Taking Dogs in the B.C.?

First let me say I LIKE dogs. One tends to see far more folks bringing their canine friends along to the bc, whether hiking or skiing, than ever before. You have to realize that the local furry and feathered residents of the bc see and smell the dogs as a predator and hide. This robs those of us one of the main rewards for visiting the bc--seeing these wonderful critters in their natural environments.
Just something to consider.

Actually, I've not had that experience with the dogs. And not to pick an argument, but just to share an observation, humans smell and look like predators and make quite a bit of noise compared to (most) dogs. A couple of weeks ago in the Wallowas we had deer coming through our camp, bucks coming within 30 feet of us while we sat at a campfire. At conrad meadows we had elk in camp. And on the Rogue river we had bear in camp. (It is possible that all wildlife recognize my dogs as the non-threatening fur-balls they really are.)
But, yeah, if you organized a trip and had the concern you stated above, I wouldn't bring them.

Marcus touches on this - pay attention to what your dog can handle well. There are lots of conditions where dogs have great support (corn, a foot of powder on a firm base, among the most enjoyable for both canine and human), but others where they'll have miserable postholing, and that is not only no fun for them (though they'll keep right up with you bacause they're both loyal and dependent, so that's not a good measure of how they're doing), it's also potentially damaging to their hips and backs over the long term.

And carry some tape and gauze in case they every do manage to have a run-in with a moving ski edge.

We try to do our runs with the hounds when there is a lesser probability of meeting up with other hikers. Both my dogs are goofy and friendly, but the sight of two black dogs running at people doesn't usually bode well.

When I see others, I usually stop skiing and put them on the leash until they pass. Never had any conflicts with that approach and people usually thank me.

Also, watch for rocks, rivers, and other obstacles that may seem obvious to us humans. My one lab scores about -5 on the common sense meter so we have to keep an eye on her.

I love taking my husky skiing but am always concerned that I don' t spoil anybody else's experience and so for me the controlling factor is that I only take my dog if the other members of the group are Ok with it .

I also find that it's better for the dog if other members of the group also have dogs with them as the dogs then kinda take care of themselves.

We had one tour this spring dedicated to dogs we called the dogapalooza tour where everybody knew dogs where the focus and that was great fun.

Last winter we went on a yurt trip in the Wallowas and  the guides all had dogs and we brought ours and it really added to the fun. The guides said they always told their Clients there would be dogs but if the Client requested, they would leave the dogs behind.

Don't agree that they have anymore impact on scaring away the wild life than a group of sweating , noisy humans but poop management is important as one of our group did get poop on their skins which was unpleasant.

Don't agree that they have anymore impact on scaring away the wild life than a group of sweating , noisy humans but poop management is important as one of our group did get poop on their skins which was unpleasant.

The only fault I'd find with that is that most of the humans won't go chasing off after the wildlife like some pooches will.

Dogapalooza sounds super-fun. Somehow I don't think my parrots would do so well in the backcountry.

it's hard to find a pack that'll fit a parrot... Well, i'd assume...