Dog rant

Aaron Waitwrote:

My dog steals socks.  Watch out.

Thats annoying af. 

He's more cat than dog. Can't bring the dude anywhere. Cries every time I'm at a crux. Mad distracting

There are no bad dogs, only bad dog owners.

Ivan never goes off leash at the crag, so he’s never bitten anyone, peed on a rope, eaten anyone’s sandwich, or wandered onto a crash pad. Ivan goes to sleep, and waits for people to come up to him and pet him. Keeping him on leash is better for everyone, and definitely better for him, and he’s happier for it. 

Marc801 Cwrote:

Uberfall: to literally fall across; nothing to do with waterfalls or any other kind of falls.

For someone who climbed there for almost 30 years, seeing that is the visual equivalent of nails on a blackboard. Sorry.

Fixed...love it.  

... Hey OP, are you sure you didn't post this same thread like a few times every year for the past decade?

Seems kinda familiar is all.

Apparently all of MP (save for area updates, new gear discussion, trip & accident reports, partner finder posts) should be archived and closed since everything is a re-post of some kind if you go back far enough.

There's nothing new under the sun, y'all. Consider it a PSA to the newer dog owning climbers that haven't seen all the dog threads before. I know old timers have seen it all a hundred times, but there are people that are new and should be made aware. Don't like it? Don't click it. Problem solved.

Your poorly behaved dog is not cute, it's annoying af. If you can't afford doggy daycare and don't want to leave it at home, maybe reconsider your life choices.

Mark Starrwrote:

Apparently all of MP (save for area updates, new gear discussion, trip & accident reports, partner finder posts) should be archived and closed since everything is a re-post of some kind if you go back far enough.

There's nothing new under the sun, y'all. Consider it a PSA to the newer dog owning climbers that haven't seen all the dog threads before. I know old timers have seen it all a hundred times, but there are people that are new and should be made aware. Don't like it? Don't click it. Problem solved.

Your poorly behaved dog is not cute, it's annoying af. If you can't afford doggy daycare and don't want to leave it at home, maybe reconsider your life choices.

Who woofed in your cheerios???!?

But, see, new thread, there's new dogs!   

Dogs should be leashed, unless it's specifically set up for them to be off leash, in an appropriate area. Best for everyone, including the dog.

I know of a dog getting butted off a cliff by a mountain goat when a friend was out on a group hike. He got to carry a big dog out on his shoulders, instead of having the weekend he planned. A dog was killed by a coyote (had a den nearby) on a popular, almost in town trail. Dogs almost killed by a random shooter (I narrowly missed that one, myself). Dogs who cooked themselves getting excited at the sight of water....that happened to be very hot hot springs (again, in the city limits near a park).

Everyone always assumes the best ...until it isn't.

As to people who "insist" on bringing their dogs? It isn't always a choice of simply "leave them at home". Most all the crag dogs I meet these days, are at City of Rocks, and are on a camping trip with their owners.

Including the devious camp mate of mine who swiped my muffin out of the side pocket of my pack, the brief instant it was on the ground when we arrived in the parking lot for our climbing!

To add indignity to injustice, this same furball friend once turned a boulder problem his mom and I were sussing out into a 2 move wonder. Jumped entirely over both of us, and one huge single scrabble saw him top out.

Sigh.

Best, Helen

Bummer about the dog, I too recently dealt with a problem doggo (Australian shepherd biting at my legs while running circles around me) but this should actually be a lesson in securing your food. It's not just the dog that had access to it, and obv feeding wildlife is bad. Intentionally or unintentionally. 

Mark Starrwrote:

Your poorly behaved dog is not cute, it's annoying af. If you can't afford doggy daycare and don't want to leave it at home, maybe reconsider your life choices.

This is it right here. Everybody wants a dog.  But not everyone should have a dog. Not  because they are bad dog owners, lazy or whatever,  but just because of logistics. In general,  people don't realize how much work it is to take care of a dog. Properly training and socializing a dog is almost a full time job and most people just dont have the time and/or money to do it, or have enough space to keep the dog, etc. A lot of people think that because they have an active lifestyle,  they are well suited to be dog parents,  but fact is dogs aren't always welcome. If you work full time, are single, live in the city or can't spend all your time training a dog,  don't get one! If you dont want to have kids because you just aren't in that place of stability in life, don't get a dog instead! Just babysit other people's dogs while they go do fun stuff. 

I like the way the Access Fund has approached the issue. Not to outright condemn dogs at the crag, but lay out some best practices to follow. You would think that most of this is common sense, but it should be mandatory reading for any dog owners.

https://www.accessfund.org/open-gate-blog/crag-dogs-acceptable-or-not-1

This has been the highest percentage of people agreeing that dogs are not welcomed at the crag in history or this conversation. 

Now I live in SE Idaho and climb at City Of Rocks a lot. I would say that 9 out of 10 dogs are off leash and out of those 9 dog owners I would assume at least 7 if them know they are supposed to have their dog on a leash. The rangers basically walk around every day asking people to put there dogs on a leash. This selfishness takes up park resources and is actively destroying the fragile desert environment. Don't be selfish. YOUR dog is no different then everyone else's dog. The rules also apply to you.

Shaun Johnson wrote:

Edit: Cute dog pics are just reinforcing ignorance. 

Would love to see an outright dog ban in all NPs and SPs. 

Too many bad dog owners, and a few absolutely terrible dog owners ruin it for all of them. 

grug gwrote:

Would love to see an outright dog ban in all NPs and SPs. 

Too many bad dog owners, and a few absolutely terrible dog owners ruin it for all of them. 

Umm what national park do you know of that currently allows dogs out of developed areas, or off paved walking paths and trails? I mean I get it, you are the angry online anonymous troll guy, so you have a reputation to keep, but also like dogs are already barely allowed in any national parks as it is, let alone in any backcountry areas, lol. 

You seem like someone who lives life with the CapsLock key on so to speak, so no wonder you hate dogs of course, I mean most dogs do "know" after all, so no surprise you've prob had some bad experiences with them over the years. 

Looks like the unreasonable airplane-mask-tantrum-throwers are coming out of the woodwork on this thread, so I'll change my tune to that type. Maybe some of you aren't cut out for outdoor climbing, with all the elements and animals and prickly plants and such. Maybe the climbing gym offers free mental health services and support groups where you can discuss the trauma that that tail-wagging beast unleashed on you when it sniffed you. In 20 years of frequent climbing, I've only witnessed 2 negative dog interactions worth mentioning, and probably thousands of neutral or positive interactions. A much higher rate of negative and dangerous people interactions. Either I've been incredibly lucky, or some of you are just phone-recording whining karens...

If a dog is rifling through and stealing your food from your tightly kept pack/rope non-flea market gear stash, then yeah, you've got a legitimate complaint. If a dog is actually aggressive towards you, you've got a legitimate complaint. If a dog is tearing up a sensitive desert landscape, that's a legitimate complaint. Dogs in places they're not legally allowed, call the rangers on them. But please, don't act like this is happening more than it actually is. 

Lee Chandlerwrote:

Umm what national park do you know of that currently allows dogs out of developed areas, or off paved walking paths and trails? I mean I get it, you are the angry online anonymous troll guy, so you have a reputation to keep, but also like dogs are already barely allowed in any national parks as it is, let alone in any backcountry areas, lol. 

I think it depends on what counts as undeveloped but Olympic and Acadia come to mind as national parks as places with dog anarchy. 

Will C wrote:

Clearly, you have never been to Joshua Tree. Take a gander and lemme know how many dog owners you see actually following park regulations regarding their fur babies.

Ftr, I own a dog and love it; but it's never coming to the crag with me.

We own three dogs ourselves, they also don't really ever go to the crag with us, unless its some one star crag in the middle of nowhere, where we know we won't see anyone. Dogs at the crag in AZ usually doesn't make much sense for a variety of reasons snakes, rockfall, other dogs, shitty owners, warm approaches etc. Most of the takes on here make perfect sense, of course you should leash your dog and of course nobody's dog should be stealing anyone's food and yes there is nothing worse than oblivious dog owner, no doubt. I'm just here for the anti dog rants, and all the war stories about guys "almost" punching dogs and yelling at their hippy owners 

Dogs running around in JT, is a parks management problem, they need to enforce their rules, write tickets and etc. The same goes for all the other rules being broken that they choose to do nothing about as well. 

Will C wrote:

How very on brand for a certain type of owner. To be honest, most people don't have a problem with the dogs. They're mild inconveniences. Most people have a problem with the entitled owners who don't think rules apply to them, that they don't need to pick up after their animals or leash them or stay on trail, and that everyone else should have to put up with their inconsiderate, selfish, 'im the main character' bullshit. You know, the ones who instantly dismiss other people as being 'not cut out for outdoor climbing'.

Read my other posts before you cast too much judgement. I know that most people don't have a problem with dogs, because I see it. Online dog rants make the issue seem bigger than it is, which is my point. And the notion that all dogs, in all places, need to always be leashed is laughable. I only bring my dog to places where she's legally allowed, and most often it's at places with very few people. I've adapted a lot of my usual climbing at places like Yosemite to places like Sonora Pass because I now have a dog. So maybe, just maybe, not all people who bring their dogs to the crags fit the caricature you've described, and maybe some of the haters here fit the caricature that I've described. Maybe some of you are entitled brats who expect everything to be perfectly catered to your preferences?  

Aaron Waitwrote:

My dog steals socks.  Watch out.

Dogs can die from eating socks