Trailiquette

My daughter and I hiked up the Chief today and were of course accompanied by our doggie hiking buddies Opal and Trixie. (I just realized I have to do a post to introduce them properly!) Quite a few people commented on how well behaved our dogs were. I thanked them but made a point of mentioning that we do continually work on it.

Dogs are allowed off leash on the Peak Trail. I want to help ensure that they always are.

Trail Etiquette is a subject that has always got me very emotional. I remember when I was a child, seeing an article in a magazine "A World Without Dogs". It showed a photo of an empty beach. It had a great impression on me. The article mentioned that not everyone loves dogs but if dog owners were responsible and kept their dogs under control and picked up their waste that then people could share public places harmoniously together. When people let their dogs off leash and allowed them to jump up on and greet people, run over their towels at the beach, barge into children and rudely ambush shy dogs regardless of the other dogs and owners signals then dog will be less and less welcome in public places. Obeying signs is of course respectful too. I brought water for my dogs so that when we got to the creek where a sign was posted "Please keep dogs out of water ... drinking source for campsite" they weren't tempted.

Today it was important that my dogs stayed close to me. It was important that they didn't bark at people and that they moved to the side or waited at crowded parts on the trail. We only met a few other dogs today. The owner of one had the dog by her side and under control and said something about it not being good with small dogs. I respected that and ensured I had Trixie under control. Her dog was also under control. Respect. The other two dogs we met were sociable and respectful and again under verbal control of their owner. The dogs all had appropriate dog greeting behaviour and went on their way. I saw no dog feces on the trail either!

There is room on the trails for us all if we take some common courtesies. Please don't take your dog off leash in public places if you don't have good verbal control. Please train your dog. (on our hike today we used attention, targeting, mat work, wait, shadow handling and lots and lots of Premack principle with distractions such as chipmunks) Please appreciate that not everyone or every dog for that matter wants to visit with your dog. Learn about dog body language and teach your dog to respect others' as well.

Join our STEP ONE Training Workshop to teach your dog some foundation behaviours and then move on to our Out and About Workshop:
http://pawinhand.blogspot.com/p/step-one.html


Dog Star Daily article:
http://www.dogstardaily.com/blogs/mind-your-trail-manners