How do you feel about dog encounters?

I was curious about how most people feel about dogs they encounter on outdoor adventures or just any outing. This includes any pets you bring yourself or pets of others you find at the crag or on the trail. Do you feel any responsibility to help maintain a good experience for all other user groups?

I've had many bad experiences with other people's dogs. I only want to calmly share just one thought, and it is this: If you are a dog owner, then please, please understand that I do not feel the same way about your dog as you do. This means that if it jumps up and licks my face, and sniffs my crotch, then I do not share in the laughter. Hopefully this is also apparent when your dog bites me.

I believe that there is going to be a meeting soon about the leash ordinance at the Bonneville Shoreline trail near "I" street in the Avenues. What is your stance on this ordinance? In all the years that I have hiked and jogged up there, I have never seen anyone keep the ordinance, so I don't think it matters at all.

Another question...why are there little bags of dog pooh left all over the place?

Gee, this topic has never been covered before! :)

I say, burn all dogs and their owners for the atrocities they've committed against the climbing community. Burn them all.

youtube.com/watch?v=BZ3-3im…

Here is my take. Your dog is yours and you should consider its actions much as I consider my children's - You (the owner) are responsible for what it does. There are good/bad dog owners as there are good/bad parents. The difference with a dog with a bad disposition is you can put it down if it doesn't shape up.

If your dog approaches me (or especially my children) off leash, you will see me be rightfully mean to the beast as I do not know its disposition nor do I want it knocking into me or my kids shoving its ass sniffing nose into my body parts or my kids faces. If a 60-80lb kid did that to everyone they met, they would be institutionalized.

Train them or keep them on a leash. If you can't accept that please don't be put off if I am mean to your dog. It unfortunately isn't the dog's fault, it is the dog owners.

PT

You go dog!

My philosophy about dogs at the crag is very simple. If it bites me I kick it, otherwise it's live and let live.

Dogs like any pack animal will take cues from the stronger forces around it. Therefore they will take their cue from you the supposedly more intelligent species.if you cower like a wounded animal and the dog in questioned is inclined to be aggressive you'll end up on the short end of the stick. However if you simply go about your business and don't acknowledge the animal 9 out of 10 times the dog will go about it's business. We are in the west, we are an outdoor culture, dogs are part of that culture. Dog owners should take the time to train and socialize their animals which will be in these semi urban outdoor setting just as non dog owners should take the time to understand the dynamic of the human/animal encounter. I remember a specific encounter from some lily white climber at Indian Creek complaining to the ranchers about one of their mustangs plowing through their camp, destroying their tent, shitting in their "living" space and getting all pissy with the ranch owner over it.I can still smell the patchouli. The rancher, my long time friend was amused, and simply stated, You're dealing with an animal, he don't think like you". And so it goes. As more urbanites wander into foreign territory and come upon situations which assault their sensibilities there will be this type encounter. What you gonna do, steal their land and rape their women cause their dog didn't crap in a plastic bag and messed with your "outdoor" experience?

ps, I like most dogs, some people, not so much.

Nick Zmyewski wrote:My philosophy about dogs at the crag is very simple. If it bites me I kick it, otherwise it's live and let live.

I'll add to the kick list- steal my food/go through my pack, piss/shit on my gear, walk all over my rope, try to sniff my ass. other than that dogs are fine with me and I encourage people to kick my dog if she does any of this.

If a dog is approaching you it's pretty easy to tell if you will be bitten or licked.... If the dog is aggressive, boot it in the face as hard as you feel necessary. If you don't like a dog thats just happy to meet a new person then maybe your the jerk.

Treat dogs the way you treat people. If you don't want to talk to them, then don't bother to look at them and they will walk on by, forever anonymous. If they step on your rope, even if accidentally, you should definitely kick them, especially if they are children, because that's the best way to deal with the situation as it won't risk provoking the child into aggression and because it's best if they learn these things early on.

As a general rule in life, you should be afraid of people and animals you don't know and assume they are rabid and truly Evil. After all, you don't know if that person approaching you on the trail is a gentle hiker who wants to ruin your day by blabbering on about how beautiful it is, or steal your gear and chop your bolts and scoop your FA and rape you, so it's best to be safe and assume the worst. This attitude of distrust will help you live a long and happy life, and will contribute to the general happiness of everyone around you.

One time at Indian Creek a dog ate all my lunch out of my pack. We were planning on a long day and it was an hour approach. When I yelled at the dog and scared him away from my bag, a few onlookers acted like I had done something wrong. I didn't even touch the dog and they were all like "aww, poor doggy - don't be so mean to him he's just hungry."

Then the owner came around and offered me a snickers bar to replace my sandwiches, apples, bananas, etc.

Dogs are great, but sometimes their owners are morons and that pisses me off.

I've long advocated paintball guns as a remedy for this sort of thing. That includes the owners.

Poorly behaved dogs are a direct result of poorly educated or lazy door owners. I could see shooting bad owners with a PB gun. I couldn't shoot a dog though--even with a paintball gun.

I've never brought a dog to the crag, but I would also not be surprised if a dog ate my food if I left it laying around. If you don't want your lunch eaten, then maybe you should think about closing your pack if you aren't actively looking through it.

As for those who are outright mean to dogs or people until they prove themselves "worthy" of you, you must live a sad, angry life.

Alex McIntyre wrote:If you don't want your lunch eaten, then maybe you should think about closing your pack if you aren't actively looking through it.

While that's a decent idea in theory, it's not practical everywhere. There are several climbing areas where I intentionally leave my pack open to keep varmints from chewing through it to get to the inside which may not even contain any food, but their noses tell them otherwise. (And if it does contain food, it's in a hard container 99% of the time anyway.) I think it's up to dog owners to keep undisciplined dogs from others' gear/food.

Alex McIntyre wrote:I've never brought a dog to the crag, but I would also not be surprised if a dog ate my food if I left it laying around. If you don't want your lunch eaten, then maybe you should think about closing your pack if you aren't actively looking through it.

Fair point, but in the desert, I don't really think about that kind of stuff. It's not like we look around for trees to hang our food from - there is nothing up there to eat my food except for the dogs that people bring up there.

That leads to probably the most important point of any dog conversation: Dogs shit and piss everywhere and there is no way around that. We don't like it when humans shit in the desert, but then when a human's dog does it it's OK?

As for those who are outright mean to dogs or people until they prove themselves "worthy" of you, you must live a sad, angry life.

Agree with you there.

Dogs are way more enjoyable at the crag than 75% of the people I ever encounter.

I agree with most of the posts so far - dogs at crags are OK so long as they're well behaved and, if a dog comes around and you don't want to 'entertain' then ignore or, a stern "GIT!! / NO" is usually sufficient. If you are in fear for yourself or your kin then step in between and again, first ignore then Git / No.
"so long as they're well behaved" ... key words for the owners. My lab is a great dog, super friendly, never has and never will bite or even nip anyone, loves people and approaches them and other dogs openly. HOWEVER, he goes to people too openly and I understand not everyone appreciates that so I KEEP HIM HOME WHEN I GO CLIMBING.
Best for the dog, best for others. If you climb and cannot leave your dog alone at home while you climb and your dog sticks it's nose in everyone else's stuff and poops (and you do not clean it up and cart it away or put in a spot where it will biodegrade unbeknownst to others) then perhaps you should have reconsidered having a dog vs your climbing.
I live in the most dog friendly state I've ever encountered, CO, however there are many local ordinances against unleashed dogs. And it doesn't cause a problem for dog owners, still a super dog-friendly state! So, regarding "the lease ordinance at the Bonneville Shoreline trail near "I" street in the Avenues" I would vote for it.

I hate it when people take people out climbing. They are always talking, eating or going to the bathroom. I like people but please leave them at home they have no business being outside.

Unfortunately for the dogs it's usually not their fault. As mentioned up thread, non dog people often don't feel the same as pet owners about the dog. I don't ordinarily have any issue with dogs, but they should really be left at home,no matter how well 'behaved'. Same goes for babies.