I have been watching this too and I am out of state even but I own a small dog and she doesn't come with us. I do find it upsetting the dogs whose owners pay no attention to what those dogs are doing. If one of these animals get hurt by a skier who is going to pay the vet bill? If the skier gets hurt who is paying the Dr bill? I'm sorry but I agree with Kit.  Keep control of your dog or leave it in your car/truck.
Debbi Clemens

Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 7, 2015, at 5:51 PM, Kit Anderson <kxanders@uvm.edu> wrote:
>
> I've been reading the dog posts for some time, saying nothing because I didn't have strong feelings either way. But today something happened that changed my mind.
>
> Think for a minute what it's like coming down the last stretch of trail back to the parking lot after a fine day of skiing. You're flying along, happy as can be. Now imagine that someone coming up the trail, instead of stepping aside as people always do, jumps out in front of you and runs right at you. Scary, right? But it wouldn't happen, because people don't do that.
>
> So why is it all right for dogs to do that? I had a wonderful time for several hours today, but just as I was enjoying that last rush, a dog ran right at me. The owners said nothing. Fortunately, I've been skiing long enough now that I didn't immediately crash from fear of a collision. As the dog got closer I stuck a pole in its direction, yelled at it get back and managed to keep going. Still no response from the owners, even as I called over my shoulder "This is not OK!"
>
> The shock of the encounter and the moments of fear pretty much ruined my sense of calm and enjoyment.
>
> For me this has become an issue of safety. The dogs are not the problem. They are just being dogs. The problem is dog owners who do not understand or accept the effect their dogs have on others and who are not in control of their dogs. Skiing is by its nature dangerous. We accept that. But adding uncontrolled dogs into the mix is not a good idea. Several earlier posts on this topic mentioned people who had been knocked down by dogs. That's upsetting. There are plenty of places dogs can go without risking injury to people who want to ski.
>
> Perhaps there is something that could be done to keep dogs away from steeper areas. Flat terrain is much less likely to be a problem. Or maybe there is away to make clearer what it means to keep dogs under control.  Even if most dog owners are responsible, and I have to believe they are, it takes a few who are negligent, as were those today, to ruin things. It could mean injury, and it definitely takes away from the pleasure of skiing for the dogless. I think it also takes some judgement to decide if a particular dog is appropriate on the trails. Ones that run up to strangers no matter what those strangers are doing, and want to jump up and play are not the ones to bring.
>
> As I said, I'm not blaming the dogs for being dogs. But based on the experience today, if someone asked me to vote right now on whether dogs should allowed on the trails, I'd say no, with apologies to those who have well behaved dogs. And the next time I come down that last stretch of trail, I'll be worried. That's not how I want to ski.
>
> Kit Anderson
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