Advice on section hikes with dogs

[Ohnothatkid]

Hi all,
I am new to this forum but not new to camping and hiking with dogs. I have done allot of camping and over night hikes but never have attempted a multi day hike. They have gear for an overnight ( packs, boots, bowls) but I doubt the packs and boots we have will hold up to 4-5 days. Anyone have recommendations on some lasting dog gear?

Any other good advice is appreciated.

Most of our hikes have had a stationary camp site or just and overnight back country trips. We do have the equipment for longer distance hikes for us but not the dogs.

Next spring, my husband and I would like to start section hiking the trail with our two dogs. My dogs have easily done 11 mile hikes up and down some rough terrain in one day but these section hikes for us are not about how much distance we cover, but this would be about slowing down and relaxing.All four of us love the outdoors.

A little about us and the dogs in question as I have seen some harsh people on this fourum.

We have a 4-5 year old German Shepherd and about a year and a half old Belgian Malinois. Not sure their exact birthdays as both are "recycled dogs".

My husband and I are K9 handlers and these dogs are our partners, we are apart of an urban search and rescue team. These dogs want to go and easily can for long periods in the right weather conditions. Their health and safety we take seriously. We do allot of endurance and stamina conditioning with them as required for the work they do. They are highly trained and are required to be non aggressive towards other dogs and people otherwise they wouldn't have this job. Our pups are also used to working in much harsher conditions than we have seen on most trails.

They would be on leash the whole time and we intend to tent camp with them. I am not sure how well all fit comfortably in a 2 person tent but we do. They will be leashed, under control, and follow good trail etiquette.

What has been your experience with dog packs and other gear? They don't ever need to use boots but I like to have them just to be safe. Any other good advice?

[Gambit McCrae]

First, Welcome to Whiteblaze!

Sounds like you have a great foundation to build a hiking hobby on. Dogs seem to be well trained and behave as you expect them to which is a must have on the trail. I will warn ya, some folks on here are pretty adamant about not liking dogs on the trail. Don't worry about their comments as no one else does either. One user has been asked to just stay out of the dogs forum all together due to his negativity, his name is squeezebox so if he pokes his nasty little head in just ignore him.

Now! on to the fun stuff!

Dog Backpack:
http://wolfpacks.com/

My lab put about 900 miles on the first one, and I could have probably taken better care of it but I due to washing it etc that's how many miles I got out of the first one. I sent them an email thanking them for the longevity of their product and how much use we got out of it, their response was "where can we send a new one to" WOW, awesome customer service!!

Bowls: a cool wip /country crock bowl works great. It is light, big enough for water and food and they nest inside of each other

Food bags: If you don't have one, a vacuum sealer is a great addition to a house hold. I vac seal each day of food for my dog and that way he can jump and swim or lay in a creek with his pack on and nothing gets wet.

I put a bottle of water in his pack but he fills his belly up at every water crossing and very rarely do I break out the bottle of water for him, If I know there is going to be plenty of water on the hike I leave the bottle of water out

Pads: Look on eBay for a cheap, used foam folding pad. Take some bungees and fashion it to the ridgeline of the back, attached to their backpack.

Man oh man what I find!
My dog has carried that pad above on his pack for about 600 +miles now See?
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Dog Feet: I have found that I have to watch his pads because he gets blisters just like we do, except his pads are on the ground. They make something called mushers secret that might be worth grabbing "just in case"..oh and dogbooties did not work for us.

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He hated them and he ended up with other issues caused by the boots

Dog toys get lost in the woods

Hope this helps and happy hiking!

[DuneElliot]

You certainly have a couple of good breeds for hiking with your dogs. I have two border collies who can go for forever and easily out hike me, even with a pack. Being smaller dogs they can carry up to four days worth of high-quality food for themselves, but a GSD and Malinois can carry a little more, maybe 5-6 days depending how the quality of the food they eat.

We have done several multi-day trips so far this summer and both of my dogs have Ruffwear Approach packs which seem to have held up really well so far. I can't attest to the longevity of them as they are new this year, but so far no wear after my dogs have dragged them over rocks and through brush. They can easily fit 5-6 days of food in the larger packs. My 42# border collie wears the large size but it is cinched to the tightest it will go; the medium pack just wasn't quite big enough with all the straps loosened. Looking at the reviews on Amazon someone with a Rott/Sheperd mix said the Large fits well: https://www.amazon.com/Ruffwear-Appr...approach+large

As for boots, I wouldn't bother. I sounds like your dogs don't have soft paws with all the work and hiking they already do. I have never found a need for them and wouldn't really worry about them unless I was hiking on lava rocks, constant granite or hot pavement.

I'd be happy to answer others questions about the packs if you have any. I really do highly recommend the brand and the fit of the packs.

[DuneElliot]

As for sleeping arrangements, I leash my two dogs to the trekking poles holding my tent up and they sleep under the awning. Of course, this is in areas without many bugs. They both have a small section of a Thermarest Lite pad which I use as a sit pad when pausing...double duty item! Not sure how you fit two people and two dogs in a two person tent, but if you do that's awesome...otherwise you may have to look into a larger tent

[kjbrown]

Welcome to WB, and I would second the recommendation for Mushers Secrete it is a paw wax that will help to protect your dogs pads. I have had great results with Ruffware(sp) packs with my huskies both in comfort and fit, I did add some padding (synthetic sheep fleece) to one of the belly straps on one because of hot spot on one of my dogs. I also prepackage the food into portions and vacuum seal to protect from eater and I also add a package of tuna packed in oil to add a boost to the food on a long day. I would add to watch them at feeding time after a hike because some dogs can get very food protective and it can cause some problems. I hammock camp and picket line my dogs under the hammock and use just a chunk of old closed cell blue foam from Walmart as her "Place" so they know where I expect them to sleep. Take some time at home to get them accustomed to having boots on their feet so if you need to put them on to protect the pads if they get cut or worn raw. I would also add to make sure you work on distractions and not chasing little critters because it can results in some serious problems (Husky + Porcupine + 30 miles of snowshoeing back to the car = Long bad day to the car and a quick trip to the vet to remove over 130 quills). Have fun hiking with the dogs and don't let some of the negative people on WB who always show on dog questions get you down.

[Ohnothatkid]

Thank you for the suggestions! We will be checking them out. I love the sleeping pad on top of the dog pack! I never even thought of that. We carry the pads on the overnight hikes.

Mushers secret is a favorite of ours. The only time I have ever found the boots to be required is on the Mal when he wants to run with the ATV at our family farm. He just goes so hard and fast I stick them on to make sure he doesn't blister his feet.

I actually found out you can , very uncomfortably, fit 3 dogs and 2 people into a 2 person tent last year by accident. You all can lay down but your not moving. We slept outside on an overnight back country trip when the weather was nice but had to beat a quick retreat into the tent when a group of very bold coyotes decided to check out the campsite. They became a little to interested in the dogs so we all shoved into the 2 person.

With a stationary camp site we us a 4 person tent, but overnight we only carry the 2 person. The dogs know when we go in the tent the have to get in their spot and lay down. On cold nights we have them sleep inside our sleeping bags with us.

On deployment it is not unlikely to be in a tent with your dog, they have a mobile dog kennel but I am not a fan of putting my dogs into an unknown place like that in already chaotic conditions. We are partners, and we stick together. On the trail in a two person tent with the dogs is much more relaxing. Lol .

[Gambit McCrae]

a couple tents I use that accomadate 2 people and 2 dogs are the Hilleberg GT line of tents, huge vestibule and the tarptent stratospire 2.

[Lane47]

Bowls: a cool wip /country crock bowl works great. It is light, big enough for water and food and they nest inside of each other

Food bags: If you don't have one, a vacuum sealer is a great addition to a house hold. I vac seal each day of food for my dog and that way he can jump and swim or lay in a creek with his pack on and nothing gets wet.


IMG_2670.JPG


Question

how much do your increase the daily food amount for your dog? I plan to start taking my 85 pound lab with me.
do you make any other changes to his / her eating routine?

[John B]

Not everything that's fun for us is fun for them. But of course I'm sure that yours love every second of it.

http://www.wkyt.com/content/news/Res...390242962.html