Alaska & trappers

 My friend was out at another friends house with her dogs this spring and her husky pup got caught in a leg trap set for, we believe skunks.  Tundra and Eclipse had been running around all day on the farm and it was dark by then.  At some point, the two managed to kill a skunk and Jen called them back to get them away from the smell.  Not that it mattered, they already reaked.  But all of a sudden Tundra started to scream and wouldn't come no matter how much Jen called.  Normally we think that Eclipse would have taken her right to the pup, but since he had a nice fresh kill over there, he was afraid she would take it away and avoided the area.  They searched for him for about an hour or so, with him screaming occasionally.  When they finally found him his foot was completely flattened around the ankle.  Poor baby.  She carried him back to our friends, skunky smell and all, brought him right inside and iced his foot for 2 hours.  By the time she managed to get in contact with our vet his foot was fine.  A little bruised, but no swelling, and no break.  Thank goodness for baby bones!  Tundra will be a sled dog so losing a leg or even a foot would have been terrible.  I can only imagine what a musher in Alaska would feel like if one of their dogs got caught in something bigger than a skunk trap.  Its not like one of our dogs who would still be loved no matter what and would just learn to cope.  Sled dogs that suddenly lose their ability to run with their team often die of broken hearts.

I'm really glad the pup was okay! 

I've never heard of a sled dog dying from a broken heart from not being able to mush. Those dogs get to come in the house and be part of the people pack, a sled dog's dream!

 I don't know what the rules about traps are around here. (In case you guys forgot, I live in Alaska). BUT it is a total no brainer:

 People should NEVER, EVER let their dogs run loose! 

 In a dog park, fine. In your own FENCED area, fine. But you just don't let your dog run free off YOUR property! Yes, dogs get loose sometimes and there are many things that can happen to them which is why it's such a freak out when one does get loose. As a responsible owner you just don't let your dogs loose. Period.

Can you tell I deal with loose dogs too much? :::snort rant rave:::

I'm not even in alaska and we were all shocked to find out that in our local wilderness areas the parts that simultaneously allow off-leash UNDER CONTROL dogs and hunting in season ALSO allow trappers- found out when a friend's very well trained dog, walking near human in sight under control stepped in one and got badly injured. A person could have easily stepped in the thing. They should be banned everywhere. If you're going to kill animals do it in a way you are sure you got the correct one and it's a fast death.

jeano

I've never heard of a sled dog dying from a broken heart from not being able to mush. Those dogs get to come in the house and be part of the people pack, a sled dog's dream!

A sled dogs dream?  Ha!  Not a real sled dog.  Not one that grew up in harness.  If I tried to leave Crusher home once while I took Onyx out with her harness on, I would come home to a destroyed house for sure.  I could take her out on a leash and he would be ok, but with a harness?  Forget it.  Most retired sled dogs that I know, have to be rehomed, not because the musher doesn't think they are usefull anymore, but for the mental well being of the dog.  Its too much for them to watch their former team mates head out everyday.

Hunh. Well where I live I have not yet met a musher who didn't keep their older sled dogs, who could no longer run, as house dogs. And once those dogs learn about that fantastic thing called the COUCH, they NEVER want to be anything but house dogs. Lots and lots of them get rehomed because there are too many of them to all become house dogs. And those who wash out for the competitive teams go to hobby mushers.

 The thing that mushers do here is breed too many dogs! In April and May an amazing number of dogs are just dumped at the Animal Shelter. It's not right, and I wish they'd stop breeding more than they need to replace their retired dogs.

 As for traps being out where dogs are hunting with humans, now that SUCKS.  I don't think that's so much of an issue in Alaska, although it could be during moose hunting season. I don't know, I'll have to ask around.

most responsible trappers that i know of keep their trap line out of public foot paths... i suppose it could be extremely annoying to be walking your trap line and find cocker spaniels and tabby cats in them when they're supposed to be catching skunks, or raccoons!

and yeah if you know there is trapping in your area then you shouldnt have your dog off leash... you shouldnt have your dog off leash during hunting season period.... i think(i'll have to check) most trapping laws limit trapping to winter only so its easy to narrow things down, but you can never rule out a forgotten trap or the possibility of a poacher.

should that happen then... you need to report it when found. 

 I think its one thing when a dog gets too old to run.  And a totally different thing when a dog loses the ability to do so from some unnatural cause like a broken or amputated leg.  I know of one dog that went blind suddenly, and had to become a house dog.  She had been a lead and went into a desparate funk.  She quit eating, and had no enthusiasm for anything.  The only thing that cheered her up was being outside with the team but if they left her behind she would cry non stop.  So her musher tried to let her ride in the sled, but even that wasn't good enough for her.  He watched her around the house with the other dogs and realized that they would sort of lead her around.  One day he hooked her up with another lead and took her on a slow run.  She did fantastic, even if she was a little slower than she had been to begin with.  She never stopped running.  She trains others now, even if she can't run lead alone anymore.

That's pretty cool, and I would think that in harness a blind dog might do okay, too, really. 

 As for trapping and dogs, I think people here sorted that out a long, long time ago because dogs, people and traps have HAD to coexist for survival for many years.

I do know a funny story about a guy who went out to take a dump in the woods....some guys snow machined out to a cabin, dug out the booze....and "Dave" had to go so he went outside and had himself a little encounter with a marten set!  They heard him yelp, and he didn't come back in! It was -10, so they went looking for him and now he's got the nickname "Trap-a** Dave!"   hehehehehe  (he was okay, don't worry, but he couldn't sit down for a week or so.)

you shouldnt have your dog off leash during hunting season period....

so all the people out hunting with their off-leash bird dogs and rabbit-beagles are just supposed to risk getting their dogs caught in traps? they should be banned.

again its a case of knowing your hunting territory and land owners.

traps do serve a purpose, they're not ALL designed to cause massive debilitating damage unless they're abused. just like any other tool....

halters for horses and dogs can easily break the animals necks if not used properly...

muzzles can cause the animal breathing problems if its not used properly...

according to this they use leg hold traps to relocate and reintroduce species into new areas

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Rsj-2o0ux14

you're going to ban something the government uses to protect us and the wild life? 

mudpuppy

you shouldnt have your dog off leash during hunting season period....

so all the people out hunting with their off-leash bird dogs and rabbit-beagles are just supposed to risk getting their dogs caught in traps? they should be banned.

No no no, that's not what I meant! I meant you shouldn't go to hunting areas to hike around with your dog (heck, on lead or not!)  in deer or moose or caribou season! I'm not stooopid!  

heck, where i live - dead end logging road with 230 acres of private hunting land - i'm scared to walk down the road by myself, let alone with the dogs, during hunting season because you never know when a stray bullet may come at you. most of our hunters are smart guys, i've met a few of them. but i've also seen kids out there and you just never know how responsible they'll be. traps are the least of my worries.... off leash my dogs never go more than a few yards from me. i think i would be able to tell if they were caught in a trap, should that happen i believe we would go home and keep a mental note of that area being dangerous. i'm not going to shout about banning traps because my dog was on someone elses property and got cought. i'm also not going to shout about banning them because someone set a trap on my land. thats trespassing and poaching and another matter entirely. thats in the same league as breed bans because a few bad dogs hurt people.... in this situation its a few bad hunters....

um yeah, you'll know when your dog gets his leg crushed in a trap. The screaming will be followed by big vet bills and most likely a permanently disabled dog. Steel-jaw leg hold traps are banned in quite a few places. They should be banned all over the US. Certainly they should be banned on public land frequented by the public.

i'm not going to argue with you because i've seen more than my share of animals caught in traps. maybe if you let the dog out of the house in the morning, then leave to go to work, then find your dog is still missing and then a search reveals he's been caught in a leg hold trap all day and has gnawed at his foot..... thats the only danger i'm concerned with.