u/LovelyBluehime

I ask because I am thinking a bit ahead into the future for my next prospect.

My current girl is around 10/11, although not sure. I got her from a rescue in Nevada and after an Embark panel, discovered she has quite a few relatives from Loups Du Soliel at sibling percentage of relation.

She herself is a bit of an oddly built dog- we jokingly call her “Frankendog,” but I got her when she was three after failing several pet home placements and facing euthanasia, and she turned into quite the lovely PSA dog. We only got our PDC, but that was due to my own personal circumstances and not her capabilities to continue further through the levels.

When she was younger, she was a bit of a freak and had more drive than self-preservation, but as she’s aged she’s become quite clear-headed and serious, but stable when working.

I suspect, due to her odd build and the fact that I sourced her from a rescue, that she was probably produced by someone not so ethical, but she is such a fantastic dog that I can only imagine how lovely properly bred dogs from this line must be!

I’m strongly considering a LdS dog for my next prospect, but wanted input from those of you experienced in sports and with the line itself. I’d love to stick with PSA as well, so if anyone has titled through the levels on a LdS dog I’d love to hear your perspective!

Thanks in advance!

I’m new to hiking… well, new-ish. It was something my dogs and I did a few years ago regularly when we lived in a different state, with different weather and terrain. But we were pretty adept at hiking longer distances- 4-10 miles- with some pretty challenging inclines.

Now, we’re all a few years older and a little out of practice, and I live in a desert state and not an Appalachian one, so I recognize the conditions here can create more extreme problems, especially considering heat and lack of shade on these trails.

That being said, the trail we went on yesterday far exceeded the challenge level listed on the app, and I found out after the fact that this trail that AllTrails has listed as moderate is considered an extreme trail by our local parks system. Not only that, but the length is wrong on the app too. It says 4 miles, but my watch said we travelled 6 miles yesterday.

The first half of the trail is super misleading. It’s mostly flat, wide and open, and has spots of shade where you can rest and regroup, give the pups water and reapply sunblock, etc.

The back half? Completely exposed, it’s taking you up a mountain through a very overgrown, narrow, rocky trail that has tons of side trails and is challenging to remain on the correct trail. My dog started showing signs of overheating right about here. I brought enough water for myself and my two dogs for a four mile trail, but this was about mile four and we still had so much trail left, and I realized we were in some trouble.

I actually took a minute to check the map, found a side trail that shortcut us from having to climb to the peak, and picked up and carried my 70lb pit bull as far as I could take him. My Malinois was really holding it down for us. But I was genuinely scared. He was very much so about to heat stroke, and I’m a smaller woman and could only carry him so far. Despite that, I managed to carry him almost the entire rest of the way, and luckily the trail ended at a creek where I could let him sit in it and cool off. Despite my better judgement, I even let him drink it. Giardia is easier to treat than a dead dog, in my opinion.

I learned a few things here: one, overpack. I won’t ever catch myself on a trail like this with no water ever again. Two, don’t trust AllTrails. If I’m interested in a trail, I’m going to research it through the county website first. Three, longer trails, or more technical trails are reserved for just me and my Malinois. My pittie is just gonna have to sit those out.

I know these things now, but I’m still replaying the way he looked in my head over and over again. His inability to maintain a walk, him falling over again and again, how wobbly he was. It was terrifying. I feel like AllTrails needs to warn people that their listings may not always be accurate. There were also no reviews on it indicating any of this. One review even said “the way up the mountain was tough but my 6 year old handled it with a little hand holding.” So everything I could see did NOT indicate this trail would be so technical and dangerous. I’m honestly really upset. Thank god we made it out of there. I thought he was gonna die.