[pct-l] Siberian Husky on PCT

[Oz]

Yes I agree. Eric hit the nail on the head. 

You're also right, there is something very special about hiking with a dog that likes to hike. It's new to me, but it really does have an entirely different feel sometimes and I'm growing very attached to it. Hence the questions I asked today. 

Thanks 



On 2013-05-20, at 3:36 PM, Hollywood <100marathonsorg at gmail.com> wrote:

> Well said, Eric.
> 
> I hiked over 1,000 miles with another hiker who had a dog and it was a wonderful experience.  My takeaway is that you can hike with a dog.  But you can't thru-hike with a dog.  You will miss sections, your town stops will be wholly different than everyone elses, and you will have to stop when other hikers go.  You will have to hike all night in the desert.  And you will have to carry the dog's water on long stretches where it's already uncomfortable to carry your own.  You will have to skip sections. And you will have to turn around at the canadian border instead of continuing to celebrations in Manning.
> 
> If you can wholeheartedly say this is what you want, you should give it a try.  Hiking with a dog is a wholly different experience and I found it was very tribal helped me understand the long relationship the domestic dog has with man.  But if you're the type of person who must walk every step, don't do it.  Hiking with a dog should be looked at as a long journey (not a thru-hike) with a great companion where BOTH of your needs are met.  If that's not happening on either end, you should be prepared to take the dog home with no reservation.  Some people can think that way just fine and the experience is fantastic for them.  But their measure of success is different than a typical thru-hiker.
> 
> Hollywood
> 
> 
> On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 12:15 PM, Eric Lee <saintgimp at hotmail.com> wrote:
>> Oz wrote:
>> >
>> I was hoping I could get your opinions about dogs on the PCT.
>> >
>> 
>> Dogs on the trail is one of those perennial hot-button issues that usually
>> devolves to email flaming in short order.  Unfortunately a lot of the
>> responses you've already gotten are laden with that miserable history -
>> sorry about that.  You might try searching the archives for past dog threads
>> which would give you a lot of information.
>> 
>> In my experience of observing many years of people trying to thru-hike with
>> dogs, there are a few individual dogs who can do it without enormous
>> suffering.  Most of them cannot.  A lot of the visceral reaction you'll get
>> from this email list is due to the fact that many thru-hikers with dogs get
>> fixated on two goals: "I must thru-hike to Canada" and "my dog must do it
>> with me".  They become inattentive to comfort, happiness, and safety of
>> their pet and it's really hard for the rest of us to watch.  Sometimes it
>> ends up in a straight-up animal cruelty situation but the owners have such
>> tunnel vision that they can't see it.  When you use phrases like "I want it
>> badly", that rings alarm bells for many of us.
>> 
>> Not every dog thru-hike ends up like that but many of them do.  It's
>> impossible to tell on an online forum whether you're one of the fortunate
>> few or not.
>> 
>> These are the major problems you'll encounter with a dog on a thru-hike:
>> 
>> 1.  There's a huge difference between hiking for a week and hiking for 5
>> months.  Most animals that enjoy a week-long hike won't enjoy a 5 month
>> hike.   A 5 month thru-hike is hugely punishing on anyone's body, whether
>> human or canine.  Roughly half of the human participants drop out before
>> finishing because of injury or because they're just sick of walking all day
>> every damn day and feeling all the pain that come with that.  Remember that
>> your dog will be feeling just as crappy as you, and probably more so, but
>> your dog can't talk and can't say, "You know, I think I've had enough.
>> Let's go home."  Most dogs won't stage an obvious mutiny.  Most dogs will
>> willingly walk themselves literally to death for their master.  You have to
>> be exceedingly attentive to the subtle signals your dog is giving you and
>> you have to be *willing* to abandon your hike if your dog isn't having fun.
>> 
>> 
>> 3.  I don't know enough to say how huskies would handle extreme heat but the
>> heat on the PCT can be quite fierce.  The terrain is often rocky and exposed
>> and what registers as 100 degrees at head-height for you may be more like
>> 120 degrees down where your dog is.  It's true that huskies are built for
>> hard work but any sensible animal would hole up during the day and not
>> travel in those conditions.  It's only us crazy humans that go running
>> around baking ourselves in the heat.
>> 
>> 4.  Many stretches of the PCT are composed entirely of highly abrasive rock
>> and sand.  It's not all soft forest duff.  Your dog will have problems with
>> his pads and you'll need to have a plan for that.
>> 
>> 5.  Having a dog makes hitchhiking and town-stay logistics a lot more
>> complicated, and sometimes impossible.  You'll need to account for that.
>> 
>> 6.  As you noted, dogs are not allowed in national parks which complicates
>> logistics even further.
>> 
>> Probably the ideal dog thru-hike plan is to have a dedicated support person
>> who follows you from town to town in a car and can provide transportation,
>> supplies, and dog-sitting when your dog needs to get off the trail, all at a
>> moment's notice.  Most people don't have that luxury, though.
>> 
>> I think the idea of going on a long hike, even a multi-month hike, with your
>> dog is a great idea.  The horrible idea is trying to do a thru-hike - that
>> is, trying to set a hard do-or-die goal that you're pushing towards.  Don't
>> set out to do a thru-hike.  Set out to spend a few months on the trail with
>> your dog.  If everything happens to work well and you make lots of miles,
>> fine.  If you need to drastically alter your plans and strategy to sleep
>> through the heat of the day, or skip around certain sections, or get off
>> trail and rest for two weeks, or hike only 10 miles a day for a while,
>> that's fine too.  You probably won't make it to Canada in one year.  Resign
>> yourself to that right now.
>> 
>> If you have your dog with you, you don't get to "hike your own hike".  You
>> *must* have the mental flexibility to "hike your dog's hike".  Your dog
>> calls the shots.  It's not about Canada.  It's about the safety and
>> well-being of your dog.  If you can go out there and honestly have that
>> attitude all the way down to your toes then you and your dog will have a
>> great time.  If you don't, then you're likely to become a traveling
>> animal-cruelty case that the rest of us hate to watch.
>> 
>> Eric
>> 
>> 
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