3 STEPS on how to start skiing with your dog

Do you feel guilty every time you go skiing and have to leave your dog at home? Well, I did - so I started taking him skiing with me and you should too!

Disclaimer: these tips are based on my personal experience with Mason and strategies may vary with each dog and what you have access to. Make sure you have good skiing abilities so that you have good control when skiing to keep you and your dog safe!

Here are my 3 tips on how to start skiing with your dog:

1. Have good recall

2. Get your dog desensitized to your skis

3. Start on bunny hills/ forest roads

1. Have good recall

This is the first and most important step! Make sure your dog has solid recall on/off leash before taking them out. This will make your life a lot easier and keep you both safe on the mountains.

2. Get your dog desensitized to your skis

Leave your skis around the house so that your dog can get used to seeing them. Skis can be quite scary for dogs and you want to get them comfortable seeing it around. Leave them around your house and allow your dog to get used to them and make sure to let your dog sees you moving and carrying them.

3. Start on bunny hills/ forest roads

A great place to start skiing with your dog is on your local ski hill. After the season ends, you usually have about 1 month of snow left on the slopes where you are free to practice.

Have your dog in a sit and go SLOWLY down the a few meters. Then tell your dog to come. Repeat this until your dog seems comfortable and then start to extend the distance every time. Once they are comfortable, you can have them follow behind you. Go just fast enough that your dog doesn’t quite catch up. Make sure you have good ski abilities to make sure you an come to an emergency stop in case your dog runs in front of you (which they probably will the first few times!)

TIP: go on a nice sunny day so that the snow softens up and it’s easier for you to ski on.

The first time Mason and I went skiing together, it was at our local mountain, Burnaby Mountain. Burnaby Mountain is a small inner-city mountain which maybe only gets snow 1-2 days a year. But when those snow days happened, I took advantage, grabbed my skis and went up. I boot packed my skis and ski down the 100m slope of my local mountain. It was quite a lot of work but this was how I introduced Mason to my skis. The next few times I took him skiing, it was something similar. Boot pack up, ski down. Nothing too hard or long, it was just so he could get used to my skis.

Warning: your dog will probably bark or growl at your skis the first few times. Just try to go slow and give them lots of space.

Hope you found this helpful and enjoy the slopes out there! Happy adventuring :)