Originally Posted by
Puddlefish
My experience with trail dogs is mixed. I love dogs, I was happy to see a few of them and their owners during the course of the day. It was a bit embarrassing at times that I knew the dog's trail name and not the owner's name. This is what I saw in 600 miles.
The good:
- I saw exactly two "thru hiking" dogs that didn't look half dead at the end of the day. Australian Cattle Hound type dogs, they had a lot of energy left. and their owners hiked fast.
- A few people, very much slowed down their pace to that which their dog could handle, they ended up hiking at my slow pace instead of the pace of their younger friends, who moved up the trail without them.
- One guy had his dad meet him, to take the dog home, the dog just had enough, by the Roan Mtn. area.
- Several well behaved dogs, that let me pet them. (I always asked first, and never assumed.)
The bad:
- Several dog fights. Dogs are territorial, they get confused when they're constantly moving from night to night. Formerly well behaved dogs seemed to have gotten confused about who's space was whose, after a few months.
- One of the dogs I loved, I was less thrilled with when he flopped down two yards upstream, into the stream I was filling my water bottle from.
- I saw one hiker taking a zero at a shelter on a rainy day, her dog just kind of hopped up and down in and out of the shelter for half an hour tracking mud over several people's gear. She kept her nose in a book.
- I saw one dog, one of the exhausted ones, refuse to return to her owner after being kenneled for the GSMNP stretch. It was the saddest thing, the hiker was all "yay, my dog!" and the dog was cowering from her.
- Numerous growly dogs who ran a minute or five ahead of their owner's, blocking the trail and not letting me pass (that confused territoral thing again,) which basically paused my hike for a minute or five, until the owner caught up and said "Don't worry, he or she is harmless!" Every... single... time.
- One dog that was prowling a tentsite unleashed, that actually nipped at me when I banged my shoes together to get the mud off of them. "Oh, yeah, he does that... I have no idea why"
- I saw two notices taped to trees at trailheads for lost dogs.
So sure, take your dog along, just be prepared to adapt. That well trained dog at home and on the local trails, might start feeling some stress after a month and behave differently. Some people do it well, and make the hike a great experience for themselves and their dogs. Other people are a bit more oblivious. They're all good dogs. Hikers tend to like friendly dogs.