Why Chihuahuas Are The Most Appropriate Backcountry Dog ...

Yesterday, I learned why a micro-dog like a Chihuahua is a more appropriate dog for the backcountry ... especially when you have to carry one out from the mountains.

This is a picture of me carrying Tukker, a 85 pound Border Collie / Labrador cross with a broken front right leg:

The story ... on Saturday (the 28th), Killaine & I went to hike up the Golden Ears (in Golden Ears Provincial Park). The hike is quite strenuous, with about 1500+ metres of climbing over a 23 or so kilometre round trip. Killaine & I made it to Panorama Ridge and decided to stop there - a combination of poor visibility, Killaine's lingering tiredness from the Queen Charlotte Marathon last weekend, and that I'd been to the summit before.

So, we hung out for a little bit along the ridge, then headed back down.

At around the 8 1/2 km mark, we ran into a couple (Adam & Kierstie ) whose dog (Tukker) had slipped and broken his front right paw - they already had Tukker in the back of Adam's pack, and Kierstie was carrying the bulk of their overnight gear.

Considering that Killaine is virtually a card-carrying member of PETA, and that it was a long, long way back down the trail to carry Tukker, we both pitched in to help Adam & Kierstie .

We split up the gear from Kierstie's pack, and proceeded down the trail, with Adam carrying Tukker in his pack (the trail down, by the way, is steep, rocky & rooted). We lost the trail at one point, necessitating a quick reconnaisance and hike back up to the main trail. I took over carrying Tukker for a couple of kilometres, traded him back to Adam for another couple of kilometres, then a final carry for me down the last bit of steep trail and thankfully onto the long, flat 3 km stretch back to the parking lot - Adam taking over for the last 1 1/2 km.


Tukker was remarkably patient to being carried in a pack for around 6 or 7 hours - although he did squirm a few times, he was generally pleasant (albeit very heavy) to carry. All in all, it was a very long day - about 20km, 1400m of elevation gain & loss and about 11 hours of hiking.

A short YouTube video of me carrying Tukker can be found here.

Hopefully Tukker gets better soon!

(Update: Tukker did have a complicated fracture of his wrist, so he might need some surgery on it)