Traildog photos

Posted by: squark

Traildog photos - 08/16/13 03:10 PM

Took a trip up to the Emigrant Wilderness with my best friend. It was her first backpacking trip, and my first real wilderness trip since college. Haven't finished processing photos, but here's one I liked:


2013-08-12-2013-08-14-emigrant 300 by sluj, on Flickr
( yes, she is off leash. She is trained to sit at the edge of the trail when she sees someone approach, or if I say "incoming". )

Thought we could have a theme thread here of our hiking canines in action.

Posted by: PerryMK

Re: Traildog photos - 08/16/13 06:33 PM

Ember's hiking days are behind her, but here is a collage of some of my favorite old photos.

Posted by: LookinUp

Re: Traildog photos - 08/17/13 08:06 AM

" Or if I say incoming"....I love it!

That's what some of my office mates say when the boss pulls up to our building.
Posted by: squark

Re: Traildog photos - 08/19/13 05:37 PM

Aw, Ember looks like she was having a great time.


No one else? Here's another to try to kickstart things


2013-08-12-2013-08-14-emigrant 042 by sluj, on Flickr


edit: @LookinUp, what I really need to do is teach to get on a particular side of the trail in response to "on your right/left!". On our local hikes we have mountain bikers whizzing past without much advance warning.
Posted by: mccallum

Re: Traildog photos - 08/19/13 07:18 PM

Look at my avatar that would be my hiking buddy
Posted by: finallyME

Re: Traildog photos - 08/20/13 11:06 AM




Posted by: LookinUp

Re: Traildog photos - 08/20/13 07:20 PM

Beautiful animals all!
I've got a rescued Corgi, and while those short legs didn't exclude her from hikes, the spondylosis she was recently diagnosed with in her back has. She's nearly 10,fortunately so far she's holding her own with daily meds..She's a joy of a dog, smart, minds well,and rarely barks. :-) I'll have to go back and read the picture download instr. before posting a pic of her. blush
Posted by: finallyME

Re: Traildog photos - 08/21/13 11:00 AM

You host the picture on another site. I use both flickr and picasa. Then, once the picture is on another site, you right click it and select "copy picture location". Then you come to this site, click on the "enter an image" thingy, I usually select non-floating, and then paste the location into the window.
Posted by: lori

Re: Traildog photos - 08/22/13 10:26 AM


Hiking through the John Muir Wilderness



Crossing a cold creek as we leave Graveyard Lakes



Ecstatic to be off the ferry boat at Edison
Posted by: wandering_daisy

Re: Traildog photos - 08/26/13 12:24 PM


Lupe, our 1-year old Border Collie

Lupe's favorite activities when backpacking- swimming, begging people food, playing with sticks and sleeping in the tent. She particularly loves to jump in the lakes and swim after fishing lures!
Posted by: Creek

Re: Traildog photos - 08/27/13 11:10 PM

So here's a question for you, how did you train your dog to do off leash while hiking? I've had some people recommend an E-Collar but haven't been fully sold on the idea. I have a 2year old German Shepherd...
Posted by: lori

Re: Traildog photos - 08/27/13 11:35 PM

Originally Posted By Creek
So here's a question for you, how did you train your dog to do off leash while hiking? I've had some people recommend an E-Collar but haven't been fully sold on the idea. I have a 2year old German Shepherd...


My dog is obedience trained and will stick to my heel like glue, and I put a leash on her when confronted by pack stock or other challenges. No dog is bullet proof obedient.

She's also very mild mannered, has never snapped at another dog or person, and while she shows interest in random squirrels or birds sometimes she has no real prey drive to speak of and will leave off chasing to return when I call her. If she were younger or less well mannered or more determined, she would be on a leash always and forever on a hike. I can't abide other people's rude dogs. Won't let mine be one of 'em.
Posted by: squark

Re: Traildog photos - 08/28/13 02:54 PM

Originally Posted By Creek
So here's a question for you, how did you train your dog to do off leash while hiking? I've had some people recommend an E-Collar but haven't been fully sold on the idea. I have a 2year old German Shepherd...


Personally I wouldn't use a shock collar - too much potential for turning the dog into a basketcase. Though my bias is to limit use of physical aversives to life-threatening situations. What I did was start with a long lead ( not a flexi! 20' cotton) on walks, while we worked on her recall in safe areas like a fenced school yard. As her recall improved, we'd let her drag the leash on hikes. If she got out of our comfort range, we'd say "too far!". If she returned right away, she'd get a treat, and get to continue walking as before; if not, we'd retrieve the leash, and she'd have to walk next to us for a while. After a while, she's get off leash for short intervals, then longer ones, always being put back on leash if she violated our agreed-upon distance, or if there were things about she looked likely to chase. It was a slow process, but now I can trust her around deer, cows, horses (though I can't trust the horses, so I leash her anyways), so I consider it worthwhile.

Posted by: mtmiller

Re: Traildog photos - 08/31/13 01:18 PM

Originally Posted By squark

Thought we could have a theme thread here of our hiking canines in action.









Posted by: squark

Re: Traildog photos - 08/31/13 05:07 PM

wow! that's some gorgeous scenery. Lucky dogs. Where did you go?
Posted by: OregonMouse

Re: Traildog photos - 09/02/13 09:30 PM

Training for offleash: Obedience training and lots of it. My Hysson had to repeat the second level class 4-5 times before he finally learned that taking off the leash did NOT mean running over to play with the other dogs in the class. Using a really lighweight puppy leash definitely helped with the transition.

There are more and more places that either require leashes or need them out of courtesy to others because the trails are crowded. Remember, not everyone loves dogs and some--with reason--are scared of them. Many sweet lovely dogs become fearful in strange surrounds and bark, threaten or even bite oncoming hikers. If your dog cannot absolutely be trusted to stay close to you at all times and not run ahead, not chase game, and come instantly when called regardless of distractions, please USE THAT LEASH! Thank you!

I know that some people train successfully with shock collars, but I've also seen a number of dogs traumatized by them. I would never use one. They are not a substitute for either extensive training nor for a leash!
Posted by: ndsol

Re: Traildog photos - 09/04/13 09:11 AM

I'm late to contribute, but here is my sometime hiking partner:



Posted by: orclwzrd

Re: Traildog photos - 09/04/13 05:32 PM

beautiful Mal, reminds me of mine. Must get another soon.
Posted by: wandering_daisy

Re: Traildog photos - 09/23/13 11:57 PM

Lupe's (1-yr old Border Collie) last trip, Rock Creek, Sierra Nevada, Sept 17-21.


Dang, it is cold out here!



Lets get going!


Good Morning!

Posted by: mccallum

Re: Traildog photos - 10/15/13 04:52 PM

Mine has been a bit of a Velcro dog; meaning he would stay with me fairly well. I took him to the school yard across the street from my house where we worked on staying with me off leash. We walk a lot in the town we live in and he will stay within 10 feet of me and will recall fairly well. If we are in heavy traffic he get placed on lead. If we are on a trail that is heavily used again lead is put on. I would agree with obedience training being the major thing. The dog has to recall well (that is why Bear gets put on lead in heavy traffic/high trail use area). The dog also need to be obedient to the NO command --- which Bear is much better at than he is recall! Bear only chase squirrel on command and stops when told; he has never taken off to chase an animal so I trust him to not do soon the trail.
Posted by: OregonMouse

Re: Traildog photos - 10/15/13 05:47 PM

Be sure to use a command for the recall that is not used in orderinary conversation. I wish I had analyzed how much I use "come" in ordinary conversation, especially for encouragement ("come on, let's go") before starting to train Hysson. That's why he always regarded "come" as an optional command. On the other hand, "heel" worked 100% of the time, and that's what I ended up using.

Even our obedience school instructor messed up. She used "OK" to tell her dog he was released from a stay. She put her dog on a down/stay in the middle of the classroom and then announed to the class, "OK, today we are going to learn..." Of course her dog got up and walked over to her!

Next dog (I'm looking), I'll use something else for those two commands.

Hand signals are very helpful if you're in a noisy area, such as close to a stream. Teach the verbal commands first; then combine them with hand signals, and finally use just the signals. Be sure you have the dog's attention first, though.

Posted by: PerryMK

Re: Traildog photos - 10/15/13 06:05 PM

Originally Posted By OregonMouse
Next dog (I'm looking), I'll use something else for those two commands.
I think its not uncommon to use the correct terms in a language foreign to what the dog normally hears.
Posted by: OregonMouse

Re: Traildog photos - 10/15/13 06:58 PM

That's a thought; I could use French!
Posted by: billstephenson

Re: Traildog photos - 10/20/13 11:51 AM

Quote:
Teach the verbal commands first; then combine them with hand signals, and finally use just the signals.


I've always started out with hand signals. I feel pups seem to pick them up faster.
Posted by: DTape

Re: Traildog photos - 10/20/13 06:50 PM

We taught ours the verbal commands with the hand signals simultaneously.
Posted by: billstephenson

Re: Traildog photos - 10/21/13 06:12 PM

Originally Posted By DTape
We taught ours the verbal commands with the hand signals simultaneously.


Actually, I did too. What I've noticed is that they respond to hand signals first.

I prefer using them for sit, stay, and come, commands. I really should say I think dogs seem to prefer them. smile

We currently have a pack of dogs. Two of them are pups. I've been taking all five of them with me on my warm up hikes in the forest behind our house. They zoom all over the place. No rabbit goes unchased.

Ruby, who's about 18 months old now, will be my hiking partner. She's the only one I'll take with me. I was supposed to take her mom, Annie, but my wife wants her at home when I go, so I've been working with Ruby since she was born and she's ready now. I'll post a pic when we do our first trip.
Posted by: OregonMouse

Re: Traildog photos - 10/21/13 06:55 PM

I guess I mentioned the verbal commands first because that's how the obedience class did it. They didn't bring in hand signals until the level 3 class. I agree, it is fine to teach the two together. The hand signals are necessary to teach the "down on recall" maneuver (you know, for when your dog runs across the street, you call him to come, and a car appears).

Hysson always hated "down"--it was usually very slow-motion--but he did it faster when I used the hand signal. Then there was the first time we took the AKC Canine Good Citizen test. The judge was a long-time instructor in the obedience classes, so of course Hysson regarded her as a close friend. When I called him to "come," he was looking at her instead of me, so he went to her instead. Sorry, no pass! That's why I mentioned getting the dog's attention first!

Bill, are you also going to take the burros? We haven't heard about them for a while!
Posted by: billstephenson

Re: Traildog photos - 10/21/13 10:38 PM

Quote:
Bill, are you also going to take the burros? We haven't heard about them for a while!


Thank you for asking...

You know, when I found this forum that was my plan. I learned enough here to lighten my load enough to carry it all myself so that hasn't been a priority since. I really didn't expect that to happen.

Right now I don't have a way to transport the burros to the trailhead. It's been that way since shortly after I got them. We had a big Ford Expedition and a horse trailer back then (we used to have a horse). First we sold the Ford, then we sold the horse trailer. I had a little Suzuki Samurai and I bought a utility trailer to haul the donks but the Samurai wouldn't pull them, actually, it wouldn't stop. I finally sold the trailer, then got tired of driving the Samurai and bought a little Ford pickup that can tow the burros, but I need a trailer now.

One of these days I will get things all lined up and get the burros on the trail, but we still go for hikes in the forest behind the barnyard and pasture and they love it.

I'm really looking forward to bringing Ruby with me this year too though. She's fits in the truck with me and she's great off trail. She's very protective too, not aggressive at all towards people, but while we're in the forest out back she runs circles around me, just like my old dog Tucker used to do, checking the perimeter and making sure it's all safe for me. And when we're just sitting there she'll catch a whiff of something and jump up and sound the alert and go check it out if need be. She's just fun to hang out with.

She's the only dog we have that will go into the barnyard alone. The others are all afraid of the burros, and for good reason. I've seen those burros smack cats and dogs around quite a few times. I'm not sure what happened, but those burros show Ruby a great deal of respect now. I've never seen her be vicious to anything, but I have seen her growl at those donks if they get too close to her, and they just don't even do that anymore now. They give her all the room she wants. If Ruby follows me when I feed the burros all the other dogs will too, but they never go back there without her.

She's a good dog and should be fun to have along backpacking. I've hiked with a quite a few dogs, and camped with quite a few more. I've only backpacked with a few. Some of them have been great, and some have been real pains, most were just dogs being dogs, but I'm pretty sure Ruby will be right up there with the best of them.


Posted by: dogdude

Re: Traildog photos - 01/25/14 01:18 AM

A few photos of my little dude out and about.













Posted by: ndsol

Re: Traildog photos - 02/01/14 11:38 AM

Sweet!