[pct-l] trail mutts

[Tom Sweetnam <savamutt@razorlogic.com>]

Bumblefist@aol.com wrote:

>  In 97 for the first couple of months I had the pleasure of hiking with a
> group that included two dogs (Kenya and Alaska).  The dogs carried their own
> food and water but seemed to dread having the little packs put on them.

There must have been something irritating to the dogs about the particular packs
they were carrying -perhaps the way that they cinched up, because I've never
encountered a dog that didn't associate the pack itself with the adventure of
hiking. From my own experience and that of others I know,  when a dog sees the
backpacks come out of the closet, they start doing back flips around the room in
anticipation of going hiking.

For me, backpacking with my dog is a wonderful experience. She's only 3 years old,
a Lab/Vizsla mix, which makes her just about the perfect wilderness dog, and by
now we've covered almost 2000 miles of trail together. I just got back home last
night  after a 5 day hike up in the Marble Mountains, and was reminded once again
how much I appreciate what a dog can add to the backpacking experience.

For instance, I rarely get lost. If a good trail-savy dog has hiked from point A
to point B, I'd trust her sniffer to take me back to point A before I'd trust a
map or my own instincts. A trail smart dog remembers trails. Sally has guided me
on trails many times, and if you're stuck hiking in the pitch black of night, this
comes in pretty handy. I sewed reflector strips on her backpacks, and I just shine
my headlamp up the trail and follow the bouncing reflector in front of me. I once
followed Sally for 17 miles in the King's Range at night, and she never took a
wrong turn, leading us right back to the point of departure.

Some other big advantages to having a dog along, are that bears and mountain lions
are far less likely to confront you. I usually stash most of the food in Sally's
pack too, since a strong canine odor on the food bag tends to make any other
critter more reluctant to approach your campsite at night, and I rarely hang my
food in areas where bears aren't a real big problem. I keep the food (and my dog)
in the tent, and when a skunk, raccoon, or a Colombian ground squirrel approaches
at night (and anybody who hikes coastal California knows how voracious these
little beggars are), a canine growl is all it takes to send them scampering.

When I see people in this forum suggesting that dogs don't belong on wilderness
trails, I'm reminded of the girl who posted a suggestion on Backpacker Magazine's
web board that certain sections of national parks should be cleared of ALL
animals, that way confrontations with dangerous animals, or God forbid, stepping
in animal poop along the trail, wouldn't be a problem at all. I think I read one
time that a neutron bomb could accomplish such a task.

Seems to me that somewhere along civilization's path we've lost touch with what
the wilderness is all about. Dogs are a problem in the wilderness only because
irresponsible people haven't taken the time to train them how to behave as good
trail dogs. Then again, as a nation, we've be indoctrinated to believe that in the
wilderness ALL canines are pests, which is probably why wolves have been hunted to
near extinction, and 400,000 coyotes a year are slaughtered -at taxpayer's
expense- without a thought. Nietzsche once opined that "all we need to learn about
life, we can learn from our dogs". I think he must have been backpacking with his
when that particular bit of inspiration struck.





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