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Acclimation Your dog may have to accustom him or herself to a lot on the trail. Backcountry walking is more exertion than a stroll in the park. Wildlife present novel stimuli, such as odor and the sight of running game. In backcountry areas, don't forget smelly strangers with odd looking shapes sticking out all around them. Your dog may have to get adjusted to carrying a dog pack. And overnight trips open up a whole new variety of things. Again, gradual acclimation on short trips is the best way to go. Don't hit your dog with all these experiences for the first time at the beginning of a ten day trip. Put yourself in situations where you can control the stimuli as much as possible. A dog that has a high "suspicion level" of strange people may need some relaxed meet and greet time at a local gear shop or a trailhead parking lot before starting a trip. Get a feel for how your dog will react to game by walking near rabbits or geese in a city park before he or she becomes a canine cruise missile on the first deer that appears. Fit in as much local hiking in local parks or state and national forests as possible before a big backcountry trip. "First Timer Blues" -- Dogs are sometimes uncomfortable with all the new trappings of backcountry travel. Dogs that see a tent for the first time either interpret them as nice, secure caves in which to hide or alien beasts unleashed to eat them. Traildogs that are already crate trained seem to have an easier time adjusting to tents. Winching the dog into the tent with the leash will usually backfire. Yes, it's dorky, but take your dog camping in the backyard or in a campground before the big trip. Let him or her see the tent being assembled in a leisurely, non-threatening manner. Use treats to encourage the dog to gradually come in with you. Just sort of hang out in the tent for awhile even if you don't actually stay the whole evening. Show your dog that tents are really cool places to hang out. At the same time, let your dog practice eating and drinking outdoors from any new dishes that you might be taking to the woods. Dogs that seem completely uninhibited about scarfing up cat poop can be mystified by the concept of dining al fresco in the forest. Teach your dog to drink from your (or its) water bottles or other containers. Hopefully you can avoid wasted water in this way. Otherwise, check with Gear
about getting your Traildog used to wearing their pack, etc. Horses/Bikes -- Three backcountry ingredients have a tough time in mixing: horses, mountain bikes and dogs. Ever heard the rule about "hikers yield to bikes who yield to horses?" Well, scratch that. Traildog should yield to everything. There are too many opportunities for disaster to try pushing the issue of right of way. Take any opportunity you can when not in the backcountry to get your Traildog familiar with these. The ideal is that your Traildog finds these to be completely unstimulating: not scary, not thrilling, just part of the scenery. Both horses and bicycles stimulate dogs' drives to hunt, to herd animals, or to defend against scary things. At the least, your dog is going to have to learn that they aren't a threat and that they can't try to "hunt" them or protect you from them. My advice is to teach your Traildog a routine: when approached by bikes or horses, we step off-trail and "sit" unless the human on the leash says "go." No barking, no lunging--just nice, quiet, "sit." Hikers in rural areas can often take their
dogs around farms to familiarize the dogs and to practice obedience routines
until horses are old hat. In suburban and urban areas, you're probably going to
have to work a lot harder to find riding stables and the like at city and county
parks to do the same thing. The situation flip-flops in regard to bicycles.
Finding a regular supply of bicycles will be a problem in the country. On the
other hand, you can't swing a dead Mizumi without encountering a biker in town.
Regardless, some dogs will have to be introduced to either of them gradually so
that they learn that hoofers and single-trackers won't eat them. In other cases,
it may turn into an exercise in old-fashioned "obedience" to teach
your Traildog that they can't eat plodding Old Paint or a mountain biker. Keep in mind that dogs see anything novel as more threatening if it
approaches quickly, by surprise or from behind. This happens a lot with mountain
bikers in the East. They often overtake you quickly and with little warning. Wildlife -- More folks tell me "my dog would never chase a deer (rabbit/lions/tigers/bears/ohmy!)." All I can say is that you've never been in the right situation at the right time. Any dog will chase game if the game is sufficiently stimulating to the dog. If the game is running quickly enough, close enough, smells strongly enough, if the owner is far enough away -- the dog will chase. There is only one way to reasonably prevent this -- a leash. I cannot say this enough. Use a leash. That is as close to fool proof as you will get. A 10,000 acre wilderness is a tough place to lose a dog. Just an inkling of the pain and difficulty in trying to find a lost dog in the wilderness is evident in the story about Samson, who was lost in the San Juan Wilderness of Colorado. Once you're on Steve Bremner's page, click on "Sam Lost and Found" to read the story. There is also some hazardous wildlife out there as well. These are definitely things you don't want your dog chasing. That being said, search and rescue (SAR) dog handlers use their dogs off lead. There are ways to train for off lead work. You may choose to go with positive reinforcement for desired behavior (adhering to commands, etc.) in the presence of wildlife stimuli (wildlife seen, smelled, heard). Or, you may go with punishment/correction for failure to exhibit desired behavior in the presence of wildlife stimuli. Either way, you need to work on as "bombproof" a recall ("come" when called) as possible if you ever plan to take it off leash. The difficulty is that it is very, very difficult to find good wildlife stimuli in a safe training environment. A safe environment is one in which you can herd or corral your dog back in through one means or another if it screws up. The better your training, the more "money in the bank" you've put against the day when some game animal crosses paths with your Traildog. If you choose to go off lead, make it an informed decision based upon what you know to be the dog's reliability on an off lead recall under distraction. And make it with the fact in mind that there is always the chance, however slim, that your dog might go blasting over a hill to never be seen again.
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Copyright 1996-2005 Jim Greenway Questions? Suggestions? Broken Links? Let me know. SARTECH I(tm), SARTECH II(tm) & SARTECH IiI(tm) are all trademarks of the National Association for Search and Rescue (NASAR)
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