I’m here to tell all you Corgis how you can get your owner to take you geocaching, which is a great way to get your human out of the house and having fun.
First off, what is geocaching? It’s an international treasure hunt where you use a website, a GPS, your own know-how and hopefully a good Corgi nose to get outside, have fun and find things. Because I’m a Corgi — and therefore very efficient, no need to reinvent the wheel here — I’m inviting you to watch this video, which gives a quick overview and explanation.
You’ll need your human to become a member (it’s free), and they need a GPS. Mom has an old Garmin Etrex from 2002 when she first started geocaching and it still works. She says you can get them pretty cheap on ebay. A friend of ours discovered he could use his Garmin Nuvi in his car to geocache with. Another friend uses a phone with GPS.
Me on my way to a cache. Girl power + Corgi power = unstoppable!
By now you’re probably asking what’s important from a Corgi point of view, right? First of all, some caches are NOT dog friendly, mostly the ones in cemeteries. (I think they are afraid we might pee on gravestones or something. As IF! Sniff!) Always have your Mom or Dad check the page to see if it’s dog friendly or not. Probably 90% are, but they will have a picture of a dog with a circle and slash over it if they aren’t. A geocache without dogs … I ask you, what good is THAT?!
Caches have a difficulty rating, and will usually tell you the distance you’re going to have to go to get the cache. They’ll also tell you if there are other dangers such as ticks and difficult terrain. I personally like it rough and tumble, but not all
Corgis do. I’ve been on some three mile or more hikes for a cache with Mom. Others were just “park and grab”, which mean Mom parks the car, we jump out, run about 100 feet and bam!, find it. Depending on the weather, both kinds can be fun. It doesn’t matter if you’re a city Corgi or a country Corgi — there’s a cache near you!
Corgis do. I’ve been on some three mile or more hikes for a cache with Mom. Others were just “park and grab”, which mean Mom parks the car, we jump out, run about 100 feet and bam!, find it. Depending on the weather, both kinds can be fun. It doesn’t matter if you’re a city Corgi or a country Corgi — there’s a cache near you!
Mom says a seasoned geocaching Corgi (like me) will run so fast “they make the planet spin in retrograde and the earth is a blur.” I believe I was thinking “No one is getting there before me!” when she took this picture.
One other thing my fellow Corgis will like. There are things in the caches called Travel Bugs or Geocoins. These are items that want to be moved from cache to cache. Then you can watch later and see how far it goes. Some have destinations they want to get to, some want their photos taken. The neat thing is there are a bunch of Corgi ones! My Mom has a pewter Corgi keychain she is going to make into a travel bug and release soon. We’re hoping it goes to a lot of dog park caches. A lot of the corgi geocoins and bugs are in memory of Corgis that have passed, and they want their picture taken with other Corgis! I always hope Mom will find one of those.
What are the caches like, you ask? Well it depends. Some are like big boxes of goodies. Once I got tennis ball out of one! Some caches are even dog-themed, so people are supposed to bring dog stuff there. Mom says toys and stuff like that are OK, but not treats or food, because it attracts other animals who might destroy the cache. (In other words, steal OUR food. Not cool).
Here I am on a downed airplane looking for a geocache. That was one of Mom’s geocaching friends, who told me to go to the tail of the plane to look for the cache. “I said ‘You sir, can go yourself!'” Ends up Mom went and found it first.
Some caches are tiny, the size of a film canister and even smaller. Those you just log in. No tennis balls there — so not my favorite. There is even a cache with “Corgi” in the name:
Because it’s in Alaska, Mom said not this year.
This is very important: make sure your Mom or Dad packs some water for you, especially when you’re planning a long day of caching. Staying hydrated is important, especially when you’re out caching for six or seven hours. Mom usually packs me a foldable water bowl when it is really hot, otherwise I drink out of her water bottle.
Here I am with one of Mom’s geocaching friends again, about to go into the Bermuda Triangle.
I tell you, the things I do for her!
adorable!!! our corgis are geo-dogs too, but its been awhile…
sounds like fun, thanks also for the info, good story too.
Hey! I am a geocachy corgi dog too! I also helps my Secretary Mommy review new geocaches for the website. Here is the category on my site for geocaching: http://www.puppyonaroomba.com/category/geocaching/
And here is my geocaching profile (LittleDoWithNoTail): http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=c6edafde-f7c8-45d7-908b-1cbc2f3cd6c5
Mommy caches as Carleenp and Daddy caches as Stunod. I'm so happy there are more geocachy corgis!!!!