[at-l] Dogs on the Trail

[Charles Copeland" <charles@uswnet.com (Charles Copeland)]

I'm not sure what the fuss is about dogs and streams.  What is the
difference between a dog drinking water out of a stream and a deer, bear,
boar, moose, opossum, wolf, skunk, etc?  Don't we filter or purify our water
because of all of the dirt, plants, fish, bugs, and animals that are all
contaminating it?  While I certainly wouldn't want a dog -or human-
splashing around, washing, etc. immediately upstream, I can't help but think
that the impact is negligible.  We don't know what's been in the water
before it gets to us.

I bring this up because I was hiking in the Cohuttas last year and we found
a really nice stream and decided to take a break.  I filled up a water
bottle and threw in the iodine - others filtered theirs and we took a water
break.  Some of the Scouts started exploring upstream and after about 15
minutes we hear "Ewwwww Grrosssssss!!"  The kids came running back and told
us about the "dead thing" in the stream.   Yuck.  The filter people turned
green.  I poured my water out - it wasn't ready to drink anyway.  The
incident started a very lively discussion about water quality and
purification.  We only really "see" a few feet of a stream when we get
water.  There's no telling what's in the water already.  I nearly became a
filter user right there but I haven't made the switch yet.  I look a little
ways upstream before I get water now though.

Charles