Questions about hounding with dogs

[iwannarock]

We are planning to be in Oregon and Idaho in June and will be taking our 2 bichons with us and being from Canada we do not have the pleasure  of having snakes to contend with and are looking for advise. Not sure if we are comfortable of leaving them in the trailer for long periods of time, plus we will be trying to get out of our comfort zone of staying in full service camp sites and will try boondocking. 

We will becoming members of some rock clubs in Oregon/Idaho to increase our fun and to meet more rock minded people, plus are planning on being at the Prineville Pow Wow,just have to start figuring out where we will be staying lol, any suggestions for Prineville would be appreciated 😃

Since we have city dogs I guess I am going to start having to get their pads toughened up but just started to think that it might not be the best idea to be taking them to glass buttes areas for obsidian as not sure if there is a problem with the shards and slicing their pads.

How common is it to come across a rattler when hounding? Common sense also dictates when in and around logs brush in around under rocks.

Also assuming to be mindful of scorpions and spiders?

Would appreciate any and all comments as it appears we will be exploring what seems to be all of Oregon and the lower parts of Idaho depending on how much we can cram into 3 weeks😃

[khara]

Sorry I can’t help with the dog questions but I’m sure others will. Sounds like a really fun trip, I hope you’ll post some pics!

[rockjunquie]

Can't really answer, but maybe vegasjames can help. He always take his dog, Jax with him. Sounds like conditioning their paws is a good idea. Make sure you bring something in your first aid kit for them, too.

[manofglass]

Buy the dogs boots or leave the dogs in the car you probably won't see a lot of snakes
A friend of mine camps in the state that is what he said
Also in
Modoc on hwy 395 about post mile 54 between Davis Creek and new pine creek Oregon. There is gobs of obsidian chips everywhere along side the road. Easy Pickins.
Also visit Oregon Thundereggs – Richardson Rock Ranch, Madras, Oregon for thundereggs

[vegasjames]

Apr 22, 2024 17:46:53 GMT -5 rockjunquie said:

Can't really answer, but maybe vegasjames can help. He always take his dog, Jax with him. Sounds like conditioning their paws is a good idea. Make sure you bring something in your first aid kit for them, too.

Where we go snakes are not common.  And the ones Jax has seen are all harmless. Mainly the Great Basin gopher snake, king snakes and garter snakes. Have only run across one sidewinder while out with Jax, but she was off playing and did not see it.

Luckily, Jax naturally ignores snakes. She loves chasing and eating lizards so I was a bit worried at first that she may mistake a snake for a lizard. They do not go fast enough to chase, so she ignores them.

I worry much more about coyotes than snakes. And we do have mountain lions, but also very uncommon.

My only concern as for poisonous snakes is Jax is always sticking her nose in holes and caves to see if anyone is home. And snakes can seek these places out to stay cool. Same with the mines. We ran across that one big Great Basin gopher snake in the back of one mine, and found a snake skeleton in the end of another mine.

She has never gone after any of the snakes she has seen in the open though. Jax just ignores them.

[chris1956]

I am kind of surprised that you can take the dog across the border without a lot of hassel.   That isn't an issue?   Just wondering when you said you were coming from Canada.   

[drocknut]

Gypsy, my Morkie, goes rockhounding with us except when there are a lot of cactus or a lot of other people in the group. I'm not sure in Oregon, but I know in Idaho there are low growing cactus that can be problematic for dogs. If the dogs are good on a leash, that would be helpful so you can keep better track of them. Definitely bring first aid supplies for the dogs and the humans. I keep a small pair of pliers and a small scarf or muzzle for if the dog gets a cactus spine or something in their paw. The scarf/muzzle serves two purposes, one to keep the dog from trying to bite at the spine, which only serves to get it stuck worse or even stuck in the mouth. The second reason is to keep you safe as you extract the spine or whatever is stuck. Even the most well-mannered dog can snap or bite when in pain. You might consider boots for the dogs, or you can use a balm like Paw Soother or Mushers Secret to help keep their paws in good shape. I would definitely avoid taking them where there is obsidian. Shards of glass (obsidian) do not go well with bare feet, or in this case, bare paws. Gypsy has only encountered a few snakes, and she backed away from them. It helped that she was on leash both times.

[rockjunquie]

Apr 22, 2024 20:16:20 GMT -5 drocknut said:

Gypsy, my Morkie, goes rockhounding with us except when there are a lot of cactus or a lot of other people in the group. I'm not sure in Oregon, but I know in Idaho there are low growing cactus that can be problematic for dogs. If the dogs are good on a leash, that would be helpful so you can keep better track of them. Definitely bring first aid supplies for the dogs and the humans. I keep a small pair of pliers and a small scarf or muzzle for if the dog gets a cactus spine or something in their paw. The scarf/muzzle serves two purposes, one to keep the dog from trying to bite at the spine, which only serves to get it stuck worse or even stuck in the mouth. The second reason is to keep you safe as you extract the spine or whatever is stuck. Even the most well-mannered dog can snap or bite when in pain. You might consider boots for the dogs, or you can use a balm like Paw Soother or Mushers Secret to help keep their paws in good shape. I would definitely avoid taking them where there is obsidian. Shards of glass (obsidian) do not go well with bare feet, or in this case, bare paws. Gypsy has only encountered a few snakes, and she backed away from them. It helped that she was on leash both times.

Good points! I wasn't even thinking of cacti. Problematic, for sure.

[drocknut]

Apr 22, 2024 20:19:41 GMT -5 rockjunquie said:

Apr 22, 2024 20:16:20 GMT -5 drocknut said:

Gypsy, my Morkie, goes rockhounding with us except when there are a lot of cactus or a lot of other people in the group. I'm not sure in Oregon, but I know in Idaho there are low growing cactus that can be problematic for dogs. If the dogs are good on a leash, that would be helpful so you can keep better track of them. Definitely bring first aid supplies for the dogs and the humans. I keep a small pair of pliers and a small scarf or muzzle for if the dog gets a cactus spine or something in their paw. The scarf/muzzle serves two purposes, one to keep the dog from trying to bite at the spine, which only serves to get it stuck worse or even stuck in the mouth. The second reason is to keep you safe as you extract the spine or whatever is stuck. Even the most well-mannered dog can snap or bite when in pain. You might consider boots for the dogs, or you can use a balm like Paw Soother or Mushers Secret to help keep their paws in good shape. I would definitely avoid taking them where there is obsidian. Shards of glass (obsidian) do not go well with bare feet, or in this case, bare paws. Gypsy has only encountered a few snakes, and she backed away from them. It helped that she was on leash both times.

Good points! I wasn't even thinking of cacti. Problematic, for sure.

Thank you. I have had to use the scarf and pliers a couple of times and sure was glad to have them. In Idaho I had to use the pliers on myself when I wasn't paying attention and found out the hard way about the low growing cactus.

[Tommy]

iwannarock we have gone rockhounding and boondocking lots of times with our big dogs off-leash 100% of the time and have never encountered a snake ... BUT with small dogs I'd probably be more concerned about bigger predators like coyotes as vegasjames said ... or hawks?

And yes definitely the feet need to be toughened up or teach them to wear protective covers. On hotter days in the desert we always put multiple layers of Musher's Secret on their pads but they usually still ended up with sore feet the next day.

We've really only had two traumatic things happen to us in all our trips out with them. One was when Charley was a pup he jumped head first into a nasty pile of cholla (jumping) cactus. It was horrible for all involved and took probably two hours and 20 bloody fingers to get them all out of his soft puppy face and underside. The other thing was Roxie was swimming in a lake and must have stepped on a piece of broken glass and she came out she was bleeding profusely from a very deep cut in one of her pads.

Tired dogs are good dogs! haha

[iwannarock]

Thanks for the info thus far it’s excellent! As far as bringing the dogs over the border we just need to have their records with us and with them being only 2 years old they are still extremely curious and love to chew so thanks for the info on the cacti, this defo will be a learning experience with them hopefully all good and very few mishaps.

We are very excited to do some hounding with real rocks lol as where we live it’s the prairies and unless you’re a lover of leaverites we gots crap here😂 it’s more for the experience and hopeful meeting of like people as we now all of the best stuff was collected long ago and we will be frequenting some of the rock shops for better quality stuff

[realrockhound]

Depending on where you’re going. Keep ‘em on a leash. A dog that hasn’t been brought up in that environment or trained with proper recall is just asking to become coyote food or get bit by a snake. My sisters dog just got struck in the head by a rattlesnake last year. That’s more her fault than her dogs however due to the lack of training. Dog lived, just lost patches of hair that took a while to grow back. Near water or rocky areas is where I generally find rattlers around central Oregon.

Ps. I live in prineville

[quartzilla]

Apr 22, 2024 20:16:20 GMT -5 drocknut said:

Gypsy, my Morkie, goes rockhounding with us except when there are a lot of cactus or a lot of other people in the group. I'm not sure in Oregon, but I know in Idaho there are low growing cactus that can be problematic for dogs. If the dogs are good on a leash, that would be helpful so you can keep better track of them. Definitely bring first aid supplies for the dogs and the humans. I keep a small pair of pliers and a small scarf or muzzle for if the dog gets a cactus spine or something in their paw. The scarf/muzzle serves two purposes, one to keep the dog from trying to bite at the spine, which only serves to get it stuck worse or even stuck in the mouth. The second reason is to keep you safe as you extract the spine or whatever is stuck. Even the most well-mannered dog can snap or bite when in pain. You might consider boots for the dogs, or you can use a balm like Paw Soother or Mushers Secret to help keep their paws in good shape. I would definitely avoid taking them where there is obsidian. Shards of glass (obsidian) do not go well with bare feet, or in this case, bare paws. Gypsy has only encountered a few snakes, and she backed away from them. It helped that she was on leash both times.

we have a morkie too: Candy aka PuppyGirl.