[pct-l] Dogs on the Trail

[waynekraft at verizon.net (Wayne Kraft)]

I've thought a lot about this.  I am serverely hearing impaired and, when I take my hearing aid and cochlear implant out at night, I am deaf for all practical purposes.  Folks train dogs to assist them in situations like this.  It would be nice to have a hairy companion to wake me up when someone is standing outside my tent yelling, "Hey, wake up in there!  You might want to run from yon forest fire!"  I have a big Golden Retriever named Major I've minimally trained in this regard.  He is a wonderful companion on the trail.  He always knows if there's someone ahead on the trail and lets me know.  He has learned to come back to me to leash up if there's someone coming.  He has alerted me to odd looking fellows lurking off the trail and generally he's just a great friend.  But he's a ten-mile-a-day friend, max.  Perhaps he could extend that with proper conditioning, but he seems disinclinded to the discipline.  I've known other dogs that are long distance runners.  I have a friend who takes her skinny mutt with her on long training runs.  He'll go twenty miles or more on pavement without complaint.  I can't see Major ever doing that.  I believe the Americans With Disablities Act would require all the parks to allow a hiker to be accompanied by an assistance dog on the trail.  I tried out this concept last year on some rangers at Joshua Tree National Park and they agreed with me.  Another concern I would have is rattlesnakes.  I would hate to lose a well-trained and beloved companion to a snake bite.  I understand there are very effective training clinics that teach dogs to avoid snakes and that would probably be a good deal for any canine hiking companion.

Bottom line: It all seems too complicated.  I've chosen to just put up with the deafness and its consequences.