Waumbek Cookie (and Mitten) Monster

[peakbagger]

I have been over to Waumbek a couple of times in the last several months and there is a new "hazard" to hikers. An overly friendly english (britany) spaniel lives on the road to the trailhead and has always been loose the times I have been there. I ran into the owners once coming down out of the woods and they warned me to keep any mittens or gloves securely hidden as the dog would steal them. Sunday while getting our gear adjusted for heading in the woods near the trailhead, the same critter troppted up the road coming to join us. The dog came up and greeted Hiker Amiga, myself and RLC. Rlc got the most attention and we all assumed it was an overly friendly dog welcming us to the neighborhood. About a minute later RLC discovered that a small pouch that hangs from his belt was open and a bag of Oreo's was missing. We looked down the road and saw the dog consuming the spoils of its thievery. This was not a basic case of a crime of convienence, this was pickpocketing!. A few minutes later we heard the owners calling for quite ahwile to the dog as it finished its prize and trotted down the road.

It turned out to be a great day hiking and we didnt get "accosted" on the way down.

So to go along with the car break-in threads do we need to start a thread for pickpocketing canines at trailheads?

 

[p2piper]

LOL - yes, WOWSER and I met up with Sancho Panza last February (2007) - twice - once on a failed attempt and the second on our successful climb. His name is Sancho, as in Sancho Panza, Don Quixote's sidekick. He got ahold of my glove and it took a half an hour (his owners have no control over him) to get it back. I had to resort to my stern STAY voice to get him to stop long enough to get my glve back. He followed Becca all the way to the summit the next weekend, nipping at fingers or any loose clothing on his way by.

Sweet dog, but a bit of a PITA.

p2piper

 

[Waumbek]

So to go along with the car break-in threads do we need to start a thread for pickpocketing canines at trailheads?

Nope, I think what is necessary here is a whole "heritage" website of places where there are invisible dog historical markers, visible only to dogs, that is, not humans, indicating great places for dogs to score free eats, legally or otherwise. My former black lab placed such an historical marker on the top of Garfield, where a nervous single dad had hauled up so
lasagna for his weekend kids that he gave away half the pan to my dog, and at Ethan Pond shelter, where a group gave the same dog a skillet full of cheesecake to finish off. These are hallowed places indeed. (This dog hiked until she was 16, by the way.)

 

[HikerAmiga]

This was indeed a great hike in great company but I must say, this mischievous doggy certainly gave us a good laugh!! Not sure RLC feels the same...

 

[BobC]

I've never seen a dog run so fast! First he was jumping up and down all excitedly because I was being friendly with him...the next thing I know his snout is buried in my waist pack and he's furiously tugging at something...all of a sudden he runs down to the end of the road at top speed. It happened so fast I didn't realize what he had done until I looked into my waist pack and realized my cookies were gone. Then he mocked me by stopping at the end of the road and eating them in plain sight! I was pretty ticked at first, but figured the loss of the cookies was worth the story I could tell in a trip report. I'll definitely be careful to not have any loose items or half-open packs the next time I'm on this trail.

By the way, the cookies were Fig Newtons, not Oreos. If they had been Oreos, I would have chased him down and beat him to within an inch of his life.

 

[Becca M]

ugh! That dog!!!!

Hide if you see that dog or plan a (much) later end time!!! He's cute at first but don't be fooled by him-- first he steals your glove(s)/mittens/food. Then, while you're not paying attention, he slowly eats away at your sanity!!! I suggest you bring that spare mitten you lost the match for long ago, add a fine steak for good measure and toss it all to him as a distraction and then just try to beat him to the summit

 

[Silverfox]

I know that dog..followed me a bit though I emerged unscathed back in January..

the owner was right there while the dog worked me over looking for gloves or cookies obviously and made no attempt to control..this was a day I parked out on Route 2 so had to walk up the access road...