[nagdu] Backpacking

Sun Jan 22 22:55:35 UTC 2012

Jeff,

These are all excellent suggestions of things to consider. And 
congratulations on your soon-to-be first child. You will certainly be 
too busy to go camping! /grin/ Unless you decide next year your brave 
enough to put the kid in a backpack and go for it. I know people who do 
and don't know whether to admire their courage or wonder about their 
sanity... Just kidding.

Another piece of good advice I got from an avid guide dog using hiker 
and camper was to always wear sunglasses to protect your eyes from low 
hanging branches, just in case. And also to wear a baseball cap, for the 
same reason. This is certainly something I do when using the cane on a 
trail, and good thing! With the tame trails we usually do, I'm not as 
motivated to remember when I'm using Mitzi, but I really try to make it 
a practice. Just in case! /smile/

I've only gotten out on short day trips with Mitzi so far, but one thing 
I did, knowing I wanted to add more of that in the future, was to use 
the off leash obedience I'd taught her to give her freedom to explore 
the first time or two, while I used my cane to navigate and try to 
figure out how I planned to use her as a guide dog. So then, when I did 
start doing trails with her in harness, we were able to work out the 
kinks together pretty well. I haven't gone on any of the really good 
backpacking and camping trips I would like to. Yet. But I do like using 
more than one tool, depending on which works best in which environment. 
Well, and Mitzi really does do the jingle guide and squeak guide thing, 
in addition to leash guiding, so that gives us a lot of flexibility.

That wouldn't work for everybody and every dog, though, so on a safety 
first basis: Don't do it unless you're sure your dog will be safe. 
Honestly, I can't see myself trying it at all with a program-trained 
dog, simply because the pups are protected and streamlined for guide 
work, not for running wild and free in the wilderness... Mitzi ran free 
with a big pack o' poodles and other dogs until she was 7 months, so the 
other dogs taught her the fundamentals of doggy safety. That made 
socializing her and all in the city quite the adventure, but it has 
given me a lot of freedom to train from the beginning towards the 
outdoor life. She does really well at city slicker stuff now, of course, 
but that doesn't mean we can't throw off our fancy duds and hit the 
trail! /lol/

One way to work with a dog without risking letting it run off leash 
where it doesn't know the dangers or might get too excited and run off 
and forget to come back would perhaps be to do some long leash work with 
dog while you use your cane. Our dogs are about as not stupid as dogs 
can be, after all, and they really do seem to grasp that their purpose 
in our lives is our safety and theirs. So giving the dog a chance to 
observe some of the special obstacles and other challenges of hiking a 
trail could be to give the dog an opportunity to watch you take them on 
and figure it out with your cane. If that makes sense. Also, I have 
found it to be a good way to plan *how* I want to hike with my guide 
when the time comes that she will be in harness and I will be using a 
rigid cane or trekking pole in the other hand for gauging distances up 
and down.

If that makes sense. /smile/

Tami

On 01/22/2012 12:09 PM, Jeffrey Young wrote:
> So I have done extensive backpacking as a boy scout, but I haven't had a chance to do any with my guideDog. One thing I'd recommend is to bring a cane along. A good sturdy cane not a telescoping one. The cane would serve two purposes. One as a walking stick. Most backpackers use a walking stick. A walking stick is especially useful on steep rough terrain.
>
> Secondly, when hiking you may encounter many obstacles that your dog might not normally encounter. You can use the cane to explore the obstruction before moving on. Also, make sure your dog is well fortified against flees and especially ticks. I don't remember if you said in the first email, but you might want to find out how rough the hiking will be and how many miles per day you will need to travel.
>
> If you and your dog only travel a mile or two a day on city sidewalks and you are expected to travel six or seven miles a day on the trip, then this could pose a challenge of potentially overworking your dog as well as yourself.
>
> I could probably come up with some other tips, but I don't want to ramble to much. If you have any general backpacking questions feel free to let me know. Also, I'm sure we have some other backpackers on the list.
>
> I should add that I can't wait to take Hansel on a trip, but we are having our first child in August, so their won't be much, if any camping this summer.
>
> Jeff and Hansel
> Jeff Young
>
> Home of the world's healthiest energy drink. No Caffeine, no added sugar. Email me for a free sample today.
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> On Jan 22, 2012, at 9:57 AM, Abigail Lanier wrote:
>
>> Julie,
>>
>> The book's title is "Blind Courage" and I am going to try and get a copy of it.
>>
>> The good news is that I already live in the mountains of North Carolina and Alexa and I are fairly used to hills and such. We have done some hiking, but I wouldn't say that we are well seasoned or experienced hikers.
>>
>> I'll let you know of our "progress" :-)
>>
>> Abigail
>>
>> On Jan 22, 2012, at 9:01 AM, Julie J. wrote:
>>
>>> Abigail,
>>>
>>> I have been backpacking, but not with my guide.   The trip I went on was 5 days in Colorado in the Rockies.  I'd estimate the pack I carried was 50 pounds or so.  It was just about all I could do to carry the thing. *smile*   Of course that was just my stuff.  I agree with Nicole to have your guide carry her own food.
>>>
>>> My      suggestion would be to get a pack for yourself and for your guide now and start building up your strength to carry it.  Add in a little more weight each day, practicing going up and down stairs to simulate mountain hiking.  Your guide won't be used to carrying weight and will also need to build up strength to be able to do so comfortably.  There are a lot of web sites that talk about dog backpacking, you could check out some of them to get an idea of how much the maximum weight is that your guide could potentially carry.  I'd subtract a bit from that because guiding is work too.
>>>
>>> There is a book about a guy who hiked the entire Appalachian trail with his guide dog.  NLS has it.  I want to say it was called, "Blind Courage" but I could be misremembering.  I've read a load of dog books and they sometimes get cross-wired in my head! *smile*
>>>
>>> Best of luck,
>>> Julie
>>>
>>>
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