Quote:
Why hike with dogs at all ?

Where is the benefit ?

1) Are you lonely ? Do not hike alone !
2) Do not exercise them enough at home ? Hey, walk them more at home !
3) Need protection ? There are better options than putting your "friend" on the line !

There are enough of us who do not appreciate your canine "friend",
so why not just leave the dog at home for the weekend.

Unless you are just plain confrontational and are willing to deal with the stress and anxiety that may occur, during outings which are meant to be stress relieving and relaxing for EVERYONE !
Really depends on where you live. Obviously not everyone should have a dog. The idea is certainly not to go out and buy a dog just for bear fodder and body warmer. The idea is to combine two lifestyles if you are already predisposed to both of them, and then choosing the right dog accordingly. For protection I mean that a dog and its owner companion should be of mutual benefit rather than a mutual liability in whatever lifestyle they have adopted. That is the real test as with any other relationship. As far as dogs and other people that depends on where you go hiking. Where I hike there are very few people. In the off season there are no people. When I do see a dog, they don't bother me. I think it is good that they have gotten out with their owner companions. The right dog would be perfect for the hiking that I do, just would not fit in with the rest of my life so I don't have one. If I retire or had a lifestyle that I could spend the time with a dog that they deserved then I would take it pretty much everywhere. It really depends on where you live. If that means living some place and avoiding people that don't like having dogs around so much the better.

Now there are times to leave a dog home or at a kennel, just as there are times to leave the kids at home or with a sitter. I just think it should be the exception and not the rule. A dog is a lifestyle, in many ways even more so than children. Children past a certain age are not meant to be with you all the time. A dog is really meant to be with you all the time like an infant or toddler. 100%. Not achievable, but that is the ideal. Dogs are really for solitary woodsmen and traditional sheep farmers, and also for children when we lived in a world where when school was out you spent all your time with your dog and you both went the whole summer without wearing shoes. I never had a dog but I had a cat that followed me on my paper route and met me at my bus stop every day. It would sit on my homework when it knew I had done enough. Dogs are not for children that watch TV or have after school schedules. Dogs are not for office workers dreaming of a simpler life, they are for people who are able to choose and live a simpler life.