Dogs in the backcountry

[birdog]

Is it just me or are more and more people hiking in the Smoky's with dogs? According to the Park Service it is against the rules but I just got back from a 4 day trip and I saw at least 6 dogs WAY back in the backcountry.

[Wise Old Owl]

Don't know but you sparked my interest and nobody follows rules anymore, or we would all still be doing 55mpg and saving gas.

[sheepdog]

rules are just for other people????

[spirit4earth]

I'm wondering what thru-hikers do with their dogs when the trail passes through national parks.

[Jeepocachers]

There hasn't been one time that I haven't seen someone in the backcountry with a dog in the Smokies. Mostly day hikers, but there was one backpacker that was camped out on the Forney Creek trail with his Beagle.

[Disney]

Don't know but you sparked my interest and nobody follows rules anymore, or we would all still be doing 55mpg and saving gas.

I don't think it's an "anymore" thing so much as a human nature thing. People have been breaking some rules for a long time. Especially in the back country.

[Jack Tarlin]

What you're starting to see in the Smokies are a lot of folks with fake "service" dogs.

Other than legit srevice animals, you shouldn't see dogs in the Smokies, period. It's very much illegal.

[Chip]

Jack is right ! No dogs allowed in the backcountry of GSMNP. You said that you just came back from a 4 day hike recently. Were these dogs
running free and what type or breed do you think ? A few years ago at this time of year (October) I ran into some hunters who were trying to train their hunting dogs ( with radio collars) just inside the GSMNP boundry near Mt. Sterling. Too bad no rangers were around to stop them.

[birdog]

The dogs I saw ran the gamut. Toy poodles, labs, and various un-named ankle biters. I saw the poodle on top of Le Conte: 6500 ft and a fairly strenuous climb for the 300 pound woman in the pink Addidas jogging suit that was holding its' leash. Unbelievable to say the the least. Down toward Icewater Spring we ran into a Lab about 6:30 in the evening-too late to be a day hiker. On the way out we hiked Laurel Falls trail just to satisfy my masocistic tendencies to be around 10,000 of my closest friends and it looked like the Westminster Dog Show. You name it...we saw it!!!

[superman]

Bad people are every where. They should get their nose swatted with a rolled up newspaper.

[Chip]

I guess it was your lucky week to see so many dogs in the Smokies. I hike and backpack in GSMNP all the time, I live just 45 minutes away. The hunting dogs I saw in the backcountry a few years ago was a first time in the many years of treking there. It is too bad when people can't or won't control their dogs and obey the law. I own 6 dogs. Three of them hike with my wife and I at times and are always on a leash.

Next time you see someone with a dog and they do not have it on a leash, speak out and let them know that they are breaking the law. I have done so many times when I hike in Pisgah Forest. I do so in a friendly manner as not to upset them but only to inform them so if they do run in to a ranger it might save them some grief. If I see the ranger first, I will
let him know that there is a dog off leash up the trail.

[daverep]

Dear fellow hikers and lovers of remote places: I know rules are made good reasons. However, I go to the woods to get away from the intracacies of modern administration. When I meet someone with a dog in a resricted area I would inform them of the rules so they might avoid a fine. I would never tell a ranger unless the dog was mean or the person rude. There are so many rules and regs now that soon we will need a hiker's license and go to the Division of Hiker Registration to get it. Sounds like some of you would think this a grood thing. Perhaps some metamucil..

[wrongway_08]

I'd rather see the dogs out there, then see other people out there.

[Phreak]

What you're starting to see in the Smokies are a lot of folks with fake "service" dogs.

Any evidence to substantiate this claim?

[Mags]

Play nice all.

Nothing bad happened...yet. Let's keep it civil.

[Lone Wolf]

Any evidence to substantiate this claim?

i see 'em when they get here in damascus when they try to bring the on "The Place" property claiming their mutt is a "service dog". no papers, no leash. nothing proving it's a servie dog

[wrongway_08]

My dogs turn into service dogs, when I put their bright safety vest on and a harness.

[warraghiyagey]

I'd rather see the dogs out there, then see other people out there.

[Jack Tarlin]

Phreak:

My "evidence" to support this claim is from folks who've told me flat out that their sercice dog is fake but that nobody can prove otherwis; plus lots of other folks I've seen who've looked for (and found) loopholes in the law, and who have no license or paperwork or badge or certificate of any kind to support their claim that their dog is in service, and say that it is their legal "right" to not have to document the legitimacy of their service animal, i.e., they don't have to prove legitimacy to anyone, tho it'd be ridiculously easy to do so, if their dog was, in fact, a legit service dog. Which leads one to think that when one encounters an undocumented or badged "service" dog, or when the owner indignantly insists that they don't have to show any documentaion or proof, well I think the owner if fulla s***.

Basically, Phreak, anyone who wants to can claim that their dog is a service animal, and it'd be virtually impossible for anyone to prove otherwise, meaning the chance of anyone getting in trouble by travelling in a restriced area with a fake service animal is minimal, even non-existent.

And this happens all the time.

[Lone Wolf]

they can't stay at The Place. private property