that sucks. bad dog owners should be shot.
Dogs are special creatures. Some are suited to hiking and some are not. Even those that are need a human that is looking out for them and other people that will come in contact with them. Dogs aren't the problem.
give it some food
There is no shortcut to success, and it depends on your perseverance, just like tiffany jewelry.
while there is life, there is hope tiffany jewelry cheap.
Been hiking on the AT every year since 1998 doing short stints & long ones. Have hiked around dogs many times. I love them & think about hiking with mine but Baltimore is correct on some issues. Prepare to keep them in your tent and leashed if needs be. Most people DO Not want a dog in the shelter with them for many of the reasons listed. That said, some hikers do like dogs around cause they seem to keep the bears away. Also, be prepared to go slower, watch your dogs' health, & not be alowed in many of the hostels, hotels, or towns (only because of difficulty of getting rides). Having a dog with you can change, enhance, or hamper your thru-hike so be sure you want them along.
NO dogs should be allowed on the trail----they **** on the trail, shake water on hikers in the shelters and attempt to bite people and are a general nuisance.... nurse without a purse
" Nurse Without a Purse"
you just described a great deal of human hikers..Originally Posted by dbigard
what's your trail name and when will you be hiking
I'm so confused, I'm not sure if I lost my horse or found a rope.
Hope Kaia schools him... Make sure you have ur hound dumb it WAAAAY down tho... I'm just sayin'what's your trail name and when will you be hiking
OMG... I was ACTUALLY able to read AND understand a post from you... I'm either learning to understand Pig Latin or you are slippin'
Dogs bring much joy and laughter to myself, however, I 100% agree that I would leave my two mutts at home.
My dog loves to hike but isn't so good in the car.
It took me forever to train her to slobber all over Jack.
I'm not so sure Jack ever learned to appreciate our efforts.
Last edited by Nean; 05-10-2011 at 14:40.
Jack,
You need to add one more to your list...
"Are you willing and able to carry your dog out in the event that he becomes injured or unable to continue while hiking?
I'm OK with folks bringing their animals along, but ultimately they are responsible for the safety of their dog while hiking and should be prepared to carry the animal out if it gets hurt/injured and is unable to hike.
My only request is that owners take a moment and take a stick and move your dog's poop off the trail.....a dog is a great companion if you've taken the time to train him well..... Who was it that said "there are no bad dogs just bad owners"?
Well, my name says it all. We are section hikers and we always try to bring all four of our dogs. We never think of staying anywhere near a shelter, or other hikers. We clean up after our dogs, they stay on a leash when we or others eat, and they sit and stay when they are told. That being said, yes there are owners who will not do any of this. And if something were to happen, we would take responsibility. Our dogs have been to FL and to Chicago with us. They are well behaved in a hotel or in a tent.
One of my favorite things to hear people ask when we travel with our dogs is are they good? My response, "If they weren't good, they wouldn't be here."
This post is to merely let you all know there are some good dog owners.
I have put off posting my opinion and experiences on this subject for a long time now.
Last year (2010) I thru hiked with a partner that had a dog. I was pretty much against dogs on the trail unless they were very well behaved. Before I started doing my thru hike with my partner I knew the dog and it seemed well behaved and I did not think it would be a problem on the trail. Her dog was always well behaved in shelters after dark so we never had a problem in that respect.
The problems we faced with her dog, was that it was not well behaved in any other aspects. It would chase deer, bear, ducks, and just about any animal in the woods. I never saw any wildlife when her dog was around. The dog was not trained to listen to commands and did not know any commands other then SIT and it rarely ever listen to that command.
The dog would piss on everything to mark his territory. A few times I saw him pissing on someone’s backpack. The dog even pissed on the sides of beds in motels. We got kick out of one hostel when the dog pissed on some furniture. The dog would walk up to other hikers and take food out of their hands without it being offered to him.
I learned from experience that people say one thing in front of the dog owner and another thing when the dog owner is not around. Point and case, when I was with my partner and she had her dog at the shelter at the end of the day, she would ask if others minded if she put the dog in the shelter. Most everyone said they did not have a problem with it. Then there were days when my partner was not around and these same people would bitch about her having her dog in the shelter. This is because they did not want to offend my partner and make themselves look like the bad guy by telling her NO. This goes way back to Jacks post in post #13.
Now back to the original question. “How to tell when your dog is ready for a long hike?”. The only way you going to have any idea is to start taking your dog on weekend and overnight hikes with other people around to see how your dog is going to handle it. If it is not ready then you know where to start in the training process.
better to hike with a female dog, usually alot smarter and she won't lift a leg up. :-)
Atroll, did you ever tell/inform your partner what people actually thought about her and her dog, so she could try a little harder to be a better dog owner?
Last edited by CrumbSnatcher; 06-06-2011 at 19:48.
Yes, I told her many times but she would not accept what I had to say. She would not believe me. Some people cannot see past the end of there nose. It is a sad thing to say but some people only see what they want to see.
well my dog wasn't perfect but she never pissed on anybodys stuff and she never took food out of anyones hand! thats pretty sad. she did except food from others like a piece of cheese or beef jerky, but not before looking back at me to make sure it was ok.
After her dog did it a couple of times we did put a stop to it. I hated having to babysit the dog all the time to make sure it was not doing something it was not suppose to be doing. If you have to do that to a dog then it should not be on the trail.
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