pinto
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I don't think pets are allowed up LCC, due to watershed issues.
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Why do people take their dogs skiing?
- Thread starter mahgnillig
- Start date
I don't think pets are allowed up LCC, due to watershed issues.
marzNC
Angel Diva
Can be done but not sure how. There are a few dogs who are regulars at Alta Lodge during the day when their owners are working.
pinto
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Yeah, I'm sure there are allowances of some sort ... I meant pets as in visitors hanging out in parking lots like they do here. Working dogs of course, etc. I don't live there, so I don't know specifics...
Skise
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Dogs mostly just sleep anyway when the owner is away (unless they have trouble being alone) so if the temperature is ok most dogs are ok with being in a car for a day. For me it takes 6 hours to drive to the resort and back + 6 hours skiing. That means my dogs are home for 12 hours without getting out. Any longer and I'd need to take them with me. Although that's usually not an option here because it's too cold.
I had a "Ooohh, look! A puppy!" moment last weekend. This dog was 8 months old, didn't appear to be a avy dog in training, on leash, and walking around the lodge. I've no clue as to why, though. It's not like you can tie up a dog to a ski rack while you go ski.
pinto
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Bernese puppy? Too cute.
I'm glad people take dogs places, because it makes me
Also, puppies need to be socialized -- especially if they are going to be around skiing. My dog freaked when I first put on a helmet and goggles, and the first few times he saw skiers. I'm sure from his perspective, what a strange sight!
I'm glad people take dogs places, because it makes me
Also, puppies need to be socialized -- especially if they are going to be around skiing. My dog freaked when I first put on a helmet and goggles, and the first few times he saw skiers. I'm sure from his perspective, what a strange sight!
Christy
Angel Diva
This is why I'd think most people would do it. As long as they're well exercised and the temperature isn't too cold, I'm not sure it matters whether the dog is sleeping on a dog bed in an SUV or at home. I haven't had dogs that I thought would be happier in the car than home on the dog bed, so if we're going to be gone for more than 9 hours, we hire our dog walker to come over. The Pittie we fostered over the winter looooved car rides and was so mellow about waiting in the car, so I took him on errands. But he also hated cold weather--Pits have almost no fur!-so I didn't take him skiing.
I thing we can all agree that letting a dog run around a parking lot is not smart.
When you foster puppies at our shelter we require that they meet 100 new people a week, and also that you take them places where they will encounter basically anything they might ever see. Hospitals are good because there are all colors and sizes of people, in crutches and in wheelchairs, so sitting outside a hospital is very popular. I imagine at a ski resort you'll get 100 people in about a half hour, plus the puppy gets to see lots of potentially scary equipment!
mustski
Angel Diva
I have been a dog owner my whole life and my experience is that the dogs who go with the people everywhere are much better behaved dogs than those who are left at home most of the time. A dog that jumps out of a car and runs around a parking lot is NOT well trained, or maybe it's just a stupid owner (which again results in a poorly trained dog!). As I mentioned earlier, we don't leave ours in the car because it's too hot in SoCal, but we take her anywhere dogs are allowed. She knows how to behave.
That makes sense. Yes, the pup was adorable.
Christy
Angel Diva
I've always wished ski resorts or areas had doggie day care type places. Even Whistler doesn't have one anywhere in the Village. They're all over the city where I live, so I don't see why it would be hard to set one up at a ski area. Dogs playing in snowy corrals, how nice! And what a moneymaker--these places are not cheap, but they are also very popular.
pinto
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I've wondered about that too ... I always assumed, though, that lease rates on ski resort property at most places would make it prohibitively expensive. I don't know that for sure, but I do agree with you, what a great service it would be.
ALSO ... (I am addicted to the edit button) .. I wonder about noise issues. Bark bark bark. Probably not a popular business with other proprietors.
Christy
Angel Diva
It could be that (though there are doggie day cares in other pricey spots like Manhattan, and skiers generally aren't poor). I've also wondered if there is something with the Forest Service lease that would prohibit it, or at least make it a bureaucratic nightmare, at the actual area base. But I really don't get why someplace like Whistler Village doesn't have one--if they are all over densely populated cities, it seems workable in a loud busy village that regularly has bands play in the open air, and always has loud music playing at certain areas.
climbingbetty
Angel Diva
I have a lab mix that loves to come with me in the car anywhere. She'd rather be with me in the car then home by herself in her crate. She gets really anxious in her crate and even by herself in the house. She's chewed some very unsafe things from the anxiety (things we didn't think she could even access!) If she's in the car, I can at least check on her throughout the day and she honestly loves sleeping in the sun on the front seat. And no, she doesn't go anywhere near the snow and I always carry pick up bags for her deposits.
AltaEgo
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
And to think I thought the thread was taking your dog skiing with you. Seriously. Many years ago the GM of the area looked out the window of the A-frame (mgmt bldg.) to see a guy in line, taking his dog up the chair lift with him. The dog would then jump off at the top, and run down the 600-foot vertical, and get back in line to do it again. (With our "huge" 600-ft vertical, we don't have avi dogs.) The GM goes up to the guy and says something like, "You can't take your dog on the lift." The guy says, "Why not? He has a lift ticket." And the dog did have a lift ticket! The GM says regardless, you can't take the dog and agrees to refund the dog's lift ticket money. The guy says, the dog was tired anyway!
Honestly, I do not make this stuff up...
Honestly, I do not make this stuff up...
SkiNana
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
We had a lovely female Weimaraner about six or eight months old months old. Her mother was a champion show/family dog, also field and obedience trained, and she was well on her way to being equally well behaved. Since we also believe in socializing our dogs, we took Val with us when we went to pick out a Christmas tree. The owner came galloping across the lot, waving his arms and screaming about the dog peeing on his trees. No amount of explaining that it was a girl dog in the first place, and had been walked elsewhere in the second place so it wouldn't soil in public anyway, would satisfy him. Guess where we didn't buy our tree!
mustski
Angel Diva
Our old dog used to love when we went sledding. There was this long, bike trail run that assortments of families would show up at after a good snow. When our son was under 4, we opted for this instead of skiing because he LOVED it The german shepherd LOVED IT MORE! She would wait at the top of the run until a sled, saucer, inner tube ..took off; she would give them a decent head start and then race them to the bottom. She ALWAYS won! Then she would run up to do it with the next kid! Parents we didn't know were always a little disconcerted at first when my dog chased their kids, but they ended up laughing their heads off when she stood at the bottom waiting for the kids to catch up, wagging her tail!
That dog would have loved "skiing" with us but "alas" we never took her.
wpsally
Certified Ski Diva
People do take their dogs skiing, just not at resorts. Where I'm at a lot of backcountry skiers on Berthoud Pass take their dogs. And January of 2011 we had an avalanche that buried a guy and his dog. (My SAR team extracted both of them.) I've often picked up skiers with dogs on the side of the road and given them a ride up to the top of the pass. The dogs who do downhill with their owners seem to love running down the hill with them.
Then there's XC of course. And all of our local XC centers have at least one loop marked for dogs. You'll see people on those trails with their dogs running alongside, but you'll also see people skijoring. And I have a friend with open access trails behind his house. His dog often goes along and will run ahead and then run back and then run ahead and then run back. He loves it.
We leave our boy at home when we ski, since we've only got a 20 minute drive to the slopes. And since we have a snow-covered fenced yard with a dog door, he's happier that way. But we've taken him with us a few times when we know we're going to hang out in the parking lot and stuff. At Winter Park, there's one lot on the Mary Jane side (the C-lot where people party) that is very dog friendly. You'll see dogs running all over, but they're dogs who come on command when they're loose and it's a "local's lot" of sorts -- the people who park there do so on purpose and know what to expect. Dogs aren't left running around while their owners ski, though.
We had Buddy with us our first winter with him and he was in the backseat of our truck. He's a St. Bernard and with his winter undercoat, he cannot be in the truck without windows partly down. Our Tundra has a rear window that rolls all the way down and we had left it open because normally Buddy will NOT get into the bed of the truck. (He's spoiled and prefers the backseat.) But we were skiing down Sleeper which runs right to the C-Lot and all of a sudden Buddy is running up the slope to me. Oops. He was so excited to see me, but I just skied to the truck with him following. I played with him for a bit then loaded him back in the truck and made sure to put the window up far enough that he couldn't get through.
We always make several trips to the truck if he's with us though, to let him out and give him attention. And then we usually go for a nice walk after and let him play in the snow around the edge of the parking lot. We will walk him around at the base on the paved walkways and areas that aren't actually by the lifts, because he loves the attention he always gets. It's good socialization for him and it's great to see people from warmer places light up when they see a "snow dog" playing in the snow.
Then there's XC of course. And all of our local XC centers have at least one loop marked for dogs. You'll see people on those trails with their dogs running alongside, but you'll also see people skijoring. And I have a friend with open access trails behind his house. His dog often goes along and will run ahead and then run back and then run ahead and then run back. He loves it.
We leave our boy at home when we ski, since we've only got a 20 minute drive to the slopes. And since we have a snow-covered fenced yard with a dog door, he's happier that way. But we've taken him with us a few times when we know we're going to hang out in the parking lot and stuff. At Winter Park, there's one lot on the Mary Jane side (the C-lot where people party) that is very dog friendly. You'll see dogs running all over, but they're dogs who come on command when they're loose and it's a "local's lot" of sorts -- the people who park there do so on purpose and know what to expect. Dogs aren't left running around while their owners ski, though.
We had Buddy with us our first winter with him and he was in the backseat of our truck. He's a St. Bernard and with his winter undercoat, he cannot be in the truck without windows partly down. Our Tundra has a rear window that rolls all the way down and we had left it open because normally Buddy will NOT get into the bed of the truck. (He's spoiled and prefers the backseat.) But we were skiing down Sleeper which runs right to the C-Lot and all of a sudden Buddy is running up the slope to me. Oops. He was so excited to see me, but I just skied to the truck with him following. I played with him for a bit then loaded him back in the truck and made sure to put the window up far enough that he couldn't get through.
We always make several trips to the truck if he's with us though, to let him out and give him attention. And then we usually go for a nice walk after and let him play in the snow around the edge of the parking lot. We will walk him around at the base on the paved walkways and areas that aren't actually by the lifts, because he loves the attention he always gets. It's good socialization for him and it's great to see people from warmer places light up when they see a "snow dog" playing in the snow.
gardenmary
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Do you have pictures of Buddy? He sounds like a wonderful dog - and you sound like a wonderful owner too. Thank you for your explanation, it makes so much more sense for me now.
CarverJill
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
We too have left our dog in the car while we skied. Like others have said we were at a resort we drove to for a long weekend and while she stayed in the room if we were coming back on the last day we had to check out in the AM and wanted to ski a half day so she had to stay in the car. We have only done it on days when the weather was fine for her to not be too cold or overheat. I guess our reasoning for bringing her on the trip in the first place is that in general she likes being with us so she'd rather come on vacation than stay with relatives.
