Taking your dog on a ski holiday

A snowHead

Keen to hear from those with experience about the pros and cons

We're rehoming a retiring guide dog in the new year, very much looking forward to having a pal around the house and a fifth 'person' in the holiday mobile when we drive abroad. Aside from the whole pet passport thing, what do people think about taking a dog with them? How do you facilitate it in terms of getting there, time the dog is left in the apartment while you ski, getting them out on the slopes etc?

We have several back-up plans for people we know to look after her if it's a no-go - she's totally chilled, will go to anyone who provided belly rubs and food, so no worries there - but we did think it may be nice to have a dog along at Easter, as she'll be part of the family and why not.

A snowHead

@Specialman, why not I take ours to our place all the time . Nothing beats a 7.30 am walk before skiing

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@Specialman, well done posting this. We take our new (white) German shepherd with us from the 3rd January and we are keen to pick up tips.

I suspect we will have a fair bit of trouble seeing the bloody thing in the snow. That, plus the language. My friend’s German shepherd upstairs is French and (as a doddery old bloke) I will be getting my couches and downs in a jumble.

The one piece of real world experience I have is from friends who were not sufficiently careful where and when they took their dog near moving skis and the unfortunate creature had its tendon sliced through.

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You really have to train them on aversion to skis. I had a housemate who whenever we went out sidecountry skiing/boarding I had to hold the pooch until she got far enough ahead to not be catchable until she chose to stop.

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We've taken ours with us since 2006. Ours does stay with us in our own apartment and are happy to be left.
We haven't had either of these 2 at another address yet. Our previous 2 stayed in other places regularly (EoSB in Val Thorens). Hubby takes them our first thing, and we leave them about 10am. Some days we will come back to the apartment at lunchtime but others we will say out until around 2.30-3pm. We haven't taken either of these 2 actually with us on skis though did so with one in VT. Odin is blind, so that isn't a possibility, ,and we haven't had Keki to the snow yet. Usually dogs are not allowed on the pistes, so you will need to go touring.

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We take our three year old collie cross with us in the motorhome, same as we did with our previous dog. It's a two month trip and he is really confined compared to at home where he has an acre of garden/field to tear around at high speed. But they quickly adapt; he gets several walks a day but very little time off lead unless there is somewhere to play frisbee, but most of the day is in his bed.
I can't be without a dog.

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I have a vivid memory of skiing down from the Pointe de Nyon in Morzine, when another skier had his dog with him. The dog was clearly having a whale of a time, charging ahead of the pretty fast skier and then back as he might to on a walk. You would have to be pretty confident in your dog for that, not just to stay reasonably close to you but to pay proper regard to other skiers who don't expect a fast moving furry obstacle on the slope.

After all it is free

@Specialman, we have our ten year old dog, Cockapoo, with us at the moment in an apartment in Ste Foy. As I type she has decided to be particularly annoying and wanting to go out, so my husband is reluctantly dressing and getting a headtorch on himself and a flashy collar on Coco, it is 06.45. But this is fairly unusual..
She has always travelled to the snow with us from about five months and for the first five years or so we had our own chalet so she was very ‘at home’. Very soon got into the routine of an early walk, then seeing the family and friends kitted up, she would watch us go, and then would pop up at a window when she saw us return. Sometimes we had non-skiing friends staying which gave her company and extra walks.
Since selling our place she has been to various rented apartments without a problem and settles down into the routine. We don’t ski all day - generally just mornings in which case we collect her before having lunch out or in any case would be back by about 2. She is very good at hopping into gondolas, and an excellent ‘under the table’ dog in bars and restaurants after careful training in that respect as a pup! And loves rolling in the snow.

A bit like taking a non skier on a ski holiday, a dog will get very little out of the experience. Leave it at home with friends, It will be well looked after and wont really miss you.

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For training routines try and see if there is an “early “ lift or workers gondola anywhere near you. A friend of mine in Austria has a husky and we would regularly get a 7am or 7.30 access gondola and ski the 5-6km back down right through the ski area. No one around at that time just the lifties setting up for the day. Clearly not able to lap anything but the pup loved it and would be quite content to then go back to bed if we skied again in the morning

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My dogs get a hell of a lot out of their experience travelling with us. More time with us than they would get on a normal working day for a start.
Daily walks in the snow being another. They love the snow, we don't get a lot of that in the UK now. We don't have friends or family we can leave them with and when we put other dogs in kennels for holidays, they really did miss us. They're raring to go when we load the car. and are often in there before we're finished packing it.

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@enduroaid, hubby takes ours out to the front de neige and plays with balls and frisbees, then has a coffee with a friend.They get lots of fuss from the ski instructors meeting in the café before lessons, and have even helped bury avalanche transceivers for a training exercise by digging holes. Laughing

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Some festive cheer for all the doggy owners who take their pooches skiing with them... snowHead

http://youtube.com/v/nclEIKiBNls&list=RDnclEIKiBNls

You know it makes sense.

V similar to @Pamski, .We take our lively Jack Russell with us. From his perspective, he gets fewer long off lead walks and doesn't have a big garden to run around in like we have at home, which is a shame. He gets a morning piddle walk, then does have to spend the day at home while we ski, but these days we tend to finish after lunch. Often one of us will go and get him and we have lunch at the bottom of the mountain or take him up the bubble at a local mountain restaurant followed by a walk down afterwards. If that doesn't happen, after we get in from skiing, it's usually me that takes him for a walk for up to an hour or so. The other downside is that off lead time is more restricted.He's a JRT with a big prey drive, and no sense of self preservation, which is fine if he goes off on a bit of an adventure here in the UK, where the land is flat and there are fences, but on mountainsides with no fences and marmot burrows (Marmots more of a problem April onwards), we don't want to lose him (though on deep snow days it's not a problem!). He sees the vast red deer that live in the steep woods around our place as fair game!
2 seasons ago having him around was a real bonus as I couldn't ski (broken humerus). We walked miles together, and I discovered all sorts of lovely paths.

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It depends on how many hours you are happy to leave the dog/the dog is happy to be left. Having a dog with you tends to impact the amount you spend out if you like long days. We either go out a bit later to ski or one (or both) of us comes back mid-afternoon. If we were on holiday and were only skiing for a few days a season, I'd probably be disappointed at having to come back early and not ski open to close.

Ours likes playing in the snow but she doesn't ski with us. She's a very sociable dog, but nervous around noise/machinery/new things.

A snowHead

Bearing in mind dogs sleep 16 hours a day and can easily go 8 hours overnight without needing to go out there shouldn’t be any real need to restrict your skiing.

A snowHead

We live in a ski area with a dog. For us it means we only ski up to around 4 hours before we have to get back. It usually means we ski first lift until lunch time.

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I love it when people bring their dogs.

Not my image.

This summer in Chile

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I'm not a doggy person at all, but I imagine that most dogs would be much happier being taken on holiday with their people than being shunted off to kennels or being looked after by strangers.

But the reluctance of the French, until very recently, to pick up after them did make for disgustingness.

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Keep an eye on dogs paws they can get frostbite from snow wedged around their pads similarly their pads can dry out on hardpacked ice / snow. Mushers Wax applied to pads helps to prevent them drying out.
Remember 'technically' you cannot take UK dog food into the UK. We always have and so far haven't been stopped. Ironically the exact same food is sold in Super U at about 50% more expensive.
A good coat that covers all their tummy is best particularly if they love running around in deep snow.
Try and keep the dog on a lead at all times, a visitor to Montalbert let their Golden Lab off the lead and it ran after something in the forest and sadly was never seen again. A dog tag with your details in French is advised as well.
Check which lifts you are allowed to take dogs onto. In La plagne its quite a few but of course there is no logic as to which ones! We also had one grumpy bus driver who didn't want the dog on his bus but relented when we explained we had got the bus in the first place.
Don't underestimate the time the Channel Tunnel staff take to check Dog pass orts - it has been a cursory glance but on one occasion there was a long queue and they were checking every passport or AHC line by line!
Almost needless to say pick up your dogs poo! Most villages provide free poo bags on the dog bins - the French dont seem to get the message and just leave it, we once had a local watch us bag it and put it in the bin and then say Ah! English! with a big smile.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Some of the comments/advice here are making us smile Laughing

After all it is free

@Weathercam, overall, it all depends on the dog and what they are used to/trained like.

Ours has come to the mountains later in life and we work during the week still. She absolutely wouldn't come out whilst we skied and would just be a danger! We also don't like to leave her for hours on end. If If she'd been used to the mountains much younger and we weren't at work all day, I'd hope we'd have trained her better and she'd be one of those dogs that bounds down in the snow with us on a powder day!

Don't worry, @hammerite, we can't all aspire to such photogenic moments. wink

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@Origen, the dog is much more photogenic than the skiers are!

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Here is our mutt, first time in snow at one year old.

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^^ The trick is to train them not to drop the stick into the skin track.

^^ But I think they seem to like the snow.

Hopefully a bit more of that this coming season. On a more general sense we usually drive out, take a crate and head back early afternoon. My wife usually comes up a bit later than me so he's not left for so long. An apartment close to the lift is handy if not just touring.

There was a lovely collie, part of the family who lived permanently in a little house just opposite our development. She never tired of jumping and snapping at snowballs and, of course, kids never tired of throwing them for her to "catch". One day, not in winter, she never returned from one of her normal forays into the forest. Probably shot by accident by a trigger-happy hunter. Very sad.

You know it makes sense.

@hammerite, we're down to just one dog that comes out with us now, though that said, our 11 year old Jack came out with us yesterday on a small hike and she thoroughly enjoyed it though did get stuck in the deeper snow a few times following me down with me skiing as she used to.

When we go out on longer tours as we go out the door she does make us feel guilty that we are not taking her, though dogs live in the moment and she tucks herself up by the window and probably only wakes up when we come back.

And obviously, when you're not having to maximise your holiday time and/or working, you end up being far more lax and flexible, so you can do more stuff with the dogs, etc, so like yesterday, a day off going up the hill can be dog time as it were, or like today as well OH opted not to ski and run instead with mutley.

OH now goes out with her late at night pre bedtime as OH is paranoid about wolves which have been in the garden next door (young one caught on neighbours webcam) but I say no way a wolf would come down with both dogs out, though Ullr is on a cable as he just high tails it off up the forest after beasties given half the chance.

And I recommend Tractive GPS which we also use back in the UK when out on the South Downs with him, though we think maybe he's maturing a little and not chasing scent so much but as Perty says when they hear a marmot whistle it's game on, and I'll never forget when we were hiking up behind us in the summer when a boar sprang out of the undergrowth and both Jack's disappeared for quite a while, eventually coming back absolutely knackered.

When a dog goes off and you're waiting, the time seems to drag on so what was only 5 mins seems like half an hour, and Ullr always seems to appear just as I get my phone out to start tracking him on the Tractive app.

As someone who when not in the mountains lives on the beach where the dogs enjoy life I can categorically state that dogs just go far more crazy in the snow, they absolutely love it Very Happy

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I would love to take ours out with us to experience the snow and slopes. He would absolutely love it, probably too much..

A snowHead

@big_ben, I have some photos of our very similar looking GSP enjoying life in the mountains if you want to imagine how yours would fit in Laughing

I also have some photos of what happens when they get too close to your ski edges while ski touring Shocked

@Weathercam, Mrs Swskier works for Tractive, they're based over here in Austria.

A snowHead

Spud's first encounter with snow-
https://www.instagram.com/spudnik_charnaud/reel/CW_9GHKPIE1/

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@swskier, I have tractive which is great, except in remote forests where deer and chamois are!
At least I get an intermittent idea of which direction to shout.

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@BoardieK, yeah the signal in forests isn't as good as the GPS can't be picked up as well, but like you say, if you can at least get a good sense of an area where they are that's great.

Fortunately for us, our current dog doesn't run off too far, and has a great recall. Our previous Weimaraner used to run off so far. He'd always come back, but he'd go so far before turning around. We bought tractive as customers back in 2022 for a holiday to the alps, and we tracked him running up Chavanette run in Avoriaz, and he got so far up that before coming back.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Thanks you one and all - some brilliant advice and insight to chew over, I knew the collective wouldn't fail in this task Very Happy

The overriding message seems to be "do it, dogs love travel and snow" and if everything lines up with our adoption, we're looking at skiing Easter, and potentially our regular partner family who we ski with and their new dog - double dog chaos!!

Someone mentioned trackers/airtags.... we had that exact conversation last night when we met with out friends; their 'active' golden sheprador did a runner in the local fields last night, obvs saw a small animal, and the look on their faces when we met them at the pub after finding her, it was that same look you have when your child goes walkies in the supermarket. Stiff drink was required!! Toofy Grin

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Our incoming new addition is very, very, very well behaved (as guide dogs generally are) and she'll travel well. I suppose it's a case of just doing homework on dog-friendly accommodation both en-route and in resort... I did see during a cursory glance on Sunweb that many of the properties did say 'pet friendly', so that fills me with confidence that we can make it happen.

Leaving the dog in the apartment/chalet for extended periods - we discussed this and 4hrs or so on their own, that sounds about maximum and a good balance between us spending time skiing, and the dog not getting bored. As a group, when we ski, we do have a few who are more happy to return to base for lunch and/or just knock off early in the afternoon, due to not being as ski fit or not as keen to eek out every last moment on the mountain.

I think booking accomodation will definitely be a case of 'Location! Location! Location!', so it's not a schlep to get back at lunch and feels like a chore, so I think that'll give me something to do - it might even mean visiting a resort where we've overlooked in the past.

After all it is free

I had a quick scan through this thread so apologies if it has already been mentioned and I missed it.

Salt! If you need to cross roads (or indeed walk on some pavements) with your hound, be aware of the use of salt on icy roads. An old towel and some warm water is advisable to clean their paws post walk. Apart from the obvious drying/cracking of their paws, they will naturally lick them clean….not a great thing from the health point of view.

Also (from experience), crusty snow (in thaw/freeze conditions) can push the skin up around their claws which can lead to bleeding/soreness. One of our Boxers (sadly no longer with us) used to suffer with this. The current one, not at all.

@Jäger, Good points, they hate freezing slush. Also don't take them onto the metal grid steps at ski lifts and some shops etc. Our last dog ripped off a nail on one. Hands up, it was my fault, but a story worth telling.

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@Jäger, ours has had a reasonably long bout off diarrhoea and we think it might be down to licking a bit too much salt off the paths when she's out/her paws once she's back. We do clean them but maybe we haven't been thorough enough.

@Specialman, another thing to consider is it being a strange property. Our dog is pretty chilled and not destructive at all. However, we went away with her for a weekend and left her for a couple of hours in a holiday rental. The door had a bluetooth keypad and locking mechanism. When we returned we couldn't get in. There was just an error sound when putting in the pin. We called the landlord who arrived (he lived 90 mins away!) and opened the door. Our dog had broken the locking mechanism off the door which I think was flimsier than it should be. We're pretty sure that the unusual sounds of a strange apartment spooked her and she'd jumped up at the door - she can open doors at home. This is despite us living in an apartment ourselves. For our next trip we took a travel crate just in case - I also bought a dogcam as we don't want her barking too much and annoying neighbours (again, not something she does at home).

Help!!

Taking your dog on a ski holiday

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