Wild dogs

[JPritch]

I love dogs as much as anyone, but since hiking and trail running, I've had more than my fair share of encounters with not-so-nice unleashed pet dogs. Just baffles me when you hear an owner yell "just wait, they're not very friendly"....well *** are they not on a leash. They were this close to getting popped with some bear spray!

[Lnj]

I am a HUGE (both literally and figuratively) dog fan and animal fan overall, and I have been a little nervous at night thinking about the possibility of a bear visit in the night but it never occurred to me that I could get a mean dog visit!! That would scare the crap out of me... for minute... and then I think it would make me very mad. It could be a bad day for a bad dog if that happens to me. I LOVE all dogs, except mean ones. Coyotes are generally pretty small and mangy looking, almost fox like, but not quite. Anything called "large" would have to be a mix or a dog.

[ldsailor]

I was hiking north on the AT through North Carolina/Tennessee in early October last year. I heard a lot of dogs. One hiker took the time to tell me it was bear hunting season, which I knew, but what I didn't know is hunters put tracking devices on their dogs and let them run free. A little while later, I kept hearing this one dog barking like crazy. He kept getting closer and closer until I stopped and waited to see if the dog would approach me. Well, it came running up the trail with its collar sporting two wires pointing straight up (antenna I was later told) and stopped within 5 feet of me. The dog looked at me. I looked at him. I swear to god, he got this dejected look on his face, turn around and walked away. I never heard another bark that day.

From this experience I concluded that is one real confused dog and the hunter needs to somehow let the dog know what a bear smells like. It's either that or I have a hygiene problem.

[Five Tango]

I was hiking north on the AT through North Carolina/Tennessee in early October last year. I heard a lot of dogs. One hiker took the time to tell me it was bear hunting season, which I knew, but what I didn't know is hunters put tracking devices on their dogs and let them run free. A little while later, I kept hearing this one dog barking like crazy. He kept getting closer and closer until I stopped and waited to see if the dog would approach me. Well, it came running up the trail with its collar sporting two wires pointing straight up (antenna I was later told) and stopped within 5 feet of me. The dog looked at me. I looked at him. I swear to god, he got this dejected look on his face, turn around and walked away. I never heard another bark that day.

From this experience I concluded that is one real confused dog and the hunter needs to somehow let the dog know what a bear smells like. It's either that or I have a hygiene problem.

Any chance you had Bear Creek Chili for dinner that night?That might explain it................

[SawnieRobertson]

That is a very amusing story, but, yes, they run wherever they track, and they are quite focused. I had two gorgeous red dogs (never saw such a beautiful color) run across my property after a doe. I first heard the thunder (doe's hooves as she fled, obviously terrified). My Poodle service dog was standing about 25 feet from me, and I was terrified myself that one of the huge dogs would attack her. The lead dog just raced on through the woods next to my creek and was beyond view. The second dog saw Fleur standing rigid watching them and pulled to a halt a few feet from her, then walked up and touched noses with her, then swung around quickly and continued its race beyond our sight.

[AlyontheAT2016]

I stayed at Spence Field in the Smokies a couple nights after the bear attacked the hiker in his tent. The rangers had just put up an electric fence and it was maybe 9 pm so we had all just turned in for the night. Right on the cusp of falling asleep, we're jerked awake by wild yelping outside the shelter. The yelping, presumably a coyote, persisted, growing further and further away as the animal ran down the mountain. A moment of silence later, one of the rangers sleeping above me let out a deep, steady, satisfied chuckle, then announced that a coyote had just collided with the electric fence meant to keep out bears.

I never saw a coyote or any wild dogs on the trail. Heard a group of them in Georgia, howling at sunset from another mountain.