Taking Dogs in the B.C.?

I don't have a dog but I do love 'em, and plan to have one eventually.  However, I think I'll be pretty choosy about what types of ski trips I bring it on, mostly because of two specific issues, both of which have been addressed here to some degree ...

He always goes out assuming that, if Tundra is having trouble, he'll peel off or adjust his plans. 

But how does he know when the dog's had enough and wants to turn around?  Even in all-human parties, there'll sometimes be one member that's having trouble and for whatever reason wants or needs to turn around …  but decides to be stoic and tough it out.   And keeping silent like that, as many of us know from some of the trips we've been on, can lead to bigger problems later on for the whole party.  However, at least with people they're able to speak up about needing to change plans; dogs can't.  I've had discussions about this before, and I always seem to hear something like "... yeah but I know my dog, he's my best friend.. I always know when he needs to turn around."   I'm sorry, but um... I don't buy it (at least not the "always" part). 

I skied for years with a Heeler-Lab mutt named "Appy" that got her name changed to "avi" because she could pick better lines that I could. Several times she refused to follow me down lines that subsequently broke on me while her chosen line provided no such thrills.

I'm sure that in some human-dog duos, this would be the case, that the dog's got better sense for the safe line than the human.  I'd suspect tho that the majority of the time it's the other way 'round.

Along the same lines/issue, I think there's a lot of dogs out there which are (I hate to say it but) really poorly trained, and rarely come heel when their owners tell them to... which can make travelling in avalanche country extremely dangerous with those dogs/owners.  Fortunately, none of the dogs I've skied with so far have fit this description. 

But how does he know when the dog's had enough and wants to turn around?

It's not that complicated, if a dog has had enough and wants to turn around, they will often stop and refuse to go any further!

This is one of the standard topics on backcountry forums, whether populated by skiers, backpackers, hikers, photographers, climbers or random others.  It tends to get posters agitated (to put it mildly), so I'm glad to note the sedate tone here.

I love touring with dogs, though it's been a while since I've owned one myself.  But there's no denying that they do poop copiously all  over the terrain, most notably in the middle of perfectly good skintracks and around parking lots and trailheads (where spring/summer snowmelt can get pretty gross).  What's more, dogs don't generally grasp the concept of "a hundred feet from streams and lakes." Of course, neither do a certain proportion of human users.

It's also pretty obvious that dogs harass wildlife, and that this can make a real difference in local populations of certain species.  Why argue with this? Dogs tend to cover a lot more ground than humans, and most of that ground is covered in pursuit of real or imagined prey species.  This is more true in summer than mid-winter, of course.  

It's equally un-arguable that more than a few favorite backcountry companions have been prematurely crippled by their well-intentioned owners' failures to recognize their limitations—for example, by over-working them to the point of chronic joint problems, which is surprisingly common, or by not ensuring that they stay clear of sharp ski edges or natural hazards.  Finally, I've witnessed agressive dogs, offleash in the backcountry, threatening children and adults, and I've seen the results of brutal attacks on other dogs as well.  

But I still love touring with dogs....provided the owners realistically accept their limitations, taking responsibility for protecting both the dogs themselves and fellow humans alike from their cognitive and physiological limitations.

Mark

The above point about sharp metal edges is a good one. I worked with a guy on patrol in CO who's aussie was run over and had his MCL cut open.

Usually what my fiancee and I do when we take our golden is I'll go first and gain some ground (the dog can't quite keep up) then the dog will come to me and I'll hold him while she skis to our position. But he only goes on about 5% of our tours anyway.

I am not a dog owner, but I love dogs, just not in the BC.
On a semi-related note, I have a good friend who lives in Jackson Hole. His sister is a vet there and spends all winter every winter treating dogs with messed up legs from ski edges. We are talking more than one or two per week all winter long, she has to put a lot of them down as well. Not a nice thing to do to a dog. When the snow melts the dog injury rate is about the same, maybe a little less, maybe a little more, only the jump from the pickup truck is the cause.
With that said, patrol dogs are super cool, I have always wanted to have the time and energy and skill to train one. Another friend was a pro patrol dog handler in Whistler, he bragged that he had the roundest edges on the mountain because the first thing he did when he bought skis was to dull the inside edges, as his dog was trained to run between his legs. Not much fun for skiing but good for keeping the dog safe and working to save people.

The thread has now meandered to what is my main concern when I see a dog in the backcountry...
the fear that the dog will run into my ski edges. I love dogs and love to play with them. I enjoy the dogs that friends bring on ski tours; but if I had a dog that I took skiing I would take the time to train it to give moving skiers a wide berth. That way I could better enjoy the dog and skiing together without concern for this high probability type of injury for the unwary dog.