A B OV E A L L , YO U R D O G N E E D S T O TAC K L E T H E “ H E E L” C O M M A N D . P H O T O C O U R T E S Y O F A U T H O R
Hiking With Dogs Tips for Adventuring With Your Four-Legged Companion BY L AU R E N S T E P P
THE YEAR WAS 1984 AND LUANN MACK-DRINKARD had just lost her best friend in the rugged mountains of eastern Tennessee. It all happened so quickly. After a week spent navigating the Nolichucky River as a whitewater rafting guide, Mack-Drinkard set out for a hike with Tali, a two-year-old Irish terrier she had adopted just a month prior. After a few miles of switchbacks, Mack-Drinkard decided to let Tali roam off leash. “She was being so good,” the dog owner remembers sheepishly. But then there was an explosion—a flurry of feathers and noise. Tali had flushed a grouse and, in an instant, was gone. “That was my first outing on the trail with a dog,” says Mack-Drinkard, “and I made every mistake you can make.” Mack-Drinkard would soon learn from her mistakes, hiking over 800 miles of the Appalachian Trail with Tali, who eventually resurfaced from the woods of AUGUST 2022 | BLUERIDGEOUTDOORS.COM
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