Hiking (with the hounds)

Going to have to dig through the hiking archives.
Yesterday.


Going to see if we can get some action shots but most of the time with these three it's only going to be a blur!

 

Loon's got their two brothers... the Blurr family...

 

Using a game trail to get to the Alpine, the Rat Terriers though not suited for all season outdoor activities, really enjoy these hikes! Cricket has a real sense for finding and following game trails.

We had camped here some 25 years earlier.


It had rained on this hike. Cricket is somewhat wet but no complaints so let's not stop now.

They really enjoy this freedom.


About as close as one can get to an action shot and not just see a blur!


Shadow eating low bush blue huckleberries.


Cricket following the scent trail back down.



No dogs in this picture but a nice picture. This area not many people know about; we discovered it when we flew for a Hobby.

 

100x

 

I wear bear bells but the Ratties do not, does it take much for the dogs to get used to them? The challenge would be to find bells small enough!

 

I put some bells on the new pups the other day and they freaked out, although they both seem to be a bit timid about new things. I bet the Ratties would be fine esp if they are used to hearing your bells. Remington makes a fairly small field bell that I see in a lot of pet stores. People around here don't use bear bells, I get lots of comments from people on the trails...we could hear you coming...I thought they were reindeer etc. I don't even notice them anymore.

Willow will eat blueberries off the bush. If you are trying to pick, she will follow your hand and try to get the same ones your going after.

 

Willow would have a feast here. We've got 3 high bush blueberry bushes. The berries get to be about the size of large marbles. Can pick a quart in a minute easy.

 

Nice pics, your forrest looks similar to Maine, although your terrain looks A LOT steeper. My Vet has Rat Terriers, if yours are anything like his they are some tightly wound little bundles of energy and very rewarding/loyal dogs. As small as they are you ought to be able to talk @Woodwidow into at least a couple more.

Here are some pics of my morning walk in the woods with the hounds before I leave for work. Luckily my wife is a teacher and home most days to watch the new pups so they don't have to have a lot of crate time.

 

Not likely so don't you start too. We only have a king size bed and that seems small at times. Our SIL keeps saying that it takes 10 of these Ratties to make a real dog. The breeder in Terrace, BC would love to sell us a couple more.

You mentioned earlier about teaching the dogs recall with the GPS units. Can they be used for recall? Do you have to pack a reading unit at all times? I don't think we would find a unit small enough for our dogs. We have one dog, Shadow, that is starting to follow her nose wherever it may lead her. She is pretty good about coming back - so far anyway.

 

Woodwidow would be receptive ,But we're up against a town By-Law that limits us to three !

 

The gps units I use are from Garmin, called Alpha, they are both a gps tracking collar and an e collar. The gps tracking part works by the collar transmitting the dogs coordinates by radio to a handheld device you carry with you. The hand held device then plots you and each dog as a separate icon on a map. The e collar part allows you to send a signal to each individual dog in the form of a tone or a vibration or an electric shock. The shock strength can be controlled to match the dog, different dogs have different sensitivities. I have shocked myself on the highest setting I use on my dogs and it definitely gets your attention but I would not describe it as painful. You can train you dog to respond to the stimulus however you wish, my dogs are trained to recall to the tone.

Bailey's neck is just shy of 12 inches and I had to modify the strap of the collar to get it to fit her correctly. I am aware of other dog tracking devices that use gps and I believe some use a smart phone as the handheld part. I wanted the e collar capability and I am typically in the backcountry where cellular signal is not available. I am not very familiar with other set ups. I seem to remember one called WhistleGPS.

 

Three for you and three for her, problem solved.

 

I don't think I will hit the like button for that post!!!

 

Thanks for the info. I will have to look into it. our cell phone service is very spotty here - usually only works when you are in town.

 

I've hiked Mt. Washington a few times in the summer. I think if you're going to hike Mt. Washington in the winter it does cross over into the realm of technical climbing where you're using ice axe, crampons etc etc You're no longer hiking but rather mountaineering. I've never felt that much of a love of the outdoors in the winter.

We just took our two year old daughter and three year old son for their first official hike in Pawtuckaway last month and they did fairly well. We're debating whether or not to take them up Mt. Major in Alton later this summer or wait until next year.

 

Had me going for a moment when you said you hiked MT Washington . We've got one out here also!

http://www.mountwashington.ca/

 

I don't know anything about your's but here's what the top of our's looks like in the winter.

It's basically a frozen hell:

 

Are there any posters on here that either live in the redwoods area of California or hike there that have some pics to share? I have an appreciation for so many different things in the natural world but have never made it out to see the redwood trees. It's on our families list of trips to do in the future when the kids get old enough to appreciate it.

 

Not hiking pics but some awesome logging pics from out west posted by the resident @campinspecter
http://firewoodhoardersclub.com/forums/index.php?threads/more-logging-stuff.603/

some cool old west coast logging movies here posted by club founder @Scotty Overkill
http://firewoodhoardersclub.com/forums/index.php?threads/vintage-logging-movies.621/

 

When you say out west do you know where those pics are from and what kind of trees they are? Are they Douglas Fir?