sully151

I have an 8 month old Australian Shepherd that I want to take camping and backpacking.

I am looking forward to some short trips this spring with him.

wigsajumper

Currently have a Cheasapeke / Brown Lab Mix named Ceasar that has done up to 15 miles in 2 days base to summit with ridge hiking before descent.

He carries all of his own food plus his Side kick (the GF's Pekense yes she hiked almost the whole thing also) and most of his water. Water is pretty plentiful in the Northeast so They get alot of filter pumped water and don't have to carry that much.

Best thing that I got for him was some paw protectors for summit climbing (granite does a number on his paws) and for winter hiking.

Luckily and with some training he doesn't respond to wildlife besides freezing and pointing. Except for frogs for some reason he goes bat nuts over them. About the only real issue that we have had with him was an incident with a coydog (local slang for dog coyote hybrid that is common around here). One came into the camp when the GF was still sleeping and Ceasar stood over/on her sleeping bag growling until I chased it out. The GF was squacking about waking up to an 80 pound dog standing on her.

In most of the national forests in this area you have to have dogs leashed and quiet in camp areas and popular trails. Once you are out of "high Impact zones" then they have to be under voice control. If they don't respond well then they have to stay leashed.

wigsajumper

Hilldweller

We encountered 4 bears over the weekend; Jessi growled and farted but didn't freak out. The bears were scared of us and bolted.
That makes a total of 7 bears for her and she's farted each time... ...I guess she's scared...?

DavidEllzey

Awesome. I would think she was just really excited, not necessarily frightened.

Interesting that you even got to see the bears, my experience is that we see fewer bears with our dog around.

Dave

RevyJKU08

Sounds to me she is well trained around bears....growling and standing her ground. That's great the bears take off as well!!

Hilldweller

We stopped on the Res too and they had a stuffed bear in front of a store; she growled and farted --- seemed confused when it didn't move and got a little braver. Some snorting after that.

The bears that we've come across have all been sows and cubs. We ran into some hikers that warned us about a really big male but luckily didn't run into him.
They're all pretty hungry at this time of year...

RevyJKU08

Fall time of year is bad for bears....as they can be unpredictible especially if they did not get their winter fat on them. ...but I find the spring the worst....they are hungry after a long winter slumber and will be hungry for a while if nothing is really popping out for vegetation. Also, spring is when I usually see those nasty looking thin and hair falling off type bears that are just plan nasty and will do anything for a meal.....even if it's you.

Sounds to me you got yourself a well trained bear dog Hilldweller!!!

CATCHONE

Wow British Columbia seems like the place to be if you want to hang out with your dog.

I used to take my German Shepard (Frank) to Joshua Tree National Monument (now Park). WE would stay off the main locations and do back country trails. We had 1 incident with a Mountain Lion but Frank scared him away and one really bad incident with cactus ,which eventually ended our trips to Joshua Tree.

The Rangers were very adiment about no dogs until they met Frank (he was very well trained and only barked in protect mode)

It is sad that more parks in California don't allow dogs.

I will try and post some pics of Frank in JT. He loved it there.

Good Luck with your training. I am sure your dog will do well. t sound like he is on his way already.

CATCHONE

Frank at Joshua Tree

Hilldweller

Yeah; but she's a retard.
We were hiking yesterday and I was looking for bear-sign. I found her on the side of the trail eating bear scat (again).