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Looked out the window this morning and saw fresh snow and blue skies, so got up there early only to find...........this dog!!

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I spotted it as I was nearing the top of the Swinging Monkey lift in Hirafu. Saw some ski patrol guys by the lift hut so assumed it belonged to them. As I got off the lift the dog come over and stood nearby, so I took some photos!

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I then strapped in and headed down the Jumbo run only to be followed by said dog!! I say followed, but actually he/she/it was running ahead of me (down the slope!) and looking back to make sure I was following!! Not wanting to be perhaps the first boarder to ever run over a dog, I stopped mid-slope and the dog run back up to me. It was friendly enough so I stroked it and pointed/shouted back towards the chairlift, still assuming it to belong to the ski patrol guys. It started to walk back up but as I took off again, it chased me down to the Hooded Triple lift and for good measure, started to nibble my bindings and the front of my board - as I was still moving!! Anyway, i got on the lift and the dog started to walk up the slope under the lift line!! I thought I lost it when I got to the top so headed on to King Lift #4. As I started down Dynamic, I could see it near the bottom of the King Lift so I headed through gate 5 and off into the trees! End of random story? Not quite! Later that morning I saw the same bloody dog at the bottom of the Annupuri gondola station, ie over the other side of the mountain!! By this time someone had had the sense to tie it up but God knows who it belonged to and what happened to it at the end of the day!!

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This story has stressed me - I hope he is okay. I am hoping he wasn't left tied up there all day and night and is still there!!!! Please keep us posted if someone has claimed him. GN got any idea's whose dog it was??

 

My 3 dogs where all dumped dogs. So he would be totally welcome to come live with me smile

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you have to own that dog. Thats the best dog on planet earth! Well, maybe not the best, but the bigest headcase. I particularly like the fact hes having a crack at your bindings while youre riding. It would be an absolutely travesty if that dog is just running about the mountains with no one to look after it smile

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Its a dog.....it'll look after itself when push comes to shove! When the Littlest Hobo was out saving kids from wells and foiling bad guys nobody needed to look after him!! When his job was done he just turned around and was gone again.... biggrin

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Yeah, crazy playing with snowboarders and board and binding-nibbling antics aside, it was a nice dog with a lovely temperament. & it looked healthy enough, so I'm sure it belongs to someone and just escaped for a day in the snow! The Annupuri ticket staff were on the case so I'm sure it'll be fine snowhuntress! thumbsup

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Originally Posted By: Mick Rich
Yeah, crazy playing with snowboarders and board and binding-nibbling antics aside, it was a nice dog with a lovely temperament. & it looked healthy enough, so I'm sure it belongs to someone and just escaped for a day in the snow! The Annupuri ticket staff were on the case so I'm sure it'll be fine snowhuntress! thumbsup


Yeah no need to worry, the dog's antics are frequent. Pretty sure it starts the day off with a bowl of corn flakes and crack-cocaine lol
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Originally Posted By: snowhuntress
This story has stressed me - I hope he is okay. I am hoping he wasn't left tied up there all day and night and is still there!!!! Please keep us posted if someone has claimed him. GN got any idea's whose dog it was??

My 3 dogs where all dumped dogs. So he would be totally welcome to come live with me smile


Yeah it's Woodley, Derek's dog. He's certainly not abandoned. He lives in Hirafu and the mountain just happens to be his backyard. He's spoilt rotten so no need to worry about him!
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Originally Posted By: CptSlow
ha ha thats awesome, what a cool dog


Cool but crazy - Derek should review his dog-keeping plans for Woodley's and everybody else's sake. grandpa
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Originally Posted By: Go Native

Yeah it's Woodley, Derek's dog. He's certainly not abandoned. He lives in Hirafu and the mountain just happens to be his backyard. He's spoilt rotten so no need to worry about him!


GN Thank you so much for the up date. Now I know he is okay and not lonely cold and hungry - What a great story truly a dogs life - "Playing with the Snowboarders all day in Niseko"!
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Thorsten put me on to this thread-

 

Woodley is my dog. He is a border collie/collie mix and is two and a half years old. He has a crazy amount of energy and is super fit - he does those peak climbs in about 30 minutes from the base of the mountain and can do three or more full mountain ascent/descents in a day without to much fuss- following people.

Why is he up there? Believe me, I try to keep him in the house- if I go out I usually tie him up in the livingroom or lock him in the dry room.He is however smart as hell and escapes by a wide variety of methods ( he has opened the latched window and left through the dry room before and the three doors in the house are but a speed bump).

The problem is last year he used to be allowed on the gondola so I would take him up and do laps of Miharashi/Holiday course. We would do three or four daily - usually at night and always the same route. As a collie he needs to run a couple of kilometeres a day otherwise he gets squirrely, so we had a great wee system to get his exercise in- he never bugged anyone and loved chasing us down through the powder more then anything on earth. As an added bonus he could pull me across the holiday course flats like my own personal dog sled!

Near the end of the season though, a Japanese girl who had seen Woodley took her dog up ( we saw them) and instead of going down Miharashi, she took the dog all around the mountain, where it was getting in peoples way and got hit by a skier running across the slope. The next day a large handmade sign was at the bottom of the gondie with NO DOGS/INU DAME wrote across it.

This season I approached the mountain about getting him a "pass" - I would take him up only when it was quiet and just follow the gondie to Miharashi route, but they kaiboshed it pretty quick.

As you can imagine, in winter in Niseko its pretty hard to take a dog for a run. We go for walks and he bounds up and down 3-4 metre snowbanks like it ain`t no thing and will chase snowballs for hours- but he misses the mountain.

As soon as we turn up the gondola road in the car he starts getting all hyper and whines excitedly. When he realizes at the top that he is not going to go up he sooks like nothing else- it sucks to hear him.

He usually escapes when I am not around- this last episode was when I went to Ashahidake/Kurodake for two days. I get calls from the patrol and have to start a whole round of sumimasening all over again. It is a royal pain and adds a fair bit of stress to my life- but I gotta admit I respect his fitness and know that he is loving his life at those moments.

I apologize for the binding biting - he never did that with me. I am going to try again at the end of this year to approach the mountain about setting up some kind of access for him - I think if done properly it could work well for all involved.

He is very well behaved and knows his commands very - its more a matter of a sporty, energetic teenager being cooped up

than anything else.

 

I have heard there is footage and photos of him dropping back bowls this season- if anyone has i would love to see it- and hear any Woodley stories anyone out there might have- though maybe not so many of the day he got dryhumped by another dog in front of about 150 kids at the base of the Family Lift for a solid 30 minutes... : )

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wave D-train.

 

I think Woodley is an absolute character and should be given some kind of consideration. Poor fella! He just wants to go play in the snow :(

 

Thanks for telling us a little more about him. I have never seen him on the mountain itself - but around the village, and always well behaved.

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I am feeling very left out. I have been to Niseko for 6 years running and I have never had a close encounter with Woodley. sadface I have met Muku and obviously the lovely dog over at the Hanazono Coffee Stop but NO WOODLEY!!

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