Who else goes hiking with their dog?

[WirehairedVizslaexplorer]

As soon as late fall hits, my dog and I are out there constantly. Fortunately, we have never come across any trouble especially since I hike alone most of the time (with my dog of course). My parents get ticked at me for doing that, but honestly I feel much safer out in the woods than I ever would at a movie theater or the mall! Have any of you ever run into any trouble?
I usually go on weekdays when it is quieter. I am ready for cold weather, I cant stop thinking about the pines! So far, my dog and I are planning on hiking the 19 mile bike loop that begins at batsto together, I want to do the 6 mile mountain bike loop with him and he will follow the bike, and we will do plenty of day trips (I live about an hour away well worth the drive every week.) Eventually, maybe next year, I want to do the entire batona trail.

 

[PineBarrens Advocate]

Although I have never run into "trouble" it always good to practice common sense, use your wits and act prudently. The two legged animal is always a concern but in general during daylight hours the folks you might run into while hiking/biking etc are usually just like you and I...good folks looking to enjoy the woods. At night however, drunken teenagers and middle aged folks trying to be drunken teenagers raise the level of danger. Even if you are just going out for a day hike/bike (solo) I would strongly suggest having overnight emergency gear with you and letting folks know your approximate route. A busted ankle several miles from a paved road could become very serious. Enjoy the Pines, but don't take it for granted, be prepared. Safe travels.

 

[WirehairedVizslaexplorer]

Although I have never run into "trouble" it always good to practice common sense, use your wits and act prudently. The two legged animal is always a concern but in general during daylight hours the folks you might run into while hiking/biking etc are usually just like you and I...good folks looking to enjoy the woods. At night however, drunken teenagers and middle aged folks trying to be drunken teenagers raise the level of danger. Even if you are just going out for a day hike/bike (solo) I would strongly suggest having overnight emergency gear with you and letting folks know your approximate route. A busted ankle several miles from a paved road could become very serious. Enjoy the Pines, but don't take it for granted, be prepared. Safe travels.

Nice, I worked as a park naturalist for 3 years and cant get enough of the outdoors. During the summer I'm usually out at Delaware state parks - far fewer ticks for some reason. That is what I love so much about the pines is the isolation - who would have ever guessed that something like the pines would be in NJ! Nothing makes me happier than the sounds of nature rather than roads! My lungs feel so fresh after I finish my hike. I am planning on possibly going on a solo camping trip 1 night this year in the fall, I will be car camping in my Subaru so that I can lock myself. I guess I will make that as a separate post because ive never gone camping alone, well my dog will be with me of course.

 

[manumuskin]

I used to take my Black Lab with me bushwacking all the time.She was a good trail dog and never left the trail till I started taking her off trail at six months of age,now you can't keep her on the trail.She is not leash trained and I regret this because I cannot take her where I might run into other people.The one bad experience I have had with her other then losing her for ten minutes or more and screaming for her till she comes back was when I walked the new reroute of the batona trail with her on a week day in mid winter.I expected to see no one.Bad mistake.She is very people friendly but the crowd of teenegaers we ran up on coming the other way had a Doberman on the leash.My dog took off like a jet and ran up to say hi.The Doberman responded by going into attack mode and there was a quick dog fight.In ten seconds I was on top of my dog and had her flattened to the ground and the Dobermans owner put her weight into it and dragged her dog off. I should have had her on a leash but like I said My wife has trained her better then any dog i have ever seen in the house but once in the woods she's a wild thing and unpredictable.Mom is the boss and she looks at me as just a bigger badder dog.I then stopped taking her on trails but since then I have stopped taking her in the woods altogether since she started having bad seizures.She almost died once when it took us three hours to get her to an Animal hospital in the middle of the night when the seizure would not stop.Since then Mom has forbid me to take her in the woods at all because she weighs slightly over 100 lbs and if she goes down back in the swamp i will not be able to carry her out. I guess the moral of the story is if your on trail your dog should be leashed.Some people are deathly afraid of dogs no matter how nice yours may be and there is always the chance of a dog fight if they have dogs of their own.
Also Momma let me know if I lose her dog don't bother coming home without her so just leaving her home ssures I don't end up homeless.Lot of stress off my back.

 

[mudpie]

My dog wont let me leave the house without her.....
I carry mace......among other things......

 

[manumuskin]

Mace? For what? People?Other dogs? Never heard of macing dogs.Wonder if it affects dogs? Dogs are so fast it'd be hard to hit one.

 

[mudpie]

Mace? For what? People?Other dogs? Never heard of macing dogs.Wonder if it affects dogs? Dogs are so fast it'd be hard to hit one.

Because my Retriever was attacked by a Shepard that almost killed her.
Its called Muzzle. Its for dogs and they make a bigger one for bears.

 

[manumuskin]

My Lab will fight if attacked but she ran up to the Doberman to say hi and the Doberman attacked her and she fought back.The Doberman was on a leash and was probably protecting her people from what she saw as a threat.My fault for not having her on a leash but I don't know how to leash train a dog.I"ve always had bushwack dogs but I figured I could slide on a really cold week day, A mistake.

 

[Stamos]

Take my dog almost everywhere with me, especially the Pines. She's mostly on a leash, but if I'm remote I'll let her off. Her prey drive is really strong and that gets her in trouble sometimes.

 

[manumuskin]

We looked at those type collars to leash train the dogs.Mom refuses to choke em.She didn't like the looks of those either.We now have leashes that basically attach to the collar at their throat instead of in the back.These leashes pull their head down when they pull at the leash.We haven't tried them out of the yard yet but they seem to work.I told her a couple swift kicks in the rear end would work as well.She said I"d get worse then that if I touched her dogs so that idea was shot to hell.

 

[Stamos]

We looked at those type collars to leash train the dogs.Mom refuses to choke em.She didn't like the looks of those either.We now have leashes that basically attach to the collar at their throat instead of in the back.These leashes pull their head down when they pull at the leash.We haven't tried them out of the yard yet but they seem to work.I told her a couple swift kicks in the rear end would work as well.She said I"d get worse then that if I touched her dogs so that idea was shot to hell.

The prong collar is the only thing that will work on my girl (dog girl that is) to train her. She has such incredibly thick neck muscles that it's only irritating to her if I ever need to pull it. My dog is friendly to humans , but very alpha with other animals. As you can see in the photo above, she got a few hundred porcupine quills to the face earlier this year and was barely fazed.

 

[manumuskin]

My older black lab is the same way.Human friendly but bullies and threatens all other dogs.Threatens right off and then once she knows them she has to dominate them.She was an only dog first three years then we got another girl lab puppy.Right off she acted like she was going to kill her,within a few hours she started warming up to her but to this day she bullies her and has to monpolize the attention.Very jealous though they never fight over food,toys or beds,the older dog will give up a bed to the pup but will growl at her to back her off Mommie lap.

 

[WirehairedVizslaexplorer]

My dog is entirely offleash. I have put extensive work into his training. He knows when he sees other people or dogs to come back to me. If we are walking along a road (Then I do put a leash on), he knows to get into the grass when there are cars coming...Heck, he even got 3d place at our obedience trial back in March, hes such a good dog. All positive training - no kicks to the rear or prong collars...All based on clicker training, love, trust, and big rewards. Also, I chose a breed that are very Velcro and a people pleaser because I knew I wanted to have a reliable trail dog.

 

[manumuskin]

My cousin has the sister to my oldest Lab and he trained her with a shock collar.My wife will have none of that since our oldest dog has seizures and the vet said a shcok could create a seizure.He doesn't have to use the collar anymore.If she is misbehaving all he has to do is grab the remote (she doesn't even have the collar on) and she will all of the sudden become the worlds most obedient dog.I think they should make those collars for kids.

 

[Stamos]

My dog is entirely offleash. I have put extensive work into his training. He knows when he sees other people or dogs to come back to me. If we are walking along a road (Then I do put a leash on), he knows to get into the grass when there are cars coming...Heck, he even got 3d place at our obedience trial back in March, hes such a good dog. All positive training - no kicks to the rear or prong collars...All based on clicker training, love, trust, and big rewards. Also, I chose a breed that are very Velcro and a people pleaser because I knew I wanted to have a reliable trail dog.

The prong collar use on Callie was required when we initially got Callie from her previous owners. They did zero obedience training with her. Callie pulled my girlfriend very abruptly whenever she was on leash. First we tried a harness, but that did nothing to thwart Callie from pulling my girlfriend into the dirt if Callie decided she wanted to. The prong collar was suggested by a trainer friend who has worked with mixed breeds such as Callie (half Husky/half Boxer) to reverse bad habits.

At this point the prong collar is rarely put to use other than the occasional reminder when she gets a little too full of herself around other dogs. Yes, she is still a stalwart alpha bitch......

 

[GermanG]

The lab goes hiking with me all the time but this one's a little too young yet. But she'll be hiking soon enough, and come next season, bunnies beware!

 

[46er]

The prong collar use on Callie was required when we initially got Callie from her previous owners. They did zero obedience training with her. Callie pulled my girlfriend very abruptly whenever she was on leash. First we tried a harness, but that did nothing to thwart Callie from pulling my girlfriend into the dirt if Callie decided she wanted to. The prong collar was suggested by a trainer friend who has worked with mixed breeds such as Callie (half Husky/half Boxer) to reverse bad habits.

The best solution for a dog that enjoys pulling is a harness that has a leash connection point at the front chest. Simple and very effective. Prong collars can do a LOT of damage, especially to a powerful dog. I would find a new trainer.

 

[manumuskin]

My black Lab yanked my wife off the front step and knocked her out when she landed on her face. Luckily I was not home or the dog would have died that day.That was two years ago.Her neck still bothers her constantly to this day.

 

[Stamos]

The best solution for a dog that enjoys pulling is a harness that has a leash connection point at the front chest. Simple and very effective. Prong collars can do a LOT of damage, especially to a powerful dog. I would find a new trainer.

Beautiful dog! I will give that harness a try, thanks for the advice.

 

[46er]

Beautiful dog! I will give that harness a try, thanks for the advice.

Thanks, but that's an ad dog

This is our guy, all 95 lbs of him.