Nobody can resist the temptation of a smiling dog playing in the snow. The pure joy you see is unmatched. I Mean just look at the picture below.
But the dogs that you may see at Arapahoe Basin Ski Area are hard at work. You see a perfectly playful pup but what you don’t see it the extreme amount of work that goes into training these dogs and it’s hard to imagine the resource that they provide see how they are not deployed on a daily basis.
Although the Arapahoe Basin Avalanche dogs are very cute, they are very hard working dogs and most people do not realize the hard work that goes into training these animals. They are irreplaceable. These dogs are very focused and always in training. The goal is to get all dogs certified through the Colorado Rapid Avalanche Deployment center. It takes about two years to get dogs certified and right now we have four of our five dogs certified and Tikka who just turned one is still in training.
These dogs are by far the best at what they do. At times, a trained avalanche dog may be the only way that you’ll be found if you find yourself caught under a deep layer of snow. They can do the work of multiple humans and they can do it in a fraction of the time. So it is very important to always remember that when you see an avalanche dog, to always ask if you may pet the dog first. They are very important animals.
If you want to learn more about the avalanche dogs and what they do, take two and a half minutes out of your day to watch this video.
