[at-l] Dogs on The Trail

[datto_atl2@xxxxxxxxx (Datto)]

> on the trail have nothing to do with the dogs, and
> everything to do with the inconsiderate dog owners.

That is definitely the truth.

Here's what I observed about dog owners on my AT thru-hike.

The thru-hiker starts out with all the best intentions.
Tries to keep their dog on a leash, keeps the dog away from
the shelter.

What happens is the thru-hiker becomes overwhelmingly
exhausted just as everyone else is too -- except the
thru-hiking dog owner also has the added burden of
caring/feeding/paying attention to the dog. Exhaustion from
the steepness of the Trail, from the weather bearing down
every day, from all the loose dogs (snarling and otherwise)
that are running wild on the trail already and trying to
fight with the thru-hiker's dog.

Eventually the thru-hiker gives up and just lets the dog
run loose. Over the course of a few days the dog owner sees
whether the dog is going to stay around the thru-hiker
owner or whether the dog is going to run away. From the
signs that I saw where a thru-hiker was looking for their
lost dog I'd say a percentage of the dogs do just get up
and run away.

Over the course of weeks, if the thru-hiker is still on the
Trail and the dog has hung around rather than running away,
the thru-hiker dog owner figures out what actions with
their dog are acceptable at the shelter, depending upon who
the other hikers are at the shelter. Eventually the dog
starts sleeping in a few shelters with the thru-hiker. It's
unavoidable because the thru-hiking dog owner knows how
much easier it is to start hiking in the morning when the
thru-hiker stays in the shelter at night.

By this point, pretty much everyone who is going to
complain about the dog has already made their position
known to the thru-hiker dog owner. Those thru-hikers who
don't complain and don't like something about the dog
aren't going to say much about it if they haven't said
something already. If it bothers the other thru-hikers and
they don't want to say anything about it, the other
thru-hikers will just get up and leave the shelter or erect
their tent.

Then...along about I'd say central to north Virginia when
the heat and the humidity really kicks in, the dog starts
feeling the brunt of a thru-hike too. Pads start wearing,
marks from carrying a dog pack start becoming evident,
dehydration and evident malnutrition, that kind of thing.

You know, I saw a thru-hiker viciously beat their dog on
the Trail. This is a thru-hiker who obviously loved their
dog. But the thru-hiker had simply gone completely berzerk
from the heat and the strain of continually climbing
mountains all day in the heat and humidity. The dog had
disobeyed the thru-hiker dog owner once too often and the
thru-hiker dog owner beat their dog with the leash handle.
Right in the dog's face. The dog owner was in tears a short
while later.

It wasn't too long after that I ran into a different
thru-hiker at a shelter -- that thru-hiker had been hiking
with a dog too. The dog was obviously a house dog and
didn't want to be on the thru-hike. But the thru-hiker was
pushing to make miles and didn't want to send the dog home.
One morning the thru-hiker got up from his sleeping bag,
got packed and was ready to start hiking. The dog simply
refused to get up. The dog owner tried to convince the dog
to get up and start hiking but to no avail. An hour later I
started hiking out of the shelter and the dog still would
not stand up even though the thru-hiker started dragging
the dog to the edge of the shelter floor with the leash
around the dog. Later I heard that thru-hiker saw the flaws
of his actions and left the Trail with his dog.

Along about somewhere in Maryland I was minding my own
business hiking northward on the Trail when a group of
three people walking on the Trail approached me. Their
sizeable dog was running loose ahead of them and jumped up
with paws on my chest to try to bite me in the face. When
you're thru-hiking it is pretty amazing about how fast a
thru-hiker's hand quickness is -- way faster than a dog --
and I pushed the dog away before the dog's jaws could clamp
down on my nose. The dog wouldn't quit and jumped up on me
again. I pushed it away and looked at the dog owners --
they were completely oblivious to the situation. So when
the dog jumped up and bit into my pack hipbelt I smacked
the dog across the nose with the handle of my hiking pole.
That cleared up the situation and the dog ran back to the
owners who were now just about at the point on the Trail
where I was standing. They couldn't figure out why their
dog was whimpering and sneezing. I just hiked on by.

A thousand miles later I was hiking with a thru-hiker who
had a very nice dog. I'd heard from two or three other
thru-hikers who claimed that dog had bitten them. Hard for
me to believe because that dog seemed so docile. I am sure
it was because the dog was completely exhausted from the
hike.

There were only a couple of cases where I thought a
thru-hiker's dog was trail worthy and in both of those
instances the thru-hikers wisely sent the dog home when the
dog started showing signs of wear and tear.

I honestly can't imagine taking on the ADDED stress of
trying to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail with an animal.
Whew the Trail is so physically and mentally hard as it is
just to lug yourself up and down mountains every day for
months on end -- taking on the responsibility of having a
dog along seems so overwhelming to me -- the pluses and
minuses are way into the minus column for people who are
seriously considering an upcoming thru-hike.

Datto


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