This week, Mike Stewart takes us on a short hike with trail dogs Indian, Deke, Opus, and Drake. Follow along.

This is definitely not that blog.

In fact, whatever wisdom I might have on subject canid is ad hoc at best and probably better ignored.

The reasons for this are two-fold. First, the dogs in my care are not your average dogs. Alongside my wife, Joy Nicholson, I co-run the Rancho de Chihuahua dog sanctuary—a dog sanctuary for special needs dogs.

Our pack size varies, but usually we have around 25 dogs in our care. Those dogs fall into three categories. We do hospice care for the aged, giving elderly dogs a place to die in peace. We also do long term rehabilitation for severely abused, terribly ill and mentally and physically handicapped dogs. These are dogs that usually need a year or two of work before they’re eligible for adoption. Most of these do eventually find new homes, but a few end up loving too crazy for adoption. Rescuers call these dogs “lifers,” and we have about eight of those right now. Finally, we also take on a couple young fosters at a time. These are usually healthy puppies with mild traumas. We nurse them back to health in a month or two and then find them homes.

Our dogs have great lives—that much for certain. My wife has something of an international reputation for her ability to heal dogs. It’s not unusual for us to receive a dog from a vet with a warning that the dog has a month to live at best, but much of the time that month stretches into two, three, four…usually years. If you ask my wife the secret to her technique she’ll say “I just let the dogs be dogs and love them for it.”

What does that really mean? Well, we don’t cage any of our dogs. We don’t separate them from one another or from us. Outside of “No Fighting” our sanctuary has almost no rules. This is done intentionally. We go out of our way to cultivate an environment as close to the hunter-gather environment that dogs evolved to live in. This means large packs of dogs, a few humans, and a completely different rule structure—and that’s the real reason you might not want to take my advice.

Our goal—what we’ve discovered to be the very best way to promote healing and happiness— is loving cooperation. I want to find the best way to cooperate with the dog, and the best way for them to cooperate with me. This means I bend to their will the vast majority of the time.

Let me give you one example. We have a few feral dogs here—some have been here for years—none have I yet to touch. I co-exist in the same space with these ferals. I feed them and care for them and mostly stay out of their way. Why should you ignore this advice? Simple. Most people don’t want to be around a dog they can’t touch.

Another version of this is how we do our adoptions. If you want one of our dogs, you come over, sit down at a table on the back porch and then we open the door to the house and let the dogs pour out. The point of this is not to let the human do the choosing. We let our dogs choose. And if they don’t like the potential adopter, well they don’t go home with the potential adopter.

Essentially, if I were to sum it up in a sentence, we try to look at every situation from the dog’s perspective and then we try to cooperate with their vision. Of course, since we lack a verbal common language, this can get pretty messy at times.

But truthfully, that’s the real fun. And sometimes those feral dogs do come around. And when you’ve been living with a dog for two years before they finally walk over and decide to give your hand a lick—well that one lick, let’s just say it’s astronomically more than worth the wait.

Here, Mike shows you the right way to introduce your dog to watercraft in four easy steps. Remember, you and your dog should wear a life jacket. Ruff makes some nice ones for dogs.

As a handler of a working dog, I find it important and quite to challenge my dog on a routine basis. Simple things like stepping over or up onto an object or more advanced problems like finding a hidden object and having to problem solve around an obstacle to retrieve the object are a few ideas.

Make sure you use one command and stick with it…. such as “over” or “find-it,” and reward your dog thouroughly. I was told that the sillier you make yourself look, sound and feel while you are praising your dog the more they will appreciate it. (I prefer praise and pats because my lab is a food nut and cannot think about anything at all when she smells food… but feel free to use food as a reward.)

Start easy and work your way up. Start by getting your dog to jump up onto a park bench with an “up” command, but be careful she doesn’t get a paw caught in the slats. Then as your dog recognizes the command and is happy to do it for the reward, find something higher to get her onto—a retaining wall, a large rock… Use your imagination and have fun with this.

This is a picture of Jane and I getting the frisbee off the roof, where I accidentally threw it. I know it seems kind of silly, and it really was a lot of fun. Given that Colorado only has snow for about 7 months out of the year, Jane and I cannot practice in the snow everyday, so these are the kind of things that I do to keep her mind sharp.

A little side note: She would not do this without her work harness on. It was as if she knew that she would be safer with the harness on and became immediately mindful once she was in uniform.
Please be careful with your dogs and yourselves and don’t try anything too crazy…
—Ali And Jane

The Aspen Pack

Reina, chocolate Lab
Sara, border bollie (black and white… BIG ears)
Abel, big golden retriever
Kaya, the smallest black Lab
Jane, medium black Lab (and the prettiest)
Dante, big-headed black Lab
Gus, black, white, and brown Australian shepard
Booker, brown and white Aussie

Not pictured….
Caleb The BIGGEST black lab
Lhotse german shepard

Stream crossings are often where your dog’s obedience will go off the rails. Usually what happens is you set foot in a creek and your dog bolts to the other side. If you’re lucky, you’re not in his way. We prefer to train for stream crossings so they happen in an orderly manner and you never get knocked down. To perfect a stream crossing, all you need is a rock-solid heel, where your dog knows that even though the terrain has changed, the rules haven’t.

Mike and I spent the weekend doing Adventure Dog demonstrations at the Teva Mountain Games in Vail, Colorado. Here’s the daily round-up of the games, courtesy of Serac Adventure Films. —Grayson

So we had them test the best travel dog beds out there. Their methods don’t lie: Like a bed? Curl up on it. No like? Ignore it. Once they were done trashing them, we tested them to see which cleaned up best and came up with a few clear winners. —Elizabeth Hightower

THE CONTENDERS:

Ruby, packed and ready with her Mud River suitcase and Mud River Cache Cushion. Think of them as her checked and her carry-on luggage.

Ruby ready to bivvy with the Harry Barker Hemp Bedroll and the Ruffwear Mt. Bachelor Pad

THE REVIEWS:

1) The Frisco, $80.00
Mud River Dog Products, mudriverdogproducts.com
Folded 30”L x 6”W x 22”H; Unfolded 44”L x 30”W x 3”H

Here’s how cool they are at Arkansas-based Mud River: They bring other people’s dogs to work. When we talked with Morgan at this gentlemen’s hunting outfitter (Motto: “Dirty Trucks, Lonely Wives, Happy Dogs”), she’d brought a former employee’s pup to the office. She sent the monster Frisco, which has inspired Mud River’s hunters to proclaim: “If I’da wanted to bring a suitcase, I’da brought my wife!” Nonetheless, this seemed like the best option for geriatric Angus: three inches of thick EVA foam, heavy waxed canvas cover, and the size of a climbing crash pad. He was not interested. In fact, no dog set foot on the Frisco in three months of exposure. Our 8-year-old friend, Finn, however, made quick use of the pad. Motto: You’ve got to have smarter dogs to use this one.

2) The Cache Cushion, $30
Mud River Dog Products, mudriverdogproducts.com
29″ L x 37″W

A really handsome portable number, backed in waxed canvas. Pros: With velcro straps, it rolls up tight, with quality construction and a snappy color scheme of loden fleece trimmed in safety orange. Cons: Not for a 90-pound lab. If Angus thought the Frisco was “tooooo hard,” this one was “tooo small and toooo thin.” We passed it on to Danger and Cooper, our K9 rescue friends, for their travel crates. Also, keep this in mind for all travel dog beds: Hair really likes fleece. The Cache Cushion cleans up nicely in the wash, but until then, it’s a hair party waiting to happen.

3) Mount Bachelor Pad, $59.95 medium, $74.95 large
Ruffwear, ruffwear.com
Medium (38” l x 29” w, 1” loft); Large (48” x 36”, 1” loft)
Faced in recycled fleece, filled with thermal padding, and backed in PVC-free, waterproof recycled polycloth, the Bachelor Pad is the only one of these to block ground moisture. Throw it in the mud, hose it off, drip it dry, and then roll it up tight with its velcro straps. By far the best for camping and any wet pursuits, and the dogs seemed to dig it. Downside? Check out the hair.

2) Hemp Stripe Bedroll, $48.00-84.00
Harry Barker, harrybarker.com
Extra Small (25″ l x 19″ w); Small (31″ x 21″); Medium (37″ x 24″); Large (43″ x 29″)
Ruby Likes! Major style points for this one—it comes in five different colors of haute-hippie stripes—plus it’s got the most loft. Everything is eco, from the azo-free dyes to the recycled fiberfill padding; the hemp is plenty rugged, and dog hair brushes right off. It’s also the easiest to roll up, with an attached hemp strap and Fastco buckle, as opposed to Velcro straps. We were dubious that this one would dry well, since it’s a bit thicker than the rest. But it was wash and wear. The bedroll also comes in five colors of recycled fleece, from $14.99 to $29.99. Match the color to your dog hair, or go with our recommendation and spring for the durable hemp.

THE VERDICT:
For camping, wet work, river trips or active use, the Mount Bachelor Pad is the bed to beat, and a doggie fave. Visiting friends, road-tripping, heading to the ski house? Pack the Hemp Stripe Bedroll, the comfiest of the bunch. Hunting? You’ll need Mud River, if only for the bomber quality and safety orange chic.

When Dead Ducks Fly from Walker Parks on Vimeo.

On Saturday, I introduced Danger and Cooper to the curious world of hunt tests. Like other extremely specialized pursuits, hunt tests have their own peculiar language and cast of characters. I do my best to translate. . . Roll the clip!

Junior Birdman: Danger makes a nice pick