Dogs and Crags - An Accident Report and Opening a Can of Worms I'm sure... *warning graphic and detailed description of accident*

Josh McMillan wrote:

This is 100% a "but not my dog" situation.... Even if your dog is as great as you say, you are encouraging other idiots to also bring their dogs, who think their dogs are "physically controlled and well-behaved." Leave the dog at home brah

To my chagrin, I've been unsuccessful at controlling the behavior of crag or real world idiots and am not optimistic of developing that superpower. I've found it best to mind my own business at the crag and not assume my decisions are inspiring to anyone - see politics, carbon footprint, dietary preferences, vaccinations, attempts at model citizenship, etc. According to my personal preferences, bad dogs, idiot friends, weed/drugs/booze/tobacco, music/musical instruments, lack of basic hygiene, and free soloing aspirations would be left at home by all, but I don't make demands because it's not the responsibility of the world or my climbing community to create safe spaces for my personal preferences.

You are correct, it's 100% a "not my dog" argument. What's your point?

Colonel Mustard wrote: I don’t know, guys, I think this is the thread that solves it. Got a feeling!

Yes! Game ball!

I can't count the number of times I've heard someone say "Sorry man, she/he's usually really good..."  Of course, what that actually means is "she/he's really good if there are no strange people/dogs/wildlife around". If we define "good crag dog" as one that doesn't negatively affect the people around them, I'd say that fewer than 1 in 10 dogs at the crag would qualify (though I'm certain 9 of 10 of the owners think their dogs are -great- crag dogs) . And even if your dog is, in fact, one of those rare few, it only takes one unleashed crappy dog to start something.

A clumsy analogy:  You -love- German techno. However, you realize that not everyone shares your ardor for der funkybeats, and thus you never play techno at the crag. You may even think that those who -do- blast German techno at the crag are incredibly rude. And yet, strangely, you insist upon regularly bringing a boombox to the crag with a German techno cassette in it, usually leaving it leaning against a tree. Often it just leans there peacefully, but perhaps more often than you'd like, random visiting climbers come up and press "play", and suddenly now we're all getting subjected to ear-splitting German techno until you can finally get over to the boombox to shut it off. "It's not my fault, I didn't press play!", you say to the glowering people around you. Sure, the (undoubtably German) climber (who just flashed your proj, btw) was the one who hit "play", but you brought the boombox and cassette.  

Is this the forum where we post pics of our dogs at crags?

The hardest part of covid-19 is not being able to pet dogs when they come to say hi on the trails :(

This post limit is BS

Bottom line is that Nobody loves your dog the way you do and 90% of the people who act unnafected by your dogs  behavior or say don't worry its fine  are simply being polite.

Not true. I love your dog the way you do, unless... And your really think both of them are being polite?

Indian Creek? Squamish? Sounds like yall pick the most crowded fad crags so you can talk about how rad you are and then want to blame someone else for the fact that it is over crowded, so you pick on dogs. Pathetic.

Mark Paulson wrote: I can't count the number of times I've heard someone say "Sorry man, she/he's usually really good..."  Of course, what that actually means is "she/he's really good if there are no strange people/dogs/wildlife around". If we define "good crag dog" as one that doesn't negatively affect the people around them, I'd say that fewer than 1 in 10 dogs at the crag would qualify (though I'm certain 9 of 10 of the owners think their dogs are -great- crag dogs) . And even if your dog is, in fact, one of those rare few, it only takes one unleashed crappy dog to start something.

A clumsy analogy:  You -love- German techno. However, you realize that not everyone shares your ardor for der funkybeats, and thus you never play techno at the crag. You may even think that those who -do- blast German techno at the crag are incredibly rude. And yet, strangely, you insist upon regularly bringing a boombox to the crag with a German techno cassette in it, usually leaving it leaning against a tree. Often it just leans there peacefully, but perhaps more often than you'd like, random visiting climbers come up and press "play", and suddenly now we're all getting subjected to ear-splitting German techno until you can finally get over to the boombox to shut it off. "It's not my fault, I didn't press play!", you say to the glowering people around you. Sure, the (undoubtably German) climber (who just flashed your proj, btw) was the one who hit "play", but you brought the boombox and cassette.  

Bad dog = unattended boombox.

Good dog = AirPods

Insert "mind blown" meme/gif/emoji of your choosing.

What are these boombox and cassettes of which you speak?

Im sorry scotty. I meant mike. mike had copied and pasted your name into his thread. its all so confusing..  Bottom line is that Nobody loves your dog the way you do and 90% of the people who act unnafected by your dogs  behavior or say don't worry its fine  are simply being polite. You are that person at the party who didn't bring anything but eats all the free food, drinks all the beer, smokes more than your share of the weed , pisses all over the toilet seat and some on the floor as well, told rude jokes in front of the women and tried to rub your dick on them while dancing..  insulted the host and almost got in a fight … Fcking Wonderful…   

Nick Goldsmith wrote: Im sorry scotty. I meant mike. mike had copyd and pasted your name into his thread. its all so confusing.. 

No worries, I was just confused. 

Like a lot of things, it's pretty easy to just ask what's more likely:

- you're an exception to general trend
- you're unable to see the ways in which your behavior is impacting other people because it's your behavior

Don't bring your dogs to the crags.  You're not better than statistics.

The absolute best is Uncle Dave who brings his  beautiful German shepard to my sisters farm. The first thing Dante (the shepard) does  when he gets out of the jeep is kill a chicken.  then Uncle dave  tells  stories at Easter dinner about how Dante got an erection in embaresing circumstances mentioning Dantes erection at least half a dozen times while his poor daughters and ex wife turn beet red and try to hide behind their napkins...    Dog people simply think that their dogs are gods and everything they do is absolutely precious....   is what it is...  

I love your dog. Bring it on.

Marc801 C wrote: What are these boombox and cassettes of which you speak?

You know what they are haha.

So the take away is that if you bring your dog to the crag 95% of your fellow climbers will hate you. If you are the type of person who doesn't care that your fellow climbers hate you then go ahead and bring your dog.  Personally, I prefer not to have everyone hoping I rap off the ends of my rope and I like there to be a chance someone will return my cams or quick draws to me if I leave them at the base of a climb.

Three separate thoughts:
1. Matt I am sorry about your friends dog it is sad.
2. In general there is a difference between taking your dog to indian creek or squamish vs taking your dog to a wall that gets no traffic.
3. I think the only thing both groups can agree on is big walling with your dog is okay.

I hate dogs but this is a reverse story. Where I lived in southern AZ. there is an on and off waterfall during the monsoons and the ledge gets polished. There is a pull out at the top of the falls,couple hundred foot drop and people go there and look over the edge. Couple guys and their dogs age there proving the gene pool is not very deep and screwing around. The dogs get close to the edge and the guys, being the mental giants they are run after them and slip and slide off the edge. Dogs 2, humans 0.

That happened in the Italian alps about 1999 ish.  dog got on some ice at the top of a cliff on a ski tour... just imagin how smart you need to be to take your dog  ski touring in the alps...   Dog gets on the ice at the edge of the cliff and starts wimpering.. 4 nice well meaning humans slip to their deaths trying to rescue the dog. Dog then scampers back to safety on its own power. …  On a related note never try to rescue a dog from drowning as they are better swimmers than you and will drown you for trying to rescue them.  Its happened several times on California beaches in the last decade.  the last one I read  the dog got caught in a rip tide. the father and son drowned trying to save it. Doggie then swam out of the rip tide and back to shore and mommy who just witnessed the whole thing....

 I do actually like certain dogs quite a bit. very selective about it but there are some dogs that pass the test.  I just prefer that someone else be responsible for the  babysitting 24/7

Keith Wood wrote:

And do you clean up its poop?

Lay off the inquisition, dude. It's like you WANT to find something to hate a responsible dog owner for.

To the OP, that's super tragic. I have no problem with well-behaved dogs at the crag, and take mine out all the time, but top-site scouting is so sketch. I feel so bad for your friend, I can't imagine this happening to anyone's doggo.

So in the rrg a fella was bolting a new route on the undertow rapping in from the top, he also had his pup unleashed at the top of the cliff, well when he rapped over the edge the dog almost immediately ran off the cliff after his owner. When the route was completed and sent, it was named Rocket Dog by the fa (who was also the dogs owner.)

Is this the forum where we post uplifting stories about dogs? This is Blanco. I found him in Afghanistan in 2010. He was a great source of happiness for us over there and provided a sense of normalcy for us. Nothing better than coming home to a pup after a long mission. He brought us a lot of joy and I could not imagine leaving him there, so I found a way to get him home. He has lost a step or two recently, but is still going strong. As he gets up there in years, I can’t help but wonder how I will get by without him sometimes...