There is a dog that lives next door to my riding buddies' barn who *always* follows us on rides. We have NO control of this very cool & tough hound & are constantly amazed at how he survives - he meanders right in front of the cars in our neighborhood - it's very embarrasing not to mention we don't want to watch him get hit by a car... he lives in his own little world! But he does save us from loose dogs in the neighborhood & once we get into the woods we love having him along, he flushes out any critters. We have lots of underbrush down here & he's constantly rustling through it, but the horses all get used to it & seem to be glad he's along. The neighborhood is definitely a problem though, we're going to get t-shirts made that say "HE'S NOT OUR DOG!"
Happy Trails,
Bany
PS. I've thought about doing some training with my own dog (Gordon Setter) & taking her along but she's a wimp & wouldn't be much help if we came across a wild boar... & forget about a gator!