Hello everyone,

I absolutely love my dogs. One is a beagle named Bella, and her sister is a Choc lab named Maggie. I haven't had the dogs for two and a half years. When I broke up with my fiance, she kept the dogs (since she had the yard for them to run around in). They've always been considered my dogs. She now lives in an apartment, and wants me to take the dogs back. That's a little bit of bad timing, because I have my AT hike coming up in a few months. So, I've been considering taking my dogs with me.


Now, these dogs aren't trail trained. I have done extensive training on and off the leash with these dogs. When we walk the beach, I am able to send my lab off, and have her return just by voice commands. I know that the beach isn't the trail, and I know that I can see my dogs after the trail ...... I just know that I'll miss their company on the trail.

Dogs will inflate the difficulty and cost of the trip immensely. I have figured out a way to defer part of these costs. My idea was to hike with rat traps and peanut butter. I would set these traps up around shelters, in hopes of catching the "dogfood" that is scurrying around those areas. I thought that hikers would benefit from some rats being killed, but also from the companionship of these two animals (they're service animals and super sweet).

What do you all think? Bust or Must?