Walk your dogs . . . We'll walk our yaks.

You will not see things like this in the lobby of your hotel. 

(Click Picture to enlarge)

 Bill and Dana with local yak breeders/ranchers

One evening in Ouray  (our two rigs in the background), a couple came down the road taking a Tibetan yak and her baby out for a stroll and stopped to talk and let us interact with the yaks.  They had recently started a yak breeding operation on a ranch near us, and were getting their yaks used to being around strange things and (strange?) people.  These were very gentle animals.  Their natural habitat is the high elevations in Tibet, so they are a natural animal for the high, cold Colorado mountains.  They are efficient protein producers if raised for meat, have high-quality meat, and have a fine wool with a mosaic surface on the fiber that is smooth and non-itchy.  I think this is their operation - http://www.yakbreeder.com/index.html and blog - http://www.yakbreeder.com/blog/?page_id=2

History of the domestic yak (I knew all of you would really be interested!):  The wild Yak (bos mutus) is found in the Himalayan Mountains of Tibet and surroundings at elevations of 14,000 feet. In fact the wild Yak (bos mutus) cannot live below 12,000 feet elevation for any length of time. But during these occasions, the wild Yak bulls interbreed with various cattle breeds surrounding their native Himalayan Mountain terrain. These cross calf heifers crossed back several times to the wild Yak. These multigenerational crosses became the domesticated Yak (bos grunniens). The Yak was originally domesticated in Tibet thousands of years ago and has supplied the indigenous people of these mountainous regions with most of their daily needs including meat, milk, butter, cheese, wool, fiber, leather, fuel, and packing/trekking/travel requirements. The versatile animal is an integral part of the lives of the Tibetan natives and substantially adds to the renowned health and longevity of these people.
If you still thirst for information - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yak