Dogs and Travels
- February 2011
- Hi Steph Simple Living Dogs Travel
Hey Steph,
I used to climb a lot, and consequently heard of you through this community, and stumbled upon your blog. You’re a great writer and your blog is both thoughtful and entertaining.
I wanted to get some insight on balancing dog ownership with outdoor adventure. I’m into whitewater kayaking and am seriously considering getting a dog. I’m thinking along the lines of a retriever or herding dog – something that would like to go on adventures with me. However, I can’t really come up with a solution that I like for taking care of a dog while on a kayaking road trip. I live in the DC area and there are some cool kayaking spots in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Western Maryland that require overnight road trips. When on a downriver trip, I don’t know if I’d feel okay with tying a dog to a tree for hours, or leaving it in a car, even if the car is in the shade, well ventilated, and has window reflectors.
What are your thoughts on this sort of situation? What did you used to do with your dog if you were on a road trip and climbing something that required some time?
Thanks for your help!
Ryan
Dear Ryan,
Thanks for writing! You are so right, dogs are tricky in many ways, and do change the logistics of life. The first thing I know about dogs and adventures is that your dog MUST be well trained. Dogs who are disobedient or an annoyance to others just can’t come along on adventures. To increase your dog’s freedom, he/she must be perfectly disciplined and trustworthy. This is something people usually say is “a lot of work,” however it is actually pretty fun.
The second thing is an extension of the first thing….if your dog is well trained and a pleasure to be around, then you will probably have at least 1 or 2 friends who really like your dog and are willing to take care of him/her on trips where dogs can’t come along. But that is something you probably want to ponder first too–if you have any likely candidates.
The third thing I know is that if you have a dog who gets to be with you all the time, doing fun things outside every day, waiting in the car or leashed under the truck sometimes for a few hours is not going to bother him/her at all. Most traveling dogs I know seem to kind of like sleeping in the passenger seat, far preferring it to ever being left behind….
You are very right to wonder and question, because getting a dog is an enormous commitment, probably one of the most serious commitments you can make to another creature.
🙂 Steph
If you take the dog with you from day 1, it will get used to your lifestyle. When my friends ask me whether or not they should get a dog, I use to ask them 2 questions:
1. Do you want to take a walk, at least 3 times a day in all weathers? Is this something you look forward to?
2. Do you have the time? Not just time for walking, but also time for socialising with your dog, time to train, time to make your dog´s life rich. A bored dog is often a sad dog. A dog who spends a lot of time alone is often a sad dog. If you must leave your dog alone when you are at work, and then again alone when you are cayaking/ at parties / of climbing etc every weekend, then it might not be such a good idea.
Having a dog often means you have to change your lifestyle to suit your new lifetime pal. I think this is a good thing. I can´t even imagine living my life without a dog or two by my side, no human can ever be a better friend than your dog.
I also agree with Steph, there is seldom a problem for you friends to take care of a well trained dog if you need to get up a big wall or go out on a long cayak trip once in a while.
So if you like walking, and are ready to give your dog all the time it needs, then go for it!
If you take the dog with you from day 1, it will get used to your lifestyle. When my friends ask me whether or not they should get a dog, I use to ask them 2 questions:
1. Do you want to take a walk, at least 3 times a day in all weathers? Is this something you look forward to?
2. Do you have the time? Not just time for walking, but also time for socialising with your dog, time to train, time to make your dog´s life rich. A bored dog is often a sad dog. A dog who spends a lot of time alone is often a sad dog. If you must leave your dog alone when you are at work, and then again alone when you are cayaking/ at parties / of climbing etc every weekend, then it might not be such a good idea.
Having a dog often means you have to change your lifestyle to suit your new lifetime pal. I think this is a good thing. I can´t even imagine living my life without a dog or two by my side, no human can ever be a better friend than your dog.
I also agree with Steph, there is seldom a problem for you friends to take care of a well trained dog if you need to get up a big wall or go out on a long cayak trip once in a while.
So if you like walking, and are ready to give your dog all the time it needs, then go for it!
Agree with Steph and Moa. I have a dog and my lifestyle has completely had to change – she must always come first (aI have no kids btw!!). I can’t do anythign straight after work as I need to go home first and walk/feed her etc, unless I get my lovely dog walker to do it every now and again. This is absolutely fine as you get into the habit of it pretty quickly.
As for coming along on trips, my dog LOVES people and luckily pretty much everyone loves my dog – she is super friendly and affectionate and I can leave her on a longish rope at the bottom of a crag and I know everyone else there will look after her (even if I don’t know them).
Obvious thing to say, but make sure you take plenty of water for your dog! I’ve taught mine to drink from a bottle so I don’t have to take a bowl!
Tess loves being outside, she is very nosy and loves meeting new people. And best of all as long as she is doing things with me, she is happy – and that makes me happy too 😀
Cannot agree more with a well trained dog. I spent months training my dog and it was a lot of fun and improved my patience for the everyday life. On the get go, he was kissing a lot and barking a lot. I trained him not to do that as not everybody likes being kissed by a dog nor the barking. He licks legs, arms, feet and hands and people that first objected, after 30 sec said: Actually it’s kind of relaxing! …:)
For rock climbers, outside of National Parks obviously, a friendly dog is always welcome and taken care of by strangers. The only problem at some crags are tyroleans and of course multi-pitch climbs. This problem came to an end in September 2009.
Ruffwear now makes a double-back harness for dogs. It is mandatory to use
the leg loops as the dog tends to slip backwards and may fall off the harness in the raging creek/river down below. Remove the leg loops when the dog is hiking and stow the leg loops away in the zipped compartment.
When hauling the dog on a tyro, I hug the dog with his legs around my waist so he doesn’t scratch my torso and belly, I use my leg calfs to pull on his behind. That way, I use the momentum of the dog weight to help at hauling the dog across the tyro. This is particularly useful for dogs that are over 70 lbs!!! It works awesome and is an excellent work-out for calfs and you save your hands and shoulders for climbing. I use this leg calfs technique to haul the heavy pack too.
Plus, a dog will find the way back on unclear trails for you, very useful to have a nosy furry friend as your GPS! Beware of rattle snakes, porcupines and skunks.
Hi Steph,
I saw the good news on twitter I wanted to tell you that I’m so glad you finally found your new res puppy! I learned about you and Fletcher at basically the same time, from the cover of your book. In fact, I picked up that book because of Fletcher on the cover. I got into climbing when I was a teenager, around the same time my parents got a puppy who grew up with me at my local cliffs. He turned into the greatest and most beautiful (imho 🙂 ) crag dog and he’s still my best friend. Now he’s too old and stiff to come climbing, but he had a great climbing life and he made hundreds of dog and human pals. Everyone who knew him (or me) misses him. So I’m happy for you, and also taking heart that there is another crag puppy in my future, someday.
And Ryan, as Steph and the commenters have said, a dog is the best friend an adventure lover can have, but it takes some thought and planning. Dogs love to travel with their humans, and are incredibly adaptable and not fussy! But they can’t feed themselves, and they get lonely and bored if you don’t play with them, walk them, etc. Even the best-trained dogs are incredibly naughty once in a while. All things to consider. If you have any friends with dogs who like to adventure maybe you could dogsit for a couple days and see what it’s like. It won’t be the same as your own dog who knows and loves you, but you can get a feel for what a dog-owning schedule and lifestyle is like. Good luck with the decision and if you do opt for a dog companion it’ll definitely be an great and rewarding friendship!
Emily