Cooler wiser minds are prevailing. Couldn't have said it better than Jack Tarlin and Rain Man. Where do I sign my name to the referendum?
this must be what that crossbow was for... dem zombies
"he won't bite" never trust those words, especially if you smell like bacon!
We did a short day hike from Springer Mountain to Hightower gap last Sunday. I stopped at Stover Creek shelter to use the rest room and was menaced by someones off leash dog. You will be hard pressed to find a bigger dog lover than me, but I didn't appreciate this persons dog doing the low crawl stalk complete with ears back, showing teeth and growling as it moved towards me as I approached the shelter. The dogs owner didn't seem to care that his dog was threatening me either. I think it is this type of scenario that gives dogs a bad rap. In this scenario I 100 percent blame the thoughtless human and not the canine.
As an aside I turned sidewise, didn't make eye contact and remained still and the dog eventually moved back towards the inside of the shelter. If he had continued in the aggressive stance I would have been forced to defend myself. It would not have made for a pleasant day for me or the dog if I had been forced to fight off this persons dog. I hike with a nice hickory stick for a walking pole, and am also legally carrying a firearm while in the woods.
Whew, that had ugly written all over it, glad it didn't escalate. Definitely all on the owner
A well behaved dog on the trail is much appreciated by all. My female Wheaten is a 5X AT Section hiker and she has never met someone that didn't like her. She is off lead until I see another hiker or when I feel she needs to be close then she goes on lead for a while. The experience has always been good and other hiker responses have been positive. We have not come across anyone that should the negativity that you were describing in your post.
This year will be her sons first section hike. Yeah! He however will be on lead behind me at ALL the times. Not because he is ill mannered. He likes to roam, it's his nature and if he picks up a scent he likes he's gone for a while. That just won't do!
So, I say hike with your pooches and keep good trail manners.
I will admit, I let my dingo off leash for a majority of the hike, but he knows never to get more than a few yards from me.
Everytime we've crossed paths with someone on the trail, he comes back immediately after being called & goes on leash. I actually enjoy seeing who notices other hikers first... The dog is usually too busy enjoying himself to notice.
When passing, I keep myself between the dog & other hikers, & he's not allowed to bother them unless they offer to see him.
Idk if this makes me a "bad" dog owner, I certainly hope not. He's learned that any misbehavior means an immediate return to the car, & if he ever showed aggression to a person, he'd be left at home.
This is exactly what I call a God complex: declaring what total strangers uniformly and only feel about one's dog, what goes on in their heads. If Christ Jesus came down and set foot on the AT with a dog, I might believe him if he declared what occurs in other's heads. But when anyone else presumes the same powers ... meh.
Rain Man
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[I]ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: ... Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit....[/I]. Numbers 35
[url]www.MeetUp.com/NashvilleBackpacker[/url]
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As a dog owner- let me throw my $0.02 in the ring. 1) I love my dog more than I like a lot of people. 2)M y dog has boundaries & limitations, especially when I walk her on a trail.
If it's a remote section of a trail at an odd time of day (locally here, not the AT) where I know I won't see many people (if at all), I'll let her off leash, but no more tham 6 feet in front of me- and I always watch out for other people. As soon as I see someone or someone with a dog, she goes back on leash, immediately. On this particular trail there are no blind curves, so I can always see at least 100 feet ahead.
When I'm using one of the more utilized trails, state parks, etc, she is ALWAYS on leash, tethered to my pack. What I HATE is people who let their dogs run 12 feet away on the extendable/retractable leashes. People-it's not a leash if your dog is running 12 feet away from you! I have had several instances where I've had people running or jogging or hiking with dogs off leash, and they run up to and around mine, barking and snarling, etc. Now, my Zoe is a sweetheart, unless a dog threatens her, so here she was, on her 3' lead, with a irritating (albeit beautiful) Samoyed that was charging her. Needless to say, even though the owner was desperately trying to call him back, my trekking pole was swung in his direction. For one thing, I didn't need 65lbs of American Bulldog tugging at my pack. I yelled back to the owner that her dog should have been on a restraint when she saw us (like I did). This has happened several times on trails, where my dog was restrained but other folks felt like it was cool to let their dogs roam freely around strangers.
To me, the right answer is to keep your dog on a leash when there is the chance you'll run into people. I love dogs, but sadly some people don't control their animals. It's when they are not controlled I don't like them.
Pepper spray. I would have maintained eye contact (letting the dog know I'M the alpha) and stood my ground. I come across folks with badly behaving dogs all the time. One (at a state park) kept growling ferociuosly at me every time I walked past (it was at a popular scenic area). I wasn't about to let a dog keep me from enjoying the scenery, but the 2nd time when he growled at me I looked directly at the owners with that "keep your dog restrained" look. They seemed pretty embarrassed that he was acting that way.
Wholeheartedly agree. Behavior like that from a dog should not be tolerated by owner or stranger, at all. Words would have been exchanged. If my dog did that, end of hike for her, no excuses.
Having said that, I would LOVE to take her with me to the Grayson Highlands, but I want to interact w/ the ponies, & I'm not sure how her presence would affect their behavior, so guess what? She doesn't go. Too easy.
I like most dogs.Hate a misbehaved dog. I will do what it takes to take care of a bad dog or bad dog owners. Remember Nobody like my dog like I like my dog. And no matter how well a dog behaves... some people just dont like dogs. We should be sensitive to those who dont like dogs and keep our dogs away.
My wife and I will be hiking with our 6 year old Miniature Dachshund. She is a very good hiking dog, and most of the time stays clear of strangers. We hardly ever have her on a leash while hiking, and she generally hikes between the two of us. Being a Dachshund, of course she can be a barker, and that never lasts more than a minute at the most. She's a great trail dog, and keeps to herself about 95% of the time. We're already planning on sleeping in our tent when the shelters get crowded, just in case she starts barking. Most of the evening she'll spend sleeping in one of our bags, or least after she eats.
For good or ill, the AT has mandatory leash regulations for 40%+ of the trail.
The two of you, and others, may have a well behaved dog. But the leash laws are there for a reason.
Paul "Mags" Magnanti
http://pmags.com
Twitter: @pmagsco
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The true harvest of my life is intangible...a little stardust caught,a portion of the rainbow I have clutched -Thoreau
There is ALWAYS a chance you'll run into other people, especially on the AT. I once had a dog decide it would rather hike with me then it's owner, who was going bit slow. After a couple of miles of this, I tied the dog to a tree. No longer my problem. (yes, the owner did eventually catch up and found his dog).
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A minute of Dacshund barking may seem like cute and nothing to you but to me it would be very irritating and seem like LOTS longer then a minute.
"Something hidden. Go and find it. Go, and look behind the Ranges. Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you . . . Go!" (Rudyard Kipling)
From SunnyWalker, SOBO CDT hiker starting June 2014.
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