Monday, July 7, 2008

Genevieve! You need a blog so I can track you down and ask you more questions! Specifically dog travel questions (have you gone to the mountains with your dog? Are dogs allowed in national parks etc? Can you go to a beach with a dog? on a hiking trail? What do you do with your dog when you do people only things, like the Calgary zoo?)

Anybody else who has thoughts about this PLEASE let me know. I need to have all the answers before I go before hubby with it. He always grills me with this stuff looking for excuses not to do it!

5 comments:

sherijung said...

Here in the states, dog policies vary greatly park to park, mostly to do with how fragile the ecosystem is (you know, they don't want your dog disturbing-er, killing- the wildlife). Usually it is more dog-friendly in private camping areas than government run ones. I got a book about traveling with dogs with listings for dog-friendly places, maybe there is one available for Canada?

We took Maggie to Carmel beach last summer, it's one of the very few beaches in NorCal where dogs are allowed off-leash. She had the most amazing time playing with a guy who was flying a kite, she was tearing around the sand chasing the shadow.

Tiffa said...

I know dogs are allowed in National Parks/the mountains but MUST BE LEASHED as wild animals (bears, cougars, etc) view them as prey and will try to eat them if they are off leash :P

Anonymous said...

i would just leave Daisy at home at a kennel or with someone who can pet sit. it can be a pain in the bum bringing a dog travelling and isn't this suppose to be a you and hubby trip anyways? just sayin..:)

Angela Power said...

RYC: haha..check out the post I was posting JUST as you were leaving your comment.

Anonymous said...

Hi Randi,
Ack - so many questions! OK, I will try to answer a bit - these days as long as your dog is well behaved, leashed and you pick up after it there aren't many places you can't go (well except for maybe the zoo). I don't know if it is the communities I have lived in or the people I hang around with, but we are usually in the company of at least a couple dogs these days. As for dogs in National Parks - I would look at the Parks Canada website and other sites concerning that. Sometimes there are areas that dogs are not allowed. In some of our local provincial parks we have specified 'dog beaches' where dogs and their owners can swim and not irritate "non dog people", though those beaches aren't usually as nice (less sand, longer trail in, etc...). I don't really have a good answer for the Calgary zoo time, except to look for a Calgary Doggy Day Care that would take Daisy for a few hours on a one time basis (again, the 'net). The thing about either leashing dogs or not allowing them on some trails rarely has to do with protection of your own dog - it has to do with disturbing wildlife and/or fragile ecosystems. Again, as an example here, there is a park that dogs aren't allowed because it is also the headwaters of the local water supply and dogs tend to tramp around shallow areas and creeks, go to the bathroom wherever they want, etc...
Whew! Hopefully that gives you enough to get started if you are interested in traveling with Daisy - feel free to email me if you want: g_doyle@hotmail.com