[pct-l] Dogs on trail, Campo to Julian

[David Thibault]

Also remember, since they are small dogs, they will be concidered part of
the food chain by coyotes, bobcats, and birds of prey.    You will need to
keep a constant eye on them.

Day-late

>
> Message: 6
> Date: Sun, 1 Mar 2009 17:08:22 -0600
> From: Andrew Jones <a.freddy.j at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Dogs on trail, Campo to Julian
> To: elawlor at gmail.com, pct-l at backcountry.net
> Message-ID:
>        <c75c07da0903011508ud01965dqaf6ea97e249d2f9 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Besides the concerns already voiced by the other folks on the list, I would
> encourage you to keep in mind that if the dogs are actually little, as in
> small, that they will be taking many times more steps than you to go the
> same distance. Julian is 77 miles up the trail, so you'd average about 15
> miles/day to get there in 5 days. 15 miles can be a long way for a small
> dog
> to go in one day. There isn't a whole lot of water on this section of
> trail,
> so be prepared to carry a LOT of extra water for the dogs. Also keep in
> mind
> that dogs don't adjust quickly to changes in temperature, so depending on
> where they live it may be quite a change to go to the desert. The biggest
> thing is to pay VERY close attention to them. Set aside time during trail
> breaks, in the morning, at night, just to look the dogs over. Check for
> ticks frequently, look at their eyes, feet, mouth, everything just to make
> sure they're doing okay. Watch closely for signs of fatigue, limping and
> exhaustion while they're moving. And most importantly, be ready to abruptly
> change your hiking plans for them. Their well being is more important than
> you getting to Julian in 5 days. That said, given the right sort of dogs,
> they'll probably have a great time. Just look out for them.
>
> Andy
>
>