Lament of the German Shepherd Dog

• I am a canine of noble birth
• A German Shepherd Dog - courageous, alert!
• I protect my master to earn my keep
• In grassy fields I guard his sheep
• I've heard it often said"No finer dog has yet been bred.
• "The times have changed, a new day's dawned.
• Alas, I find myself in a foreign land.
• I am a canine of noble birth
• I protect no man, I guard no herd;
• Stripped of my birthright
• I carry on A lonely vigil for times long gone.
• When I learned how to treat a lamb,
• Or how to control a powerful ram,
• When I had to chase the wolves from their prey,
• to keep the flock calm, and from going astray.
• When I was taught how to stand my ground
• To defend my master when troubles abound
• There was no limit to what I could do
• My courage and loyality saw me through
• Now, I am told I was bred for "show"
• DO I deserve to be dropped this low?
• In the canine world I am the King,
• I do not care for the dog show ring.
• It bores me til the day I die
• Why can I no longer do my part
• And serve mankind with all my heart?
• My heritage demands of me to be what I was born to be,
• Return my birthright that once was mine
• A CHANCE TO LAY MY LIFE ON THE LINE!

written by Lori Rodriguez

QC DogWalkers and Doghiking

• We have a separate set of guidelines that we adhere to for the dogtrek/doghike activities obviously for safety and ecological reasons. And depending on the number of support persons available and/or capacity of the area and/or difficulty level, we may limit the number of participants. Those who would like to join our hikes are encouraged to attend a few dogwalks first so we can assess both the owner and dog and so that they can be briefed on the hike and they can be informed of the preparations they have to do. Those coming from the south can arrange for a meet-up with fellow dogwalkers, LPWK9, who are based in Las Pinas, and they will be coordinating with us. On the more difficult hikes, a basic trekker course may be necessary.
• We normally do not allow newbies ("newbies" meaning we haven't seen them at all) to join our treks/hikes, however we can accommodate them but only under certain conditions and subject to the hike organizer's discretion. Please e-mail us if you're interested to join.

• QCDG also hold fun hikes which we open for newbies. But still subject to safety and environnmental guidleines and ethics, please contact us if you're interested to join so we can make the necessary arrangements and inform you of the details.

• For all others interested in joining our hikes, our group espouses responsible hiking and doghiking practices. We practice it in our climbs and encourage other people who engage in this activity to do the same. If there's proper dogwalking etiquettes, there's also proper doghiking practices, and NOT JUST ALL FUN. Just like dogwalkers can get banned from parks because of an unfortunate accident or anywhere just because of an irresponsible owner not picking up their dog's mess, dog hikers CAN very easily acquire a negative image with both the local and the mountaineering community and CAN get banned from mountains for the same reasons and worse, can get in a fatal situation simply because of a slight lapse in judgement or just not being prepared. We strongly encourage that people who would like to get into this activity to hook up with a mountaineering group and get proper training or hook up with people with training and get proper guidance and support.

• We likewise encourage other groups intitating doghiking activities to enforce the hiking rules among the participants so that doghikers can continue to be welcomed and so that other climbers would continue to enjoy the mountains/outdoors as well.