Video: 'A Dogs Tale' - The Ultimate Story For Trail Dog Lovers
TRAIL DOGS: A DOG’S TALE
It all starts with the trail. The sweeping corners, the smooth berms, the mild bumps to launch off while zigzagging down a familiar route. It’s the smells that come with a dewy morning ride, or the feeling after clearing the crest of a roller, brushing away the pebbles with a perfectly timed belly scrub. These are the happy memories of a trail dog’s life well lived.
Raven is a 13-year-old retired trail dog who lives with Darren McCoullough, one of the founders and director of production at Anthill Films. They live a stone’s throw from the Ring Creek Trailhead in Squamish, British Columbia, where Raven has spent countless days frolicking on loamy singletrack beneath towering spruces. Old age has slowed her down, and now Raven happily lies in the driveway, watching dog after dog, and their human, head for the hills.
In the new Shimano Originals Film, A Dog’s Tale, we celebrate the joy of mountain biking through the eyes of the trail dog. We watch as our four-legged friends drift through flat corners and sail around berms with otherworldly coordination and athleticism. We are captivated by the controlled chaos that blends into perfect balance with every jump and turn. And we imagine Raven’s thoughts as she watches all those dogs and riders head to the trailhead each day.
The film takes us from Raven’s driveway memories in British Columbia to Utah, to South Africa, and back again, meeting some of the feistiest, four-legged trail personalities along the way. They all enjoy the mountain bike world in their own way, just like us humans do, whether it’s hitting jump lines, lapping through the loam, or setting out to build new trail.
Born from the wonder of what Raven was thinking, A Dog’s Tale embraces the close connection with our riding companions, the crunch of the trail beneath our tires, along with the swoosh of a tail as we launch the next jump. Stop and consider this feeling the next time you see a pooch gazing fondly at you as you ride by. Let your mind wander a little and get a little closer to what's behind those happy eyes. Because there's always more to the moment than just a dog in a driveway, watching the world roll on by.
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In today's society it seems like hardly anybody takes the time to properly train dogs anymore. Most people just treat them like a bike accessory, like you just buy them to enhance your life, let them do what they want, and that's all there is to it. If you don't train them when they are young you set them up for a lifetime of problems, just as with children.
I don't know what trails you are riding, but here we usually ride in forest, which is a natural habitat of animals so in this case I rather skid to avoid boar collision than a dog. It's all about the people.
If you leave shit in a public space you are a bad person and a worse dog owner. I don't care how far you are from the nearest poo bin or whether you forgot to bring a bag, there is no excuse to leave shit anywhere.
If you don't want to pick up and carry dog shit on your bike ride, don't bring your dog, simple as that, if you don't want to deal with it why should anyone else have to?
And now he is horrified of dogs.
I understand that fluffy is the friendliest dog i the world but if my kid is scared, keep fluffy away. My son will literally jump off his bike and run into the forest to get away from your dog. And while you may think it is funny because fluffy couldn't hurt a flea it does not feel that way to my son. If you cant keep your dog from licking everyone on the trail then fluffy does not belong on the trail.
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Dog shit is exponentially worse though in terms of smell and chance of causing nasty disease and is what we should be focussing on first.
A.) Teaching pup not to chase animals is the absolute hardest part or at least that has been my experience. Recall is never ever good enough. Practice it all the time. The dog needs to want to stay glued to you. I prefer back wheel glued for obvious reason.
B.) Secondly teaching pup to not cut trail switchbacks or at least not run out in front of people when they do is the second hurdle. Sounds bad but the occasional outer foot clip to their nose will break them of that FAST.
C.) If you are going with friends, leave pup at home until they get pretty dang good. They wont die because they missed a run and they might keep a buddy from dying trying to miss the dog.
D.) Practice practice practice on trails away from everyone else.
E.) When you do start riding around other people find a buddy that doesn't mind dog practice but don't overdo it. (Still do no dog rides).
F.) Before you start doing jump and drops with the dog around, let the dog scope the line too. They will send everything if they don't know the 12' drop is coming and sometimes even if they should. Had a "got lucky" instance of this once already.
But I have a sister who was badly attacked by a dog she knew SO well, and another person dear to me who had multiple bad experiences as a kid and the fear has lingered into adulthood...both have helped me empathize with people who are not comfortable around dogs, which makes me SO FREAKING SAD. Granted, the vast VAST majority of dogs are living effing angels, but sometimes shit goes down and it's really, really unfortunate.
Dog lovers tend to think dogs are perfect and I'm guilty of it too, but they aren't, unfortunately. I agree with someone's comment above that you have to be a million percent confident in your dog/training to do trail runs on public/heavily trafficked trails. Last thing I want to do is scare someone or ruin a ride. That said, if you hate having that fear, learning about how dogs interpret human actions is super helpful. Also, if you have a friend with an old small sweetheart of a pup, start cuddling and work up from there.
Dogs don't have that sense and the owners that don't clean up their shit are bad people.
If the dog cannot be controlled it should not be in a public place or should be on a leash. And if on a leash not allowed to jump on every person going by anyway.
People shouldn't need to go on a course and modify their behaviour to feel safe around other people's pets. If your dog can't handle being around people who are afraid of dogs because they can sense that fear and it may provoke an attack they should never be off the lead.
The worst is the owners who give me grief even though fluffy just ran out of the bush and stopped right in front of me. Note I do not blame the dog at all, it is a lack of proper training or decision making on the part of the owner. If your dog is a spaz, it does not belong on busy trails without a leash.
Note Any dog that gets buzzed usually gets a good pet/head scratch to make sure they are ok(with the owners permission). I love all animals.
Smart trail dog > 90% of mtbers
I also tended to stick to slower trails, not ride when loads of people were around, and stop on a regular basis or go at her pace so she didn't feel that she had to sprint for her life. At 9 years old she's now 'retired' from riding with me, but is healthy and no joint issues. I just have to graduate the 'leaving the house with a bike' process or she howls.....
Just kidding.
Run just the same as from a dog. However, we have only seen a bear on local trails once, the dogs every ride.
It seems that people are complaining about the dogs/owners actions not the dogs themselves, so that is down to the owners not the dogs.
There are many, many awesome dogs out there that are well controlled, but unfortunately they are outnumbered a thousand times by those that are not.
Probably the difference between a trail dog and just bringing any dog along for a ride.
If it was up to me I would probably open my own SPCA in my backyard so do not take this as animal hate.
More importantly, we need to make sure we take our time with our dogs. Some dog breeds mature slower than others and doing a 15kms ride with a 6 months old pup is potentially physically damaging for the pup. Can they do it? Yes, but I think this is a clear "it is not because you can that you should" case. It took me 2 long agonizing years before I took her for a ride. Why agonizing? Because I knew she could do it and she wanted to do it, but by doing it, I would have potentially jeopardized her longevity as a trail dog and created potential physical problems for her later in life. I decided it wasn't fair to her, so I waited. We need to take care of our trail dogs because they love us so much that they will kill themselves following us. The onus is on us to know better and to ensure they have a long fulfilled life as a trail dog.
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1. If I can’t see him I worry about him. It’s like taking your kids to a public event. If I don’t have eyes on them I’m constantly worried.
2. Rattlesnakes. They’re everywhere, and if I’m dropping that kinda money I better be getting a new bike.
3. Heat and water. It’s easy enough to get dehydrated in the desert when I can self monitor. Way too hard to keep stopping to hydrate the pooch.
I’ve only once had a problem while taking him out. Once he got lost because at a trail intersection I crossed paths with a family and while I kept going he turned and followed the kids. 2 of them about the same age/size as my kids. I think he just got confused.
Wish the DNR would start ticketing the lot of you. Sick of people acting like I’m an a*shole when I almost hit their dog that is supposed to be on a 6ft leash or less.
I love dogs, but would be happy to never see one on a MTB trail again.
But isn't that why we domesticated dogs in the first place?
Just trying to get a reaction from all the dog lovers ;-)
& "Dogs" would be a good filter for articles on pinkbike.
However, I think the amount of negative comments about trail dogs shows there is a real issue out there that should be dealt with.
I would summarize the common issues.
1. Leaving dog waste everywhere
2. Dogs that run in front of strangers tires.
3. Dogs that are overly friendly/aggressive
Honestly, the fix to this is all down to the dog owners. Clean up after your dog and if you cannot trust your dogs behavior it should be on a leash or left at home.
I accept and choose to take certain risks, but I also expect others to act within the confines of the law so as not to exacerbate my risks.
Climbing from Braemer usually lots of dogs as well.(dont get me started on the amount of dog poop in the first 100 meters of that trail)
Mt. Hwy is the worst though by far. However, usually not in your way there just scaring the crap outa the kids.
On another note I was surprised to find out how many kids are nervous/scared of dogs and i dont think adults especially dog owners are aware of this. All of my kiddos riding buddies are at minimum nervous about dogs. My granddaughter is complete opposite she would try to pet a rabid pit bull and tell the owner "i love your dog". But that is 1 out of about 10 kids we ride with. Also worthy of note she is the only dog owner in that group.
Keep your dogs off the public trails even if they are well trained and are not a threat it just gives the go ahead for anyone to bring fido to the trails. It is just wrong even though I adore dogs and would love to ride with one.
I am split on this conundrum.
Build your own trails on your own land and do whatever you want.
Wake up!! a well trained dog is better behaved than most people I know or run into.
Hitting a dog is no better or worse than hitting a person or persons who are not paying attention to the trail in front of them. And yes, I am always keeping myself aware of such hazards as much as the trail coming at me..........which happened again the other day in a high speed section off a jump..........luckily noting happened-this time
Your thought pattern has an incredible self indulgent privilege I fail to understand it wreaks of get the f*ck out the way here comes a well trained trail dog accompanied by an incredibly skilled mountain biker training down public trails because he or her can and do it without regard for human life or happiness after all just try and catch me. Also how do you collect all of that dog crap does your dog text you... "hey dad I have to take a dump"..... the dog just stops for a few seconds or one legs a firing onto the trail without missing a skilled beat. I get it you are having fun and lots of it but at what cost?
Congrats you are a wonderful mountain bike ambassador .