[nagdu] Going hiking?

Doug Parisian eggmann at mymts.net
Mon Mar 3 18:13:38 UTC 2014


Hiking--just another name for a long walk in the woods, or forest!

I've gone hiking with all my five dogs, never used a cane and they have 
all learned the difference between city and woods walking. I've never 
twisted an ankle, disappeared down damp dark holes, or had any accidents 
not of my own making for pushing my dog when they were rightfully cautious.

These dogs are made for walkin' and that's just what they do, one of 
these days my dog is gonna walk all over you.
On 03/03/2014 11:58 AM, Tami Jarvis wrote:
> Daryl,
>
> I love hiking! So I started from the first figuring out how I would do 
> that with the cane as I learned how to use it. Same with dog. I got 
> her as a pup, so I had a lot more flexibility and training time with 
> her than I would have with a program-trained dog. Quite a bit that I 
> do with her just wouldn't work with a dog that was as protected as the 
> program pups usually are.
>
> Anyway, I like to feel the ground with my feet and use the cane to let 
> me know about obstacles from shin to head. I also use sound a lot, and 
> it took some doing to learn to stay oriented in wide open spaces.
>
> With the dog, I like my sport harness because it has free play in the 
> handle but still gives me good feedback from Mitzi's movements. She 
> has learned to maneuver my feet in a way I don't understand... I 
> actually thought they had fixed some sidewalks around here and broke a 
> cane finding out those sidewalks are worse than when I was learning 
> the cane in the first place. Who knew? /lol/
>
> Doing some bit practice on uneven ground of various types might help 
> you figure out how well you can handle ups and downs and holes and 
> obstacles of various types... If you spend nearly all your time on 
> smooth, regular city sidewalks, then turf can be very different. If 
> you spend more time walking on the wild side in the rough with cane or 
> dog, then you probably have more transferrable skills. /smile/
>
> The dog will need plenty of water, and so will you. Depending on the 
> length of the hike, you both may need more calories, so there's a nice 
> full backpack for you to carry. /smile/ Spare cane highly recommended! 
> Especially if you get irritated and hit that stupid rock with that 
> stupic cane after a couple of miles. /lol/ I have a couple of 
> different hiking tips, one a big ball and one sort of a large disk. 
> They make the end of the cane pretty heavy, though, so that's why I've 
> learned to feel the ground with my feet and just use the cane for 
> other types of obstacles. The large ball does break when you hit a 
> rock with it. /smile/
>
> Um... I began preparing Mitzi as a pup, so I can be pretty free and 
> easy with her on a wilderness hike. With a dog that didn't learn those 
> wild skills young and that hasn't had much experience with being off 
> leash, I would not do quite a lot of what I do with her. /shudder/ A 
> hands free leash works well if you're using your cane but need to keep 
> the dog from going off and getting into trouble.
>
> Hiking in company, I use the sounds of the others to know where the 
> trail is, so I can feel the ground with my feet as I track them. I 
> don't like going slow, though, so sometimes that's a bummer and I end 
> up way ahead, using the sound of people calling for me to slow down to 
> aid in echolocation. /lol/ Mitzi also likes to show me the trail with 
> her bells or with a squeaky ball, so that's way cool. When she's 
> guiding, we tend to move right along, so there we are blazing the 
> trail again if the other hikers prefer to mosey. I grew up with RP 
> running around in the hills and woods, so it's pretty natural for me 
> to know where I am and where I'm going and how to get back to where 
> I've been. I also find getting lost kinda fun and enjoy the challenge 
> of getting unlost, preferrably before I'm too hot, tired and hungry to 
> have fun anymore. Thus, I don't avoid getting lost and have given 
> myself lots of practice getting found again. If you get anxious when 
> you get lost and aren't used to the woods, that is something to take 
> into consideration when you plan where to hike and with whom you will 
> be hiking. Some sighted people can't find their way out of a paper bag 
> and can forget the way back after the third step, so I don't plan to 
> depend on someone's vision until I know they can use their brains. 
> /smile/
>
> Don't know if any of that is helpful or was what you were asking 
> about. The most important thing is to know your own strengths and 
> limitations if it's something you haven't done much and proceed with 
> caution until you know you can handle the ground and environment, and 
> until you know what your dog can handle and how.
>
> Have fun and let us know how it goes!
>
> Tami
>
> On 03/03/2014 07:29 AM, Daryl Marie wrote:
>> hi!
>> I have always enjoyed nature, but have been hesitant to go hiking 
>> with a cane.  In a couple of months, my husband, my dog and I are 
>> going to be going to Montana for a few days just to relax. There's a 
>> lot of trails around where we're staying, so I would LOVE to be able 
>> to take Jenny and just go!  Any advice would be greatly appreciated; 
>> perhaps I just don't know what to ask.
>>
>> Daryl
>>
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>
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