Outward Hound
Point Reyes (Wildcat Camp) should I take a dog? PLEASE ANSWER THX!?
I am considering bringing my pup (2 y.o. border-collie lab mix) on a hike that is 6 mi. long, the elevation is marked ‘coast’ and she will have to carry water for 2.5 days as well as her food.
She has her own ‘outward hound’ backpack but I am more worried about the wildlife and sleeping at night?
I would say she listens when necessary, and otherwise 80-90% of the time lol…not one hundred percent because I’ve been inconsistent but she also is obviously distracted when there is squirrels and deers…more so squirrels
Does anyone know what type of wildlife are typically there and how dogs react with (coyotes, racoons, deer, bears?..)
Lastly can someone suggest how much water I should bring and what would be a safe amount that she can carry..
THANK YOU!
*Here is the site
http://www.totalescape.com/active/campstuff/NP/ptreyes.html
Dogs aren’t allowed on the Wildcat Camp trail. Not that that should stop you, but just saying.
However, yes, there is wildlife, and while I think “no dogs” policies are total BS and should be ignored (humans cause way more harm, so not allowing dogs makes no sense /tangent), it IS still important to be respectful of wildlife. If she’s well behaved and won’t chase/otherwise harass wildlife (which, in addition to rodents and larger mammals, the trails also have salamanders, etc… which can be very easily hurt or killed by a misbehaving dog or person), then take her. If she’s not, best to not take her or keep her on a leash if you do.
Water and all that depends on how much you and she typically drink. I usually bring 1 bottle for my dog, but 6 miles isn’t really long enough to need any myself. But everyone’s different, of course., and I’ve never actually camped overnight, so… I guess bring whatever you’d normally drink in that period of time. But, um, if your goal was just to hike, I can’t imagine spending 2 1/2 days on 6 miles (more like 2 1/2 hours, maybe).
EDIT to the person below: coyotes aren’t aggressive – the stories going around here lately are the exception and blown way out of proportion (I’ve lived around coyotes most of my life, and never once had a problem… in fact, in my experience, they run away from anything half their size or bigger). And dogs are killed by cars on the street, but they certainly aren’t banned from urban areas. And humans are occasionally killed by wildlife (but more often vice versa), but that doesn’t seem to justify closing parks to people (even though, from an environmental and ecological standpoint, doing so would make a lot of sense). So citing a rare case doesn’t really hold up as a general rule. Again, if you’re respectful of wildlife and your dog can be completely trusted with all sorts of animals, then go for it.
Review: Outward Hound Dog BackPacks.
Tags: dog, hound, life, outward, outward hound, outward hound backpack, outward hound car seat, outward hound life jacket, outward hound pet sling, pet
This entry was posted on Friday, August 20th, 2010 at 3:09 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.