Top 10 reasons to hike with a dog

Dogs, dogs and even some cats
Forum rules
  • This is a mountaineering forum, so please keep your posts on-topic. Posts do not all have to be related to the 14ers but should at least be mountaineering-related.
  • Personal attacks and confrontational behavior will result in removal from the forum at the discretion of the administrators.
  • Do not use this forum to advertise, sell photos or other products or promote a commercial website.
  • Posts will be removed at the discretion of the site administrator or moderator(s), including: Troll posts, posts pushing political views or religious beliefs, and posts with the purpose of instigating conflict within the forum.
For more details, please see the Terms of Use you agreed to when joining the forum.
User avatar
cheeseburglar
Posts: 2434
Joined: 8/7/2006
14ers: 58  2 
13ers: 79 2 1
Trip Reports (8)
 

Top 10 reasons to hike with a dog

Post by cheeseburglar »

My top 10 reasons I hike with my dogs off leash.

10. Doesn’t need to carry water, just drinks the natural water.
9. Doesn’t need to carry food, just eats mice, marmots and pikas.
8. Is extremely enthusiastic to get up in the morning and go.
7. Motivates me to move faster by running 10 times the distance I walk or run.
6. Keeps bears and mountain lions away.
5. Instant assessment of other hikers based on their reaction to my off leash dog(s).
4. Protects my child from people (and wildlife).
3. Keeps marmots away from my campsite.
2. Doesn’t ever complain. No matter what.
1. Warm fuzzy feeling of breaking leash laws.

Dog owners, chip in and explain to the public why your dog(s) hike with you!
The marmot said “Nobody is perfect and you are not nobody.”

Random FoTH Quotes
User avatar
DaveSwink
Posts: 837
Joined: 9/21/2006
14ers: 37  12 
13ers: 4
Trip Reports (6)
 

Re: Top 10 reasons to hike with a dog

Post by DaveSwink »

Sigh....wrong forum. This belongs in Pet on Peaks or the Obvious Trolls forum. [-X
User avatar
cheeseburglar
Posts: 2434
Joined: 8/7/2006
14ers: 58  2 
13ers: 79 2 1
Trip Reports (8)
 

Re: Top 10 reasons to hike with a dog

Post by cheeseburglar »

No, waggy puss.
It's a safety issue.
The marmot said “Nobody is perfect and you are not nobody.”

Random FoTH Quotes
User avatar
tlongpine
Posts: 776
Joined: 1/10/2011
14ers: 27  1  2 
13ers: 4
Trip Reports (4)
 

Re: Top 10 reasons to hike with a dog

Post by tlongpine »

It is a safety issue.

If I fall in a well, err... mine shaft, I want Lassie to go for help. If Lassie's on a leash then we're both in the shaft. And that's good for nobody.

Seriously though, this argument again? There are a dozen threads on this topic, none with any resolution.
I am unable to walk away from the mountain without climbing it. An unclimbed mountain tugs at my consciousness with the eternal weight of time itself. Until I've pressed my face into it's alpine winds, hugged it's ancient granite walls, and put it's weathered summit beneath my heal I'm unable to resist it's attraction.Knowing nature gives the mountain more time than she gives us adds urgency to the obsession. As has been said before; the mountain doesn't care.

It can wait forever. I cannot.
User avatar
scalba123
Posts: 493
Joined: 6/19/2009
14ers: 9 
13ers: 2
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Top 10 reasons to hike with a dog

Post by scalba123 »

I'm so sick of dog owners trying to justify their selfish beliefs. This site has gone strictly to the dogs...
User avatar
BillMiddlebrook
Site Administrator
Posts: 6910
Joined: 7/25/2004
14ers: 58  46  19 
13ers: 172 44 37
Trip Reports (2)
 
Contact:

Re: Top 10 reasons to hike with a dog

Post by BillMiddlebrook »

scalba123 wrote:This site has gone strictly to the dogs...
:lol:

Come on, cheese probably just had a few and made a late-night post to stir the pot.
"When I go out, I become more alive. I just love skiing. The gravitational pull. When you ski steep terrain... you can almost get a feeling of flying." -Doug Coombs
User avatar
lordhelmut
Posts: 2310
Joined: 2/24/2006
14ers: 50  21  5 
13ers: 300 60 1
Trip Reports (73)
 
Contact:

Re: Top 10 reasons to hike with a dog

Post by lordhelmut »

6. Keeps bears and mountain lions away.
As well as a$$clowns who are too uptight about dogs.
User avatar
Neil
Posts: 733
Joined: 6/6/2006
14ers: 41 
13ers: 25
Trip Reports (2)
 

Re: Top 10 reasons to hike with a dog

Post by Neil »

Cheese, you forgot a few (from personal experience):

11. Keeps all hikers alert by tangling its leash around large rocks, thereby pulling them loose and trundling them onto humans.

12. Tests group dynamics when the dog and its owner get stuck on difficult terrain on descent while other two group members wait below and storms build.

It really is a safety issue, even when dogs are leashed. On 11 above, I missed having my leg broken by a split second because a leash ripped a boulder loose not 100 yards from the Fletcher TH. Love dogs, but they have the potential to injur people on the mountain, whether leashed or not, and whether in the dog's group or not. Because your hike with a dog is without incident does not make it safe.

Keep stirring Cheese!
User avatar
bonehead
Posts: 747
Joined: 11/13/2009
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Top 10 reasons to hike with a dog

Post by bonehead »

cheeseburglar wrote:5. Instant assessment of other hikers based on their reaction to my off leash dog(s).
Yepper!!
User avatar
Floyd
Posts: 1072
Joined: 7/16/2006
14ers: 58 
13ers: 100
Trip Reports (35)
 

Re: Top 10 reasons to hike with a dog

Post by Floyd »

Neil, another perfect reason to have the dogs OFF-leash. Having them on-leash and letting them run free just sounds silly and lazy to me.

Cheese, excellent post. You forgot that boulder hopping is much safer off-leash. They can pull you off rock causing a broken leg or worse if on leash. But yes, the best part is your "#5. Instant assessment of other hikers based on their reaction to my off leash dog(s)." Oddly, I've never actually ran into anyone off a forum (including rangers) that has a problem with my off-leash dog. I wonder why that is????
"Athletes express themselves physically, this is their art. As an athlete, exhausting oneself on the field or or on the track or on the trail or on the mountain brings calm and satisfaction. Thrashing about… our expression." - Steve Gleason
User avatar
colokeith
Posts: 439
Joined: 1/3/2011
14ers: 39  2 
13ers: 34 3
Trip Reports (7)
 
Contact:

Re: Top 10 reasons to hike with a dog

Post by colokeith »

This is obviously a troll post intended for fun, but I am going to give a serious response.

I have two dogs that I hike with regularly. I don't take them on a lot of 14ers because they weigh 60lbs, and I don't feel like carrying them out if they get hurt. I have done easier peaks with them.

One of my dogs is fantastic off leash, she stays near me, and has 100% recall. She will stop on a dime even if chasing a squirrel , dog ... If she is on a leash she pulls and is generally annoying.
My other dog is very well behaved on a leash. I tie him to my pack and barely notice he is there. Despite two years of work he has poor recall, and I cannot trust him off leash even on remote trails. So my point is that hiking with dogs off leash is very dependent on the dog, and the relationship the owner has with that dog
To climb is to push yourself in a way you might not normally imagine is possible. If your stamina, skill, and luck are sound you will get to stand on top. ... I realized that with climbing, I'd found something that nourished my soul and could forge me into a better version myself - Jim Davidson
User avatar
milan
Posts: 329
Joined: 9/17/2008
14ers: 57  1 
13ers: 84 1
Trip Reports (8)
 
Contact:

Re: Top 10 reasons to hike with a dog

Post by milan »

Most importantly they are an emergency source of food. You get stuck somewhere, get hungry, instead of eating another group member you start with his dogs :) . Even better if they are hot.
Post Reply