Dog Found on AT near Madison Co., NC

[4dogHiker]

This baby was found on the Appalachian Trail and had followed hikers for miles. If you know of someone close to the App trail or if a hiker is missing their dog, possibly from another county please give us a call to describe! 828-649-3190

[4dogHiker]

The phone number is for the Madison County Humane Society

[4dogHiker]

This message was originally posted on Facebook, and several comments note this dog has been around for awhile, so it is likely a local dog, but since there is a chance he could be a hiker's lost dog, I'm leaving this post up. Good thing he is off the trail now, though; apparently he was getting into trouble with dogs of hikers.

[Pedaling Fool]

Nice dog, I'd adopt it if I lived up north.

[rocketsocks]

Bump...................................er man.hope he finds his/her pack.

[Tennessee Viking]

Where was the dog found exactly?

I ran into a dog one time near Flint Mountain Shelter and followed me back out to Devils Fork Gap. I called the owner just down the road, she said it apparently was so used to walking the trail, it would wonder by itself up the trail.

[4dogHiker]

Where was the dog found exactly?

I ran into a dog one time near Flint Mountain Shelter and followed me back out to Devils Fork Gap. I called the owner just down the road, she said it apparently was so used to walking the trail, it would wonder by itself up the trail.

Tennessee Viking, I'm not sure. I'm guessing he was found without collars, and I'm not sure if he's been checked for a microchip. I hope they give him achance to be adopted if his owner can't be found.

[Wise Old Owl]

well if it was walking the trail that's what it's trained to do.... Please check for a micro chip most vets would do that for free.

[Papa D]

About 2 months ago there was a note on a pole at Sams Gap (right under the overpass) about a lost dog - this would have been roughly in the vicinity - - I believe that the poster said that the dog was a local child's dog that sometimes followed hikers .....

[shelterbuilder]

Looks like a Husky/Husky mix. Smart enough to know where the food is, and strong enough to hike for miles and miles and miles and....

Hope he finds a home.

[Wise Old Owl]

Nice dog, I'd adopt it.

[ehrenlynne]

Wow! I never thought I'd see this dog again! I am one of the hikers that helped get this dog off the trail. Here is what happened. I was hiking with my dog, Grace (thankfully on a leash as she always is), just north of Hot Springs. Met some other hikers who warned me about this stray dog on the trail, great with other hikers, but aggressive with dogs. Grace is a pit bull mix, so you can imagine my worries about this loose dog! Sure enough, we ran into her a mile later. She was a huge malamute! Easily three times the size of Grace, but thin from starvation and covered in blood and sores. I tried to keep myself between her and Grace, but she kept trying to sneak around behind me to get to my dog. Grace, of course, was in uber-pit bull mode and determined to protect me from this stranger. So, picture me standing in the middle of the trail with my full pack telling one dog to go away and the other dog to come here and be quiet, Grace straining at the leash, fifty pounds of fury, I can barely hold onto her, and this big malamute just keeps coming back for more. We could only walk about ten steps, then chaos for five minutes, then ten steps, then chaos. It was awful and exhausting. Some other hikers tried to run interference and lure her away, but she would just circle around and pop up on the trail again. Finally, a huge group of hikers came tromping down the trail and she decided to follow them. Whew! So, Grace and I scampered off as fast as we could. I thought I had seen the last of her. But no, as soon as we crossed the bridge over the highway and rounded the bend, there she was harassing another hiker and his dog! She ignored Grace this time, but would not leave me. She ended up hiking with us the entire rest of the day, malamute in the lead, then me, Grace next, followed by Oboe Hobo and his dog Gurdy. Miles and miles, and hours of hell. Exhausted, I knew we weren't going to make it to the shelter. So, I made camp near the Rich Mountain Look-Out Tower, put up my tent, fed my dog, ate my dinner - all the while keeping one eye on this malamute. I gave her a little of Grace's food and some water. She drank the water, but had been starving for so long, she would not eat the food. She ate sticks instead. I felt so bad for her. I thought perhaps I could have her hike with us to the next town where I could get her some help.

Grace stayed tied to a tree on one side of the fire, the malamute laid down on the other side of the fire, and I sat between them. It seemed, finally, peaceful and lovely. I started to relax. Rookie hiked by, stopped to chat for a bit, then he went on up to camp in the look-out tower. At dusk, I decided it was time to call it a night, and I tried to put Grace in the tent. All hell broke loose! The malamute attacked Grace, and Grace was not going to back down. I was yelling and trying to get the two dogs apart, but they would not quit. Rookie heard the commotion and came running down the hill from the tower to help out. My hero! I have no idea how things would have ended if he had not been there. He chased off the malamute and stood guard while I scrambled to get a few things out of the tent, then Grace and I went up into the look-out tower for the night. Fortunately, Grace went up those crazy, steep stairs without a problem, but the malamute did not. She spent the night sleeping at the bottom of the tower, waiting for us to come back down. Come morning, she was still there. I had no idea what to do, but knew I couldn't spend the rest of my life up in this tower and I couldn't hike another day with two crazy dogs. So, I called my sister in Georgia and told her what was going on and that I needed some help. She got online and on the phone and roused EVERYBODY in North Carolina - the Forest Service, sheriff's department, animal control, the Easter Bunny, a couple of Grandmas, and one very tired hoot owl. Fortunately, the Rich Mtn Tower has road access. If we'd been at the shelter, we'd have been SOL for help. It took a couple of hours, but eventually, there were guys in trucks and police cars everywhere. Rookie stayed to help, too. I kept Grace up in the tower. Once animal control arrived in a white pick up truck and opened the crate, the malamute jumped right in. She knew that crate and truck meant food and shelter were not far behind.

I am so thankful for Rookie, my sister, and the men who showed up to help with the dog. I was really hoping she would make it home. One of the rescue guys said she matched a missing dog poster that had been put up on Max Patch in February, so I thought surely she'd be picked up soon. This poor malamute was obviously a hiker's dog who got lost on the trail. She stayed on the trail, stayed close to me, had no problems with backpacks, tents, trekking poles or campfires, and tried to follow other hikers, perhaps she thought they might get her home. She broke my heart. I understand that many hikers don't leash their dogs, whether for the dog's sake or because it is just hard to hike and hold a leash (believe me, I have a pit bull who pulls at that leash all day long, so I understand it is hard). But whatever the justification, please keep in mind that it only takes ONE THING to distract a dog and make it run off. Then, the dog is loose in the forest with no survival skills, starving, hurt, and possibly harassing other hikers. How does a dog owner justify burdening other hikers with the responsibility of helping his lost dog? And how many hikers will pass by that poor dog and do nothing to help other than give it a bite of beef jerky? Even if the dog does not run off, what if it encounters an aggressive dog on the trail? What do you do with a wounded dog when you are miles from help and carrying a full backpack? Leave the dog or leave your pack? I did not mean for this article to become "preachy", but as I think back on that whole situation, I get angry all over again - not at the malamute, who really was so sweet with people and so lonely, but at the dog's owners who set her up to suffer like she did.malamute_on_AT.jpg

[rich5665]

Hopefully the can get the dog cleaned up and adopted, it would be a shame if she were to be destroyed.

[bushcraft]

Wow that is one crazy trail story Ehrenlynne!

[4dogHiker]

Wow! I know how you feel about other dogs off leash on the trail, erhenlynne. I'm glad it came out ok for you. i don't have any update on what happened to this dog after I found this post of FB.