Dogs in Spain - are they a problem?
Dogs in Spain - are they a problem?
I am only two weeks away from riding several of the Camino routes in Spain and have just been reading John Higginsons Way of St James book. He advises that cyclists carry a dog dazer as the dogs on route can be quite nasty.
Has anyone any experience of this? I have ridden in some remote places before and for bears and mountain lions I always carry a pepper spray but have never had to use it. Should I be taking the same approach, have it just in case or is not really that much of a problem.
Thanks
Lisa
Has anyone any experience of this? I have ridden in some remote places before and for bears and mountain lions I always carry a pepper spray but have never had to use it. Should I be taking the same approach, have it just in case or is not really that much of a problem.
Thanks
Lisa
FWIW Bettina Selby in her book on the Caimno by bike, did have to use the dazer once, on the highest point before dropping down to the vast plain before Compostella. 2 hulks appeared in the freezing mist outside a small farm run bu a lone guy, & without the dazer she might have been in trouble. she was amazed at the immediate response as they sslunk away.
Cycled all over Spain & have had no real troble with dogs.
Expect to come across 3 types.
Farm dogs (also found around workshops, isolated buildings etc): They can look quite threatening and can bark a lot on approach. However, they generally quieten down & slink off once they realise that you are not going to enter their territory.
Sheep dogs: Spanish flocks are managed by 2 types of dogs. There is the small cute one that directs them. There are the big hounds that protect them from predators - historically wolves which still exist in parts of Spain. You must keep away from the hounds. If you come across a flock of sheep then go round & never come between the flock (not even a stray sheep) & the hounds - otherwise they will act to protect their charges. They do give a warning growl which should be heeded. Aften the flocks are left to wander without a shepherd.
Pets: These little pests sometimes chase cyclists.
As for a dog daser this might be over the top. Something else to take, something else to keep at hand. Remember that 50,000 people walk or cycle the Camino Frances each year - how many of them would take a dazer with them? Very few I suspect.
Expect to come across 3 types.
Farm dogs (also found around workshops, isolated buildings etc): They can look quite threatening and can bark a lot on approach. However, they generally quieten down & slink off once they realise that you are not going to enter their territory.
Sheep dogs: Spanish flocks are managed by 2 types of dogs. There is the small cute one that directs them. There are the big hounds that protect them from predators - historically wolves which still exist in parts of Spain. You must keep away from the hounds. If you come across a flock of sheep then go round & never come between the flock (not even a stray sheep) & the hounds - otherwise they will act to protect their charges. They do give a warning growl which should be heeded. Aften the flocks are left to wander without a shepherd.
Pets: These little pests sometimes chase cyclists.
As for a dog daser this might be over the top. Something else to take, something else to keep at hand. Remember that 50,000 people walk or cycle the Camino Frances each year - how many of them would take a dazer with them? Very few I suspect.
Hi Lisa,
The following is my CTC Forum response to someone asking about best biking books. The author, Polly Evans, mentions dogs from time to time in the book but I can't remember what she says; sorry. You may want to read it anyway; after all, she did do a thousand miles in various remote places in Spain. Good luck in your quest and on your trip. Kim Mitchell
"Trawling through this enormous thread I am surprised that so far no one has recommended Polly Evan's "It's not about the tapas"; perhaps because it's crap, but I enjoyed it.
She is an English graduate from Cambridge University who was working as a journo on a Hong Kong expat magazine when she chucked in the job, got a decent bike and buggered off to Spain to do a thousand miles in a month.
She's since become a travel writer of some note. Her next offering was about a tour around New Ziland on a motorbike.
Hope this attached Amazon hyperlink works:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Its-About-Tapas ... 0553815563
Hope you can find a copy and enjoy it.
Regards,
Kim "
The following is my CTC Forum response to someone asking about best biking books. The author, Polly Evans, mentions dogs from time to time in the book but I can't remember what she says; sorry. You may want to read it anyway; after all, she did do a thousand miles in various remote places in Spain. Good luck in your quest and on your trip. Kim Mitchell
"Trawling through this enormous thread I am surprised that so far no one has recommended Polly Evan's "It's not about the tapas"; perhaps because it's crap, but I enjoyed it.
She is an English graduate from Cambridge University who was working as a journo on a Hong Kong expat magazine when she chucked in the job, got a decent bike and buggered off to Spain to do a thousand miles in a month.
She's since become a travel writer of some note. Her next offering was about a tour around New Ziland on a motorbike.
Hope this attached Amazon hyperlink works:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Its-About-Tapas ... 0553815563
Hope you can find a copy and enjoy it.
Regards,
Kim "
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Talking of wild boar.
I came across a website for a charity that helps preserve areas for bears in the mountains south of Oviedo.
Apparently they pursuaded the local farmers to plant maize in and around the reserves and paid them to leave it for the bear colony to live on. The farmers were worried about the wild boars eating it, growing in number & becoming a a real pest.
It turned out that there wasn't a population explosion of wild boars because the local wolves kept their numbers down.
Lisap - this area is well away from any of the Caminos de Santiago.
I came across a website for a charity that helps preserve areas for bears in the mountains south of Oviedo.
Apparently they pursuaded the local farmers to plant maize in and around the reserves and paid them to leave it for the bear colony to live on. The farmers were worried about the wild boars eating it, growing in number & becoming a a real pest.
It turned out that there wasn't a population explosion of wild boars because the local wolves kept their numbers down.
Lisap - this area is well away from any of the Caminos de Santiago.
I am leaving the Camino de Santiago at Palais de Rei and taking the Camino Primitivo to Oviedo.
For most of the way I intend to stay in proper campsites but I am aware of the safety precautions needed in bear country although I have never come across wolves before. I have in the past been skunked and to this day I can smell it on my tent when it gets damp.
Off to the garage to find the bear ropes now. Anyone know how to deal with wolves and wild boar?
Beginning to think a family holiday in the Costas would have less wildlife!!!!
For most of the way I intend to stay in proper campsites but I am aware of the safety precautions needed in bear country although I have never come across wolves before. I have in the past been skunked and to this day I can smell it on my tent when it gets damp.
Off to the garage to find the bear ropes now. Anyone know how to deal with wolves and wild boar?
Beginning to think a family holiday in the Costas would have less wildlife!!!!
The route from Palas del Rei to Oviedo looks great. Oviedo has been on my wish list since reading Cees Nooteboom's "Roads to Santiago". Probably the best travel book written about Spain. Despite the title it is really about the culture, art & architecture across Spain.
Many people wild camp in the southern parts of the Picos which is another bear rich area without headline making events.
Wild boar are everywhere in rural Spain or how does every restaurant menu have jabili on it? I've heard no reports of boar attacks. Wild boar are also present, in amongst other places the Weald of Kent, in England. They are fairly timid and generally keep to themselves.
There are estimated to be 500-600 wolves in Spain. Most live in Galicia and the western part of the Cordillera Cantabrica. Further south there are five packs that live in the Sierra Morena. Again if wolves were a problem we'd have heard about it. Although they hunt in packs & appear ferocious (we are also brought up culturally to believe their ferocity, e.g. werewolves, "Call of the Wild" & every BBC wildlife programme that shows the spectacular rather than the day to day realities) to us they generally target the weak & the frail - a sort of living carrion. Throughout the world they live alongside wild sheep, goats, deer and the like & still only take the easy pickings. How crap do you have to be if 12 of you can't take down a wild sheep?
Personally I don't think there is anything to worry about but you could take a slower & juicier cycling companion & leave them staked out overnight as a decoy.
Many people wild camp in the southern parts of the Picos which is another bear rich area without headline making events.
Wild boar are everywhere in rural Spain or how does every restaurant menu have jabili on it? I've heard no reports of boar attacks. Wild boar are also present, in amongst other places the Weald of Kent, in England. They are fairly timid and generally keep to themselves.
There are estimated to be 500-600 wolves in Spain. Most live in Galicia and the western part of the Cordillera Cantabrica. Further south there are five packs that live in the Sierra Morena. Again if wolves were a problem we'd have heard about it. Although they hunt in packs & appear ferocious (we are also brought up culturally to believe their ferocity, e.g. werewolves, "Call of the Wild" & every BBC wildlife programme that shows the spectacular rather than the day to day realities) to us they generally target the weak & the frail - a sort of living carrion. Throughout the world they live alongside wild sheep, goats, deer and the like & still only take the easy pickings. How crap do you have to be if 12 of you can't take down a wild sheep?
Personally I don't think there is anything to worry about but you could take a slower & juicier cycling companion & leave them staked out overnight as a decoy.
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HarryD wrote:Personally I don't think there is anything to worry about but you could take a slower & juicier cycling companion & leave them staked out overnight as a decoy.
I knew there was a good reason for taking my wife with my on Spain tours.
There is your way. There is my way. But there is no "the way".
Dogs in Spain - are they a problem?
Rode the Camino from St Jeam Pied de Port to Santiago last summer.
No problems with dogs. We followed the Part Camino/Part Road route (CTC routes).
Funny Bikepacker should mention wild boar, cos I met an Italian cyclist (in Norway!) who'd been camping wild on the Camino and was alarmed to find Mummy and Baby Boar snuffling round his tent one night. His solution was to light 2 fags and puff the smoke their way. It worked!
No problems with dogs. We followed the Part Camino/Part Road route (CTC routes).
Funny Bikepacker should mention wild boar, cos I met an Italian cyclist (in Norway!) who'd been camping wild on the Camino and was alarmed to find Mummy and Baby Boar snuffling round his tent one night. His solution was to light 2 fags and puff the smoke their way. It worked!