I am the owner of a large dog that is off-leash much of the time. Alli Harvey claimed that her recent column about dogs would be her most unpopular one of all time. I personally thought that she was remarkably restrained in her comments.
Leaving local trails covered in dog poop is inexcusable. As Alli said, it can totally turn you off to some trails when the snow melts, but there are also people guilty of this all summer long. Some tourists and newbies think that they are in an uncharted Alaskan wilderness the second that they leave the pavement.
I also believe that a constantly barking dog is one of the most infuriating things of all time. I am surprised that, being an Alaskan, she doesn’t carry bear spray or one of the small compressed-air boat horns as a defense against a number of different types of attack. I do think that there are a lot of well-behaved dogs on nearby trails, which will walk right by a person and their dog coming the other way without a second glance. I always wanted a dog like that, and now through dedicated training I have one. Good job Alli; I am with you 100%.
— Leif Simcox
Anchorage
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