Cats, dogs*, household birds, guinea pigs, rabbits, and hamsters are accepted as checked baggage.
For tickets issued on or after December 13, 2011, no snub or pug nosed dogs or cats will be permitted as checked baggage.
Sigh.
Well, I’ll keep looking, but unless I can convince them that a Boerboel’s nose isn’t a “snub nose” (and who wants to go through that argument when you’re in a lineup on a supposed vacation) that’s one airline that has lost a customer…
UPDATE: Looks like American Airlines is no better:
Breed Restrictions
American Airlines will not accept brachycephalic or snub-nosed dogs and cats as checked luggage. The following is a list of brachycephalic dog breeds and any “mix” of will not be accepted:
Affenpinscher
Bulldog (All breeds)
Lhasa Apso
Pug (All breeds)
American Staffordshire Terrier
Cane Corso Mastiff (All breeds)
Shar Pei
Boston Terrier
Dogue De Bordeaux
Pekingese
Shih Tzu
Boxer (All breeds)
English Toy Spaniel
Pit Bull
Tibetan Spaniel
Brussels Griffon
Japanese Chin
Presa Canario
Continental will not accept the following breeds of dogs once they have reached either 6 months of age or 20 lbs (9 kgs) in weight (whichever comes first). The includes mixed breeds of these dogs. No exceptions to this embargo will be permitted.
Restricted Breeds:
Pit Bull Terriers
American Staffordshire Terriers
Presa Canario
Perro de Presa Canario
Dogo Argentino
Cane Corso
Fila Brasileiro
Tosa (or Tosa Ken)
PS: I haven’t posted a lot lately, just because of personal busy-ness — I’ll try to get back to it as soon as I can.
As an aside, I’m not a fan of killing wild things for fur or pleasure. Just not a great use of our big brains and opposable thumbs in my opinion, but this isn’t really about that. It’s about saving your dog.
As someone who like to take his Boerboel dogs (South African Mastiff‘s if you’re stumbling here for the first time) for walks in some remote places, I have recently been made re-aware of the fact that I’m often blindly walking through trapping country. I knew I was in hunting country, and that is indeed scary enough with the “guns and booze” tradition, but trapping is something I hadn’t really thought about until it was pointed out to me recently. Update: There are a number of local(ish) press articles about dogs caught in traps, as you can see in all these links.
Trapping in Northern Ontario tends to be a small animal operation, mostly, but there is a bit of larger animal stuff, and that leads to the dreaded conibear (sometimes ‘coneybear’) trap, which I will concentrate on. There are snares, as well, and they are used for animals such as wolves. Anyway, I won’t really go into those, as if you’re up in the woods with your dog you’d probably be able to figure out how to rescue a dog from a snare, which I would assume is pretty much just a cut the damn thing off with a knife, fast, sort of thing.
Here are two useful links for this. First is this awesome one which soberingly states:
A conibear trap closes with about 90 pounds of pressure, and if you try to horse the jaw of the trap open by hand (a natural reaction, as the jaws will be crushing your dog to death), you are unlikely to succeed in getting your dog out alive…
Once the springs have been compressed with a dog leash or piece of boot lace, put the safety catches on, and repeat on the other side.
After returning from a trip to Ishpatina Ridge via the overland route, I thought I’d add a few notes to some of the wonderful “how to get there” stuff that’s already out. I’ll follow this up with a more Boerboel dog related post as well, but I may just have to sneak in one or two dog notes here. Apologies to the non-dog people.
Why go there? I’m not really sure. There’s the fact that when I went there, I was the only human in hundreds of km’s. The spectacular scenery.
Scenery at Stull Lake Campsites
Then there’s all the wildlife, the orchids, the beavers, bears, and the howls of distant wolves.
First off, my legal-speak: This is totally at your own risk. There are lots of opportunities for things to go wrong in there, so don’t go in there without expecting things to go wrong. And, of course, don’t blame me if you get stuck in the mud or eaten by a bear.
The best description of how to go in seems to be this one from OntarioHighPoints.com. I did basically what they said, however, there are a few points that should be made. [UPDATE: 2011/09/23 - Derek at ontariohighpoints.com has updated his site to clarify the things I describe here that have confused me -- including a nice image of the turnoffs for the GPS challenged folks. Thanks Derek!]
Logging Roads
There are points in there where they claim you should just stay on the main road and not take a turn off. That is difficult to figure out by sight alone, as these are logging roads and as logging areas open up the road usage changes, so … If you have a GPS and have downloaded the route that should be fairly easy to follow. If you’re like me and don’t really trust that the batteries will work as expected, etc. and thus are using just a 99 cent compass and a topo map (I don’t skimp on a $12 map – probably won’t need it, unless you really need it.) it is harder to figure out.
Ottertooth.com has a good little set of maps here. As an aside, if you note the “washout, spring 2007″ – that’s a place where we once got stuck, not knowing that the washout had happened.
My Addendums
As of Autumn 2011, and besides the above caveat about the logging roads, there are a few notes I would make as additions to the notes here including:
1) It mentions “proceed along the road which runs in a north-northeast direction for 15.5 km until meeting up with the Wanapitei River.” Well, the one time we tried this I had assumed we should cross the river at the first bridge and head east-ish. That’s not the case. Do not cross the “Bailey Bridge”. Stay on the West side until the next bridge.
2) On staying on the main road… Ya, well… There are two intersections where you need to take the left fork, despite the fact that the left fork is not as well used as the right. I don’t have GPS co-ord’s for them, but one is noted here:
3) When discussing an earlier route failure with a guide at the really highly recommended Temagami Outfitting Company (the route failure was thanks to that 2007 washout of a bridge) he mentioned that if the water is low enough you can four wheel drive through the Sturgeon River. Of course, this is “do so at your own risk” stuff, but when I went in there in the summer of 2011, some people had even taken trailers across the river for camping.
Sturgeon River Crossing - Wade in before attempting!
Before driving it, I’d highly suggest rolling up your pants and walking it first. Not the sort of place where a mechanic can get in if something does go wrong:
Now, if you’re going to cross the river on foot, you can probably take a “regular car” out that far. I looked at the road carefully, and you would just have to be “on”, as there are rocks sticking up every now and then that could smash your oil pan off the bottom of the car, and there are small washouts, etc. I believe all of them could be crossed with an alert driver going at an appropriate speed, but … it looked like spots could get challenging.
If you’re starting at the river, you’re adding some 14km round-trip to your hike, which is good for you, but if you’re coming at this as a dog adventure, you now have a 30km hike on your hands, which is pressing the limits of an averagely fit dog (unless you’re doing some extra training.)
Of course, the best thing to do is multi-day this trip. I did drive in and camp at one of the beach sites across the river, which is a great first stop. Walk in the 7km, and camp there. The next day, hike in the 6km to the foot of the hill and camp there for a night. Then, do the ascent, have a picnic lunch and come back down before dusk. Camp again at the lake, then head back in to the beach, maybe all the way out to the car.
Next post will be all about the dogs and the trail conditions. I should say that if anyone wants more instructions (for example, if you’re from overseas and have enough vacation that you can do a canoe trip in, etc.) drop me a comment or an email at kiburi@boerboels.ca and I’ll “hook you up” with resources and can answer questions as best I can.
Yesterday, two of the Boerboels and I summited the Ishpatina Ridge, a fairly round hill only three hundred meters higher than the surrounding land — only 693m high. Ya, Ontario is pretty much flat as a pancake. That does end up being higher than the CN Tower thus it’s still relatively high.
The main point is that the hill is beautiful, but quite annoying to get to. The full round trip from the vehicle was something in the order of 22km of walking through relatively challenging trail and some “bushwhacking” (that is, walking through bush where there isn’t any trail.) Getting the car that close is itself a bit of a story, for another time.
South African Boerboel Dogs walking under the abandoned fire tower on Ishpatina Ridge
I’m pretty sure they’re the first Boerboels to ever get up there, though I hope there will be more: It’s gorgeous terrain, and well worth visiting. I’ll write up some tips in detail, as it’s not really trivial, though it is relatively doable for anyone in reasonable health, and almost any healthy working dog who can be wise off leash and can clear a fallen log.
HOWEVER, do your homework:This is not the sort of place where a tow truck will be able to get you out easily – plus you’d need a satellite phone to contact them in the first place as there is no cell coverage within 60km.
This was my fourth attempt to get to the top, amazingly. The other attempts all also had dogs, and ‘failed’ due to me erring on the side of caution with the dog’s health in mind: For example, I tried it one month ago with a four month old puppy, and I turned back because I wasn’t sure she was up for it after watching her carefully. She did do 15km quite effortlessly, however, which is astounding to me. I did something similar a day before the summit I did with the two Boerboels: That day my 11 year old German Shepherd (who is having some nerve issues) seemed surprisingly spry, but I just didn’t like the number of logs the guy had to jump so scrubbed it for the day.
Anyway, there ya go. Here is a pic and a short video, and I’ll be posting more soon.
Here are a few promising, possible topics:
What to bring in a canine first aid kit?
What was the one thing you must, must do when going into the wild like this that I totally forgot to do?
What is it like bringing four intact dogs into the wild, while one is in full-on, standing heat (hint: No matter how good you are with your dogs, just DON’T )
I get a lot of rescue related emails, but I received this email recently, and wanted to pass it along as it really struck a chord with me. Basically, the author states that she believes her beloved Boerboel was surrendered to a shelter against her wishes, however, the shelter used for the alleged surrender has not been discovered, thus anyone working in shelter or rescue is asked to kindly keep an eye open for this dog. For those who are not familiar with Boerboels, they can resemble a Mastiff style dog. Please note the attached photo, and that the dog is microchipped.
Searching for my missing dog
5 year old male boerboel, light brown in colour with black mask, weighs approx 130 lbs. and 28” tall.
Answers to name Guinness and is micro-chipped.
Illegally surrendered to a shelter in the Toronto Area on Thursday Aug. 4th, 2011.
Has an ear infection and needs his medication.
Reward.
If you know his whereabouts please (…) email irene.gav@hotmail.com
Guinness the Boerboel Missing In Southern Ontario
Special thanks to MonStars Mastiff Rescue who are also following this case:
Note that this is PRELIMINARY. Actual dates and locations will be posted here. Also note that this is heavily linked to handy references, and finally, I will update with the exact location once it is known.
Why get SABT registration for your South African Boerboel in the first place? Well, partly, it’s just cool to know your dog “conforms” to the breed standard, and it’s a good way to meet other people in the breed, including appraisers (typically from South Africa) from the oldest Boerboel registry. Also, you’ll need this if you’ll ever consider using your dog or bitch for breeding.
For what to bring/do on appraisal day, here are the SABT guidelines. You might also want to be sure your dog is comfortable with being poked, prodded, etc. before hand, to make things easier for all.
Well, anyway, once again there is only one appraisal actually in Canada in Barrie, but as Canadians are used to crossing that pesky border, there are a few within driving distance (highlighted):
Appraisal Venues
McDonough, GA – September 22 Flint, MI – September 23
Winchester, VA – September 24
Capitol Heights, MD – September 25 Barrie, Ontario – September 25 Columbus, OH (Westerville) – September 27
Collinsville, IL – September 29 Redmond, WA – October 1
Live Oak, FL – October 5
Tempe, AZ – October 8 (prelim!)
Breeder Course:
Redmond, WA – October 2 & 3
Remember that when traveling you will need to have proof of Rabies vaccine to cross the border (into Canada or the US), and beware that when you enter some jurisdictions you may encounter regional BSL (Breed Specific Legislation) laws such as those in Ontario. While Ontario’s laws are aimed at “pitbulls”, if you don’t have proof that your dog is NOT a pitbull you may end up in a protracted fight to prove otherwise (yes, the onus of proof can actually work that way.)
Anyway, I won’t really go into those, as if you’re up in the woods with your dog you’d probably be able to figure out how to rescue a dog from a snare, which I would assume is pretty much just a cut the damn thing off with a knife, fast, sort of thing.
