Hiking and Camping With Dogs
The weather is warming up (even here in Wiscoinsin), so we can start thinking about outdoors things to do with our dogs.
I just read an article in the Salt Lake Tribune about hiking and camping with dogs. It includes little stories from readers sharing their experiences.
Here is one example:
We can divide our backpacking days into two eras: before dogs and after dogs. Before dogs, our trips were relaxing, quiet and uneventful. People would ask if we had a nice vacation and we would say we did. We hiked. We fished. We made campfires and cooked some interesting trail food. We occasionally saw other people, but we seldom talked other than a quick “hi” in passing. After dogs, all our trips became interesting and exciting.
The dogs [Clanci, then Sadie and Lucky] have improved our diets on trail. They often carry spaghetti, a few cans, and a couple of frozen steaks for the first night. It’s the only job they have and they are always delighted to be on trail. Once camped, Sadie is always trying to interest us in a game of ball, Frisbee or fetching sticks. [The dogs’] enthusiasm is contagious. We find ourselves smiling and laughing at their antics constantly. On one trip, some young men nearby asked if they could play Frisbee with [Sadie]. They had played Frisbee among themselves earlier, but it wasn’t nearly as fun as playing with Sadie. We could hear them laughing in awe at her abilities.
Once we decided to swim with her. She panicked with us in the water. She was sure we would drown. She tried to pull us out. Finally, she got out and barked at us until we gave up.
The dogs are always aware of wildlife. We see their ears perk up and they turn to look. We also look and we’ve learned from them. Our wildlife instincts are substantially better. We see 10 times the amount of wildlife we saw in the past. They’ve trained us. The dogs can see long distances. Just last year Sadie pointed out a mountain sheep on the far side of a large lake. She quietly watched it with her eyes and body posture. I used binoculars. Without her, I would have never spotted it.
The article also gives some tips for hiking with dogs.
So I hope you will be inspired by this to take your dog on some fun hikes or camping trips.
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