I rarely ever go hikeing with out my oldest dog. He’s saved my neck to many times for me to count, all by just warning me when somethings wrong. We’ve encountered snakes, coyotes, a wolf, a cougar, bucks protecting their doe, and bull moose protecting their cows. All the times were about the same, he plants himself in front of me, looks in the direction of the danger, and starts making a half moaning half growling sound.
One time there was a cougar crouching in the bushes and I would have walked by and my back would have been to it, I would have been perfect pray. But when my dog started growling, I knew something was wrong. When I spotted it I just looked it right in the eye and stood there for a minute or two, then I slowly backed away. After I’d gotten far enough away from it I ran as fast as I could back to camp.
He’s getting old now, and his hearing isn’t what it uesd to be. But I know he’d still lay down his life for me as I’d do for him. He’s the best dog and friend I’ve ever had, or ever will have.
What a great protector! It’s true, dogs with you in the woods are a terrific help! We even take dogs with us when riding horses, nothing passes unnoticed with that mixture! The dogs smell things, and the horses spot other animals or people long before anybody else, as they are prey animals themselves. I hope your dog buddy has many more good years left in him!
Yes, we are slowly encroaching on their land, although there’s thousands of miles of forest left around us at this point. And wildlife officials here just fined a lady for feeding bears by, get this! HAND, after a neighbor took a picture of her feeding grapes to one and turned her in! Once the bears figure out that they can raid cars, garages and dumpsters, they don’t bother to hibernate, instead roaming around and causing damage. Then the bears wind up getting shot, because they pose a danger to pets and people. It’s a shame, but there’s always somebody who doesn’t keep their trash locked up or feeds them like the silly woman I mentioned above. We see a lot of coyotes,raccoons, and foxes, too, but they don’t cause much trouble.
