This page will explain how to host your own Dog Scout Mini-Camp.  If you do not want to host a camp, but do want to attend one, 
Click Here to register for a Dog Scout Mini-Camp!

If you or your troop have been wishing you could attend Dog Scout Camp, but it is a little far away, you couldn’t take a whole week off work, or thought it was out of your budget, the MINI-CAMP might be the way to go for you.

A Mini-Camp is a 3-day Dog Scout Camp. It offers Dog Scout Testing, so that your dog will have the opportunity to become a Dog Scout. It offersLeadership Training, so that you will have an opportunity to advance as a Troop Leader. And, it offers at least two merit badge activities, in addition to the usual mini-seminars, arts and crafts, fun and games, and contests.

Basically, it involves bringing Dog Scout Camp to YOU. We will provide a Director and core staff, and you can help by providing some of your local talent.  Backpacking and The Art of Shaping are the two standard merit badges offered. If you want to provide an “introduction” to some other activities, like Agility or Water Safety, as an instructional or “demonstration” session, you will need to provide the appropriate equipment needed (we can’t bring the lake and the agility field to you!)

The Dog Scout Camp office will handle some of the advertising and you will handle the registrations and pay the bills.  Please allow for DSA staff travel and lodging expenses and food for all campers and staff in your budget.  A minimum of 20 campers will be needed to break even, and a maximum of 40 campers would be allowed. The cost of the 3-day camp is $425.00. Repeat campers (dogs who already have the DSA title) get a $25.00 discount on that. Lodging is not included. If you or some of your troop members provide services at the camp, they may also be entitled to certain discounts. Additional dogs may be brought at a cost of $50.00 per dog, and $25.00 per merit badge activity that dog participates in. The “observer” rate (no dog) for the weekend is $150.00 to attend the camp.

It is a good idea to get some pre-registration commitments from any interested parties in your area. Our experience with mini camps is that they do not get well attended, so you will have to “beat the bushes” for locals who wish to attend the mini-camp. It is strongly suggested that you “test the waters” to see how many people you have interested before you book the camp. Keep in mind that there are always a lot fewer people who are willing to put up the money and actually register than there are who might TELL you that they absolutely want to attend. Everyone WANTS to attend Dog Scout Camp. Getting a commitment (and deposits) is something different. We don’t want to have to cancel a camp due to lack of enrollment, so I would suggest you work very hard to get firm commitments from at least 2 dozen people. There are always those who will back out for some reason.

Don’t underestimate how far people are willing to drive to attend a mini-camp. You may receive reservations from people living way beyond your immediate area, if that is the only opportunity they have of attending any kind of camp within hundreds of miles of their home.

If you have friends in neighboring towns, you can have them post sign-up flyers around, to get an idea of the interest.

Please make it clear to everyone in your troop that there will be NO walk-in testing of Dog Scouts. Everyone who gets their dog tested must be registered for the three-day camp, and must attend all three days. We need to see their dog (and them) in action, and observe their interactions with other dogs before we will let them take the test.

All dogs passing the test and earning their badges will receive their Dog Scout I.D., bandanna, Dog Scout badge, certificate, and (if they were earned) specialty merit badges at the awards presentation ceremony at the end of camp. And, they will be able to continue to earn further badges at future camps, mini-camps, and/or in their home communities under the tutelage of a trained and certified Scout Master (where one is available) or by video anywhere in the world.

If you would like to host a Mini-Camp in your area, please contact our office at least 6 months in advance to reserve a date. Upon the receipt of a $50.00 non-refundable* deposit, I will send you a packet of Mini-Camp registration forms, example flyers, and sign-up sheets. When you reach the required 20 registrations, your deposit *will be refundable.  Anyone who puts a $100.00 deposit down on a mini-camp and cancels for any reason will receive $50.00 of the deposit back -up until 60 days before the mini-camp.  If the mini-camp is cancelled, we will keep your $50.00 deposit. If anyone cancels within the 60 days before the mini-camp, they will forfeit their entire registration fee, unless they can find someone to take their place.