[pct-l] dogs on the trail (Long)

[Marion Davison]

I hike with llamas, so I really hate to meet unfriendly and unmonitored 
dogs on the trail.  They constitute an extreme hazard to my stock.Many 
dogs don't know what a llama is, so their first reaction is to bark 
angrily.
Too many people let their dogs run loose way ahead and sometimes out of 
sight and don't know what the dogs are doing.  When I see loose dogs and 
no people in sight, I start hollering for the people to collect their 
dog.  If people see us coming and don't immediately get their loose dog 
under control, I politely ask them to do so.

In 2003 we did two long section hikes in Yosemite and SeKi totalling 40 
nights.  On 8 of those nights we had a bear in our camp.  Since some of 
these bears looked on my llamas as a tasty snack, and a bear killed 
someone else's llama while we were in SeKi, we were very uncomfortable 
with the bears.  So, since then, we have hiked outside the parks on 
other sections of PCT and adjoining trails, and we have brought a medium 
or large dog with us as a herd guard.  We have not seen a single bear 
for the last 5 years, so I agree that, outside the parks, a dog is a 
great bear deterrent.  Bear hunters  sometimes use dogs, so bears 
outside the parks associate dogs with mortal danger.
On the other hand, coyotes are attracted to our dog in camp.  They will 
come right into camp as soon as it is fully dark, calling loudly, trying 
to attract our dog out into the open away from camp.  We have been told 
that the coyotes want to jump the dog and have her for dinner.  So when 
we hear coyotes howl we immediately bring our dog into our tent.  The 
coyotes give up and leave eventually.

When I am allowed to let my dog walk loose, I do, and I have trained her 
to ignore other hikers and stock.  This took time and patient training 
when she was young.  I won't allow her to bark at or approach other 
hikers and she has to stay by my stock as we walk.
When I am in an area where I have to have her on a leash, I do, but I am 
constantly aware that this puts me in danger.  On rough trails I have 
fallen a few times because of the actions of my leashed dog, and got 
pretty badly bruised/scraped up a couple of times.  It is annoying when 
hiking through leash required areas when we meet so many people who 
aren't obeying the law, and their loose dog rushes up to my leashed dog.

One day as I hiked past someone's camp on the Tahoe section of the PCT, 
his loose dog rushed out and bit me on the leg.  I was not thrilled by 
that experience either.

I took my  medium size short haired dog on a section hike of Section D 
in late March.  She was doing fine on the cooler days at the higher 
elevations, but on the last day hiking from North Fork to Soledad canyon 
the temperature was 100 degrees, and she was totally suffering.  She 
also picked up dozens of ticks in the chapparal which took about a week 
to remove.  The ticks didn't get us, just her.  I often take my big dog 
on Section C hikes in the Spring and she hasn't found any ticks yet, 
thank goodness.  But I check her very carefully after every trip.