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Community Corner

Hiking With Your Dog - On the Leash or On the Loose?

How does your dog respond to the pressure of being off leash on the trail?

Let me preface this by saying, “Albert” is my dog’s first name; his full name is Albert Dammit.

He’s a good natured, but slow-witted chap of the Labrador persuasion. If you were to crack open the Albert brain, you’d find the words "Tennis Ball" stamped in the Northern Hemisphere and "Kibble" in the Southern Hemisphere, with a small lobe in between reminding him to breathe and swallow.

There’s certainly nothing in that noggin configured to hear, capture, and interpret my verbal commands. So “Heel, Albert,” “Stay, Albert,” and “Get down, Albert, Dammit!” are all met with the same blank, tongue-lolling stare.

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That is only one reason why, when we go hiking, Albert remains clipped to the leash.

I don’t think many other owners are as clear-eyed about their dogs’ limitations as I am about mine. They think their dogs actually listen. Such a mistaken belief results in lots of, “Mollie, come here. Come here. Here. Did you hear me? Mollie come. Now. This time I mean it. I won’t say it again. Mollie come. Come here.”

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I’m of two minds regarding dogs hiking off the leash. If the dog obeys the owner’s commands instantly, then I’m OK with it. Rather, I’m sure I’d be OK with it if I ever were to see such a thing.

Usually the leash-less come charging up the trail to meet the leashed, and in the case of Albert and almost any dog I’ve ever owned, such manners are rarely appreciated. A little scuffle ensues, with lots of rude doggy language included; well, rude language all around, for that matter.

To head off a confrontation, I’ll shout to the owner, “Please call your dog, my dog isn’t friendly.” But that normally results in, “Rocky, come. Rocky! Rocky, Rocky! ROCKY! ROCK-EEE!” We only have a five-second window, so by the second “Rocky!” it’s already too late.

Albert’s a coward. You know those little scarecrow dolls people prop up in the front yard around Thanksgiving time? They scare him; he drags me, with a look of doom and dread in his eyes, to the opposite side of the street, and we have to jog to safety.  Even then, Albert looks over his shoulder to see if the Children of the Corn are in hot pursuit.

So you can imagine how he feels about a charging dog. Albert will put up a brief argument only to come out on the losing end of the debate.

Nevertheless, I’m glad he’s a coward. All my other dogs have been alphas. I had one that looked like an Irish Setter, which was, perhaps, the reason no one took me seriously when I’d shout, “Call your dog, my dog will fight.”

Often the dog owner would shout back, “Don’t worry, mine won't.” Such encounters never ended happily.

You can fault me for my dogs’ lack of social skills, I suppose. The attempts my dogs have made to protect the one on the other end of their leash.

But I’ve another argument against letting dogs go commando on the hiking trails. Wildlife.

The same hikers who respect the wilderness, even to the point where they'll pack out trash left behind by others, suffer from a sudden case of myopia when their own dog chases lizards, squirrels, birds. Isn’t that upsetting the balance somewhat? Upsetting the smaller animals who live and--in my mind--own the mountains. Cute as it might be to watch your dog stalk a rabbit, I just don’t consider it entirely fair or wilderness friendly.

Oh, perhaps I’m over-thinking the whole thing and jealous that that my dog can't be entirely trusted. But, then again, can yours? Really?

The way I figure it, if I want to shout the name of my dog 10 times in a row for the pleasure of being totally ignored, we don’t have to hike all the way to Mount Lowe. It's a trick Albert and I can and often do practice in our own backyard.

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