Thru hiking with dogs?

[Oracle]

Me: I will leave your dog alone and expect you to keep him away from me and my stuff. If you fail in that responsibility, I will do anything I deem necessary to protect myself. Besides biting, there are many annoying things dogs can do to wear out their welcome--shaking water on people and their stuff, snitching food, peeing on people's tents...the list is endless and many of us do not think this is cute or acceptable.

I think this is a pretty good standard. By bringing a dog on the trail, you very well might be putting a potentially dangerous animal in an unfamiliar situation. That adds stress, and adding stress may make it do things it normally wouldn't do. You also put it around unfamiliar people who may react badly to it and it may react badly to them.

Think about it. Your dog starts messing with someone else's property, and that person takes action against your dog, shooing it, or even hitting it to make it leave their stuff alone. This may not be the best idea on their part, but it is reasonable that it may happen. Your dog responds by attacking that person and possibly others that try to help defend that person. Then, you're responsible for any injuries your dog causes to that person or persons, and they may well severely harm your dog in the process of defending themselves. Now you're in a situation where you're legally liable for harming others, they may need medical attention, and you may be looking at having to carry your dog to an area where it could get medical attention, which may be far away. Or your dog may end up dead.

Not a good situation. Best to leave the dogs at home.

[SGT Rock]

Sure Fhart, and almost all of them are preventable and the reasons for the bite can always be traced to a Human screw-up. When are you going to realise Dogs dont bite without reason? Only humans harm others for no cause. Like it or not Dog bites are caused by Ignorant owners and Idiots who have no clue how to handle a strange animal. Perhaps it is YOU who needs to clean the sand from your ears.

Sad.

How about this:

From 1979 through 1994, attacks by dogs resulted in 279 deaths of humans in the United States. (Sacks JJ, Sattin RW, Bonzo SE. Dog bite-related fatalities from 1979 through 1988. JAMA 1989;262:1489-92; Sacks JJ, Lockwood R, Hornreich J, Sattin RW. Fatal dog attacks, 1989-1994. Pediatrics 1996; 97:891-5.) In the latter study, which covered six years, the researchers made these findings:

There were 109 bite-related fatalities.
- 57% of the deaths were in children under 10 years of age.
- 81% of the attacks involved an unrestrained dog.
- 22% of the deaths involved an unrestrained dog OFF the owner's property.
- 59% of the deaths involved an unrestrained dog ON the owner's property.
- 18% of the deaths involved a restrained dog ON the owner's property.
- 10% of the dog bite attacks involved sleeping infants.
The most commonly reported dog breeds involved were pit bulls (24 deaths), followed by rottweilers (16 deaths), and German shepherds (10 deaths).
The authors pointed out that many breeds are involved in fatal attacks. The death rate from dog bite-related fatalities (18 deaths per year) in the 6-year study period remained relatively constant compared with the prior 10 years. The authors emphasized that "most of the factors contributing to dog bites are related to the level of responsibility exercised by dog owners." They recommend public education about dogs and dog ownership.

The Humane Society of the United States and the Center for Disease Control did another study of dog bite related fatalities (DBRF's) during 1995-1996. Here are some of their findings:

- At least 25 persons died as the result of dog attacks (11 in 1995 and 14 in 1996). However, tThe sources used for the study are thought to have underestimated the number of DBRF's by 26%.
- 20 (80%) occurred among children (three were up to one month old, one was aged 5 months, 10 were aged 1-4 years, and six were aged 5-11 years).
- 5 occurred among adults (ages 39, 60, 75, 81, and 86 years).
- Most (18 [72%]) DBRF's occurred among males.
- Of 23 deaths with sufficient information for classification, seven (30%) involved an unrestrained dog off the owner's property, five (22%) involved a restrained dog on the owner's property, and 11 (48%) involved an unrestrained dog on the owner's property.
- Of the 25 deaths, nine (36%) involved one dog, nine (36%) involved two dogs, two (8%) involved three dogs, and five (20%) involved six to 11 dogs.
- All the attacks by unrestrained dogs off the owner's property involved more than one dog.
- Of the three deaths among neonates, all occurred on the dog owner's property and involved one dog and a sleeping child.
- Fatal attacks were reported from 14 states (California [four deaths]; Florida and Pennsylvania [three each]; Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, and South Dakota [two each]; and Connecticut, Massachusetts, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, and Washington [one each]).

"Dog Bite Law - Dangerous and Visions Dogs." Retrieved 10 Oct 2005 from http://www.dogbitelaw.com/PAGES/danger.htm

So I guess the sleeping kid must of been really asking for it.

Humans that hurt other humans usually have reasons (unlike what you claim) it is just that they may be bad ones. I guess either you can accept that dogs can hurt people for reasons that can be just as wrong as when humans do it, or you can continue to be deluded into Dog=good and People=bad.

[rickb]

Dang, that's about the same number of people who die each year from bee stings.

Lets ban them from the Trail. too.

[SGT Rock]

Dang, that's about the same number of people who die each year from bee stings.

Lets ban them from the Trail. too.

Great flippant remark. Seems that is becoming the next reserve of the dog defenders...

How many hikers are carrying bees?

Nevermind.

How many hikers are carrying hypothermia, lightning, or gunshots? They have no relevance to this. The data was presented to show a point about the motives of dogs in attacks. So a mauling or attack by a dog, though not presented is probably a lot more painfull than a bee sting to someone that isn't alergic. Must I look up statistics to counter the flippant bee remark? Geez, so I guess your point is still dog attacks on humans is a cross we must all suffer to make you dog hikers happy. And you tried to infer I was selfish.

[The Old Fhart]

SGT Rock-"How many hikers are carrying bees?"

SCORE! point to SGT Rock!

[Lone Wolf]

Overall, dogs on the AT suck. End of ***ing thread.

[SGT Rock]

Overall, dogs on the AT suck. End of ***ing thread.

Your right LWolf. It seems that no matter what evidence is presented there is a disconnect from reality that prevents some from objective reasoning. The thread has been reduced to flippant remarks.

Anyone second LWolf's idea to close the thread?

[The Old Fhart]

I'd second it but I'm still trying to get the sand out of my ears! Plus I might be considered biased.

[SGT Rock]

Bahh. Leave the sand. Seems I read somewhere that before you tell someone to remove the moot from his eye you should remove the beam from your own.

Perhaps there is a beach that needs removing somewhere.

Anyway. Time to move on to what coffee tastes good in the morning, what tent is best for a solo hiker, and how many pairs of socks you need.

Stick a fork in this one and call it done.