Monday, July 13, 2015

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly



Back from vacation.   Took my RV to a large National Forest Campground in the Appalachians.

Had a good time.

Being who I am, I observed many fellow campers with DOGS.  In a relatively small area in a relatively short period of time I was able to observe the full spectrum of dog ownership.

Lets start with the good.  Some folks in a class C motorhome had a Rough Collie (i.e. "Lassie") that was one of the best behaved dogs I had ever observed.  I am talking impeccable manners here.   The dog lay out in front of it's "home", casually people watching, calmly observing the goings on around it.  Not the smallest hint of hysteria or aggression. It made NO noise.  Why can't all dogs be like this?  Obviously, I do not know the full story - it may have been loaded up on valium for all I know.

Lets continue on with the Bad.  There were a few campers with overstimulated, hysterical little dogs that were just barely contained.   Periodically, something would trigger one or the other to emit a 5-10 nervous yaps before the owner shut it up.  Now, some would argue that a dog like this is not a true nuisance.  I would agree to the extent that A dog like this is not a true nuisance, where A = 1.   While one dog like this does not bark enough to be a true nuisance, if you have several of them in the immediate area they form a collective nuisance.   Dogs like this should be kenneled or left at home.

Now, moving on to the ugly.  There were a couple of archetypes indicated here:

The super yapper.  There was one small dog (a great distance from I, fortunately) that basically barked for the sake of barking.  Nothing triggered it or set it off in any way, it just barked.  And Barked.  And Barked.  Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp! Arp!  And, so forth.  I think you get the picture.  One important point I would like to make here, is, NO ONE goes on vacation in the forest to listen to someone else's pet dog bark incessantly.  The irritating noise is not useful, nor is it natural.  This behavior should be banned in entirety.  This was outside of my state (FL) and state park rangers in MY state would have thrown the dog out.

The aggression projector.  Every neighborhood has at least one of these and there were two of them in the area in question.  Again, I lucked out that neither was near me.  In any case, this was characterized as a Pit Bull/mix chained up near the front of the site.  It would frequently charge to the extent of the chain, growling and barking furiously at anyone who came near.   Again, this behavior would not have been tolerated in my state and both of these should have been thrown out as well.  In addition to the noise, if either of these dogs had broken restraint, someone would have wound up in the hospital.   It was obvious that both of these dogs were "game" and wanted to attack something. 

Read the pet camping rules in force in Florida State parks.  If they are going to allow pets, this is the right way to do it.

From the link above "Pets that are noisy, vicious, dangerous, disturbing or intimidating to other persons or pets, or which damage park resources, are considered to be nuisances and will not be permitted to remain in the park."

Get that, NC Forest Service?   Do it right!


14 comments:

  1. you are the second person in as many days to relay a negative vacation experience, compliments of dogs and their idiots.

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  2. Last time I went camping two summers ago my guy and I wound up bringing his dog-another Lassie. Same behavior, he hardly ever barks or gets worked up. I don't allow it either. Other dog owners-typical jerks. Didn't pick up. I went to the toilet and someone hound came flying up to me very aggressively. He's lucky I didn't have the mace in my hand or the dog would have got it. I won't make that mistake twice. I'd rather these places just didn't allow dogs at all, like the national parks. I don't want to listen to a dog on my vacation time, or be approached by one, or step in something. My idea of a vacation is NOT having the dog with us either.

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  3. I live in the UK. Whenever I take the family camping I always ask for a dog-free area. Most privately-run campsites are happy to do this - which means all the snapping, yapping and crapping goes on at the other end of the site. This suits everyone. People who have no time for these stupid, useless animals can relax their guard and have a good time, and the doggy-deluded can wallow in muck and the like. Everyone is happy.

    However, the biggest caravan and camping organisation refuses point blank to have dog-free areas. Everyone must love dogs! Every year I think I must cancel my membership and every year I renew it reluctantly because their sites are otherwise very good.

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    1. Yeah, dog FREE is my number ONE criteria for rental or vacation. My town is dog crazy and there are very few places that don't bend over backwards for the dog dollar. A friend of mine visited here two weeks ago for the first time and was only here for five days, most spent at an exhibition and even he mentioned the place seems dog crazy.

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    2. Dog free camping areas in the USA are very, very rare. The last one I recall was at a Pennsylvania state park back in 2005: Dogs were restricted from ONE camping loop in a multiple loop camping area. Essentially, dogs are allowed anywhere and everywhere a person can go - hell, EVERYONE loves each and every dog unconditionally, so why bother restricting them at all?

      I was just looking at some national park camping pages. Dogs ARE allowed in the NP camping pages I checked. I expect at least 95%+ do, else the dog foamers would be rioting all over the country: To them, restricting any dog from anything is a million times worse than apartheid and Jim Crow combined!

      Being a FL person, I admit I may be biased, but in my rather extensive experience, FL does it best. They allow dogs, but set limits on behavior - the Bad and the Ugly get one chance to modify their behavior and if they don't, good-bye Fido!

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  4. A campground full of dogs seems like a perfect place to test out all manner of ultrasonic dog devices. I've also found that the most obnoxious dog that doesn't seem to have an owner in the state can appear as if by magic when you flip the top of your OC spray and point in their dogs general direction.

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    1. This was by no means the worst I have seen. I was at a facility about 5 years ago that HAD to have been holding a convention of dog hoarders. There were several people with 6+ dogs in an RV!

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    2. OMFG that is ridiculous.

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    3. Indeed, it was. The camping loop was a constant parade of people walking their dogs. The couple occupying the motorhome next to me had at least 8 dogs and with so many, had to walk them in "shifts": one leash in each hand for the both of them.

      I wrote the state parks director regarding this incident and others: http://www.animaluncontrol.blogspot.com/2012/08/letter-to-my-state-park-director.html

      One thing that struck me about that scenario was that the camping loop was essentially one giant dog toilet. Sure, the poop is usually picked up but the pee isn't. All those dogs endlessly peeing and pooping all over everything. Consider that emptying RV holding tanks onto the ground is a high misdemeanor, so THERE is ANOTHER big doggy double standard!

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    4. Yes we live in one big dog pissatorium. Crap is the visible waste.
      Having observed people on vacation with pets the majority would have incurred less stress by staying home. Their every second revolves around the dog.(s). Aside from some posed FB pictures making it look like snarly had a great time dog owners look rather ragged.

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    5. You're so right! They usually do look disheveled. And somehow never equate how BROKE they are with the number of high maintenance completely unnecessary expensive dogs they collect.

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    6. Yup. Disheveled dogs. Fits the herd of next-door yappers to a tee. And this isn't the most affluent family on this block.

      IMHO, they need to take care of themselves first. Let someone else own -- and properly care for -- those dogs.

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    7. Nothing makes me feel like I've done my civic duty and paid taxes so that those in need can have EBT cards and the extra cash to buy 100Lbs of dog food and their cigs and booze.

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  5. I bought four 'no dogs' signs about 4 inches square, glued them on to wood and put a peg at the back. I've been using them for some years now, hammered firmly into the ground at each corner, as a less-than-subtle reminder to dog owners to keep their damned peeing machine away from my tent.

    As well as making a statement that I don't want dog pee on my tent, it also serves to let people know that I'm not going to pat the exalted one or make a fuss of it. Yes, some people have been amused by the signs, but so be it. It's worth it not to suffer the unwanted attentions of these animals and their tiresome owners, who, surprisingly, cotton on pretty quickly that they're not wanted.

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