Dogs in the BC?

Hyak, Is that a Bernese Mountain Dog? If so, how does it do on longer days in the BC?

Yes, that is a Bernese.  My guy loves the snow and as most dogs go, will go wherever I take him. I generally just hike around the Hyak area where I live but I have taken him to Snow Lake in the summer before and he has done well. He is very good on steep terrain and loves the run back down! Berners are very friendly dogs....

Awesome replies all, thanks for keeping some good info and your experiences with your pups!

Bassets are a bit of a different breed though so I'm a bit concerned with their short legs, long ears and 50+ lb body could make it hard in unconsolidated snow. Plus, they're just stubborn. I guess we can take him out on a trip or two in some low level area's to see how he does in snow first just hiking around, then slowly build up to touring a bit. Right now he gets wiped after about 4 miles so he needs some endurance building to.

But on a side note, I'll be spending my first night as a resident in Washington in 8 days!

Just wanted to chime in here. My last dog was an absolute ripper in the bc and was not scared in the least to run straight down very steep exposed lines. I sure wish I had discovered the Splitboard before she met her untimely demise. With that in mind, I was super excited when I got my next dog, a lab-shepard mix. I took her on her first tour when she was only 3 months old and she absolutely loves it. Unfortunately some long tours in breakable crust, plus many long mountain bike rides caused her to tear her ACL. 2500 dollars later, she can run and play but her skiing days are over. It actually a relief now that she doesn't come with me and I don't have to worry about her but the look of guilt I get from her when I grab my gear to leave is really hard to take sometimes!


Diamond in her heyday!

Might want to get some ruffwear paw boots

If you use anything like this, take them off on hardpack or icy conditions. We were hiking Pugh one August and at Stujack Pass a guy had those on his dog. The dog went down on the north side gully snow, had no traction and began a long slide. A large boulder stopped him which broke his leg. S&R heroes eventually came as it was getting dark. Hope the guy gave a large donation.

Indeed, and if it is hard enough, even a dog w/o the booties can go for a slide. It was not fun watching my dog Max gripped with fear sliding backwards (standing up, not moving terribly quickly, but not happy) down a 35 degree slope; fortunately it was a short slide before the angle eased and he stopped, was able to turn around, and resume bounding joyfully down. Max was quite a snow trooper.

Different dogs have different learning curves around the fact that you're turning, and that they should stay away from the skis. Many have a tendency to want to chase and be near you, risking getting slashed by a ski edge as you turn back toward them. I've heard of some pretty bad ski cuts to dogs' legs.

As noted above, snow bridges are another tricky bit. Max barely got off a big piece of snow that collapsed into a ~6 foot hole while hiking up to Rachel Lake one year and learned from that. In fact from then on it was tough to get him to go near edges even if they weren't overhung. And he seemed to "get it" when we'd call him away from cornices. Sasha was less cautious in general but fortunately nothing bad ever happened to her out in the snow.

I think we took too long to learn not to take the dogs out on trailbreaking trips in deep powder. If we were on a track that had had time to really set up they would usually be fine, but if it was a fresh track they postholed too much. Not good for their backs or hips, and in some cases their spirit. And breakable crust is not good on the way down - can grab their hind legs on the descent when they have a lot of momentum down the hill. Deep spring glop is also very tough. These great buddies will usually follow us anywhere, but that does not mean we should lead them anywhere. It's a sad moment when you have to leave them home and they know you're heading out with the "fun time gear," but sometimes it's the right thing to do.

Speaking of dog rescues , recently, an alpine scrambler was forced to leave her dog overnight on Mt Si's Haystack Rock.  Fortunately, due to the efforts of WASART, Seattle Mountain Rescue, and King County 4X4 Search and Rescue, all turned out well.