“Dogs don’t say, ‘Hey, can we go hike Quandary Peak today?'”

— Brandon Ciullo, Summit County Rescue Group member and co-founder of Summit Lost Pet Rescue

Many people make mistakes in the backcountry. We don’t judge, but we should all remember that our dogs don’t make choices and shouldn’t have to suffer the consequences. Dogs don’t read weather forecasts, study maps, or assess avalanche danger. They just follow in our footsteps, trusting us to make good choices for them. 

While some backcountry search and rescue teams in Colorado don’t officially rescue dogs, most teams are full of dog lovers. We know that if we don’t go out for an injured or exhausted dog, we may end up going out for the dog’s injured or exhausted owner later, after an unsuccessful solo rescue attempt. Here are some tips to help make sure no one has to rescue your dog.   

Tips for summer

• Know your dog’s habits, preferences and capabilities. Every dog is different, even if your last dog was the same breed.  
• Build your dog’s endurance up gradually, just like you would your own. This also applies to the pads on dogs’ feet (see below).  
• Always carry extra food and plenty of water for your dog on the trail. Experiment with the best ways to keep your dog hydrated.
• Remember that your dog can’t sweat to cool himself like you can. Don’t hike with a dog in extreme heat. Should your dog show signs of heat exhaustion, stop frequently in the shade, allow your dog to drink and put cold water on her stomach.
• Check your dog’s paw pads in scree and boulder fields or after long days on the trail. Proactively learn how to appropriately bandage injured paws and/or use paw protection. After an injury is not the time to experiment with keeping bandages on.
• Carry supplies for worst-case scenarios, including an emergency dog-carrying harness, tape and/or glue for torn pads and a first aid kit. However, “stuff” without knowledge and experience is of limited value.  
• Always bring a leash. Even in areas where dogs are not required to be leashed, you may need it.  Should you become injured, someone else, like a friend or a search and rescue responder, may need to bring your pooch back to the trailhead or home. Your dog will want to follow you and you may be going out another way, such as in a litter or a helicopter.

Tips for winter

• Never take your dog into avalanche-prone areas. It’s simply not fair to your dog. Putting an avalanche transceiver on your dog, unless you have a dog-specific avalanche transmitter and transceiver, is not fair to the people who may be caught in an avalanche with your dog.
• Train your dog to stay away from sharp ski edges, which can slice a leg or a paw.
• Recognize that variable snow conditions can cause injury to a running dog. Snow can collapse, or a sudden change in texture can cause the dog to posthole and injure a shoulder or knee. 
• Know how much cold your dog can reasonably handle. If you’re cold, your dog is probably cold too.  Consider a coat for your dog, especially if they don’t have a thick natural coat.
• Be aware that dogs can suffer frostbite, and a dog coat will not prevent that.
• Cut the hair between a dog’s pads and on the back of their legs or use musher’s wax to prevent snow from clumping up in your dog’s paws. Vaseline works too, but won’t last as long. In variable conditions, balls of snow can build up between their paw pads faster, then freeze and rip up their skin. Musher’s wax forms a breathable, dense barrier that protects paw pads from snow and ice.
• In high-Alpine terrain, consider dog goggles to protect your dog’s eyes from the sun, especially if your dog has lighter-colored eyes. Strong winds and blowing snow can also injure a dog’s eyes.
• Just like in the summer, dogs can become dehydrated in the winter. Please give them ample opportunities to drink and keep their drinking water from freezing.

Our dogs will follow us anywhere, anytime, always. They don’t question our decisions, tell us they need to rest or plan how much water to bring. They just continue to follow us loyally until perhaps their paws are bleeding or they collapse in exhaustion. We must be the guardians of their safety if we want to prevent their suffering. 

“Get Wild” publishes on Fridays in the Summit Daily News. Anna DeBattiste is a volunteer public information officer with the Colorado Search and Rescue Association and a former public information officer with Summit County Rescue Group.