Registered: 03/14/11
Posts: 66
Loc: SF bay area, CA
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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!
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...
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.
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"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities. In the expert's mind there are few." Shunryu Suzuki
Registered: 03/14/11
Posts: 66
Loc: SF bay area, CA
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.
Registered: 02/03/06
Posts: 6799
Loc: Gateway to Columbia Gorge
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!
Edited by OregonMouse (09/02/1309:34 PM)
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May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view--E. Abbey
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.
Registered: 02/03/06
Posts: 6799
Loc: Gateway to Columbia Gorge
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.
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May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view--E. Abbey
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