Any rules or experience with trail dogs on OT?

[Kirk]

I have been training my dog as a trail dog. She has been doing quite well with her backpack and taking her on her first short over-night trip this weekend to see how she does with the overnight part. I am planning a longer hike on the OT next month.

Any rules/experience with trained dogs on OT trails? I haven't seen anything in posts about them, but know they are common on other national trails.

[jim@dianasgrove.com]

Kirk,
There is a topic on the second page called "Dogs", you might find what you need there.... I take my dog hiking with me as she does just fine. She is much happier tarping than tenting, stays at all times within direct line of sight with me, returns to my feet when she hears others approaching, AND I always carry a leash at close hand. At times when we shared the trail, I double length leashed her to me and that worked to give her enough room to be herself and to be under control. However, dogs do get lost along the trail and you need to clearly evaluate your pet and how she has proven her behavior. One biting incident can cause long standing problems for all of us who take our four footed friends along.

[Kirk]

Thanks for the info. I have an 81# American Bulldog who is so over socialized it is funny. My previous dog was a trained guard dog. This one I went the exact opposite. She hasn't met a person, dog, or thing she doesn't like, well, except for wasps. She dispises them and eats them on sight, no matter how many times they sting her. She leads on the trail by about 15 feet and has yet to get out of sight. If she does I have been training her for a long whistle so she comes immediately so I am not worried about losing sight of her. She is crate trained so planning to sleep her in the tent. Will see how she does tonight. Just doing a 3 mile, camp, 3 mile back loop to just work on her overnight and campsite training. I have been slowly increasing the weight in her pack with her own food getting close to where I think she will need to be to carry her own food for the longer trip. Should be interesting. Thanks.

[Kirk]

Did the test campout with the dog. She did better than I did
The only real problem was that I figured out I have underestimated the amount of food she eats. Son told me she eats a lot, but when I actually measured it out into bags she ate a lot more than I had planned. Guess all the extra exercise made her hungry. Anyone else have experience with their dogs on this area? Can they carry all their own food or do you have to pack some of it?

[Sharkey]

If she will, have her carry the load. There is a vast amount of dog packs out there. Here are a few
http://www.rei.com/category/4500452


I sure others will have a better idea of packs they prefer.

[Kirk]

We have a Kelty Chuckwagon. Based on her body shape that seemed to fit the best. She has been hiking with it for about a month and I have been slowly increasing the weight by having a ziploc of food in each side. I don't think she can carry all the food she eats and was wondering if anyone else had any experience with trail dogs and whether they can carry all their own food or whether you had to pack some for them.

Right now I can see a real difference at about 3/4 of a quart bag of food on each side. She goes from being miss energetic to thinking its more of a chore. She can carry more but not sure I want her too at this point.

Just to give you an idea of her size she was 81 pounds last time we weighted her at the vet and she is nothing but bone and muscle. No fat on her at all. But, still at 2 3/4 quart bags of food she will be short at least a days worth is my best guess from the test campout.

[Bill]

I have a cross bred dog that as a one year old weighed 85 lbs.—like yours all muscle. I bought the biggest Wenaha dog pack they made and it turned out to be a good thing.
FYI: The first thing I did was just put the empty pack on him and let him walk around the house getting used to it. Then I filled (stuffed) each side with crumpled up newspaper so he could learn to compensate for the extra width (watching him learn to walk through doorways was entertaining). After he got used to the width I started adding bottles of water to get him used to the weight. His first backpacking trip and for several years he carried 25 pounds—All of his food (plus some dog snacks) and a lot of my stuff for an 8 day trip. The absolute most important thing is balancing out the pack. At home I feed him 4 cups of dry food a day, two in the am and two in the pm. On the trail I add another ½ cup per day. So, my routine would be to pack each meal in its own plastic bag. This made the daily balancing act easier (because it changes with every meal). Now, coming up on 10 years old, I have reduced his load to 22 lbs. He still does well, is enthusiastic, and energetic at the end of each day. If he got injured on the trail I would carry his load on the way out, but a well conditioned dog should be able to carry up 1/3rd its weight. ‘Well conditioned dog’ is the key. As you train, your dog should train as well. I’ve logged at least couple of thousand or more trail miles with him and all of the initial training effort made for a great well behaved companion on the trail…
And when I take a break and shed my pack I quickly unhook him and give him a break as well. When we get ready to move on I just say ‘hook up’ and he comes over, stands to have the pack lowered down on him and the straps snapped. In the beginning everything you do with your dog should be in the ‘training mode’. It will all pay off later on.

[Kirk]

Thanks for the info. My dog weights over 80 pounds, but is the size of a 60 pound dog. I had to go with the medium pack because even though her weight is in the large pack range, the pack's straps wouldn't adjust small enough for her waist. We have only been training for about 6 weeks doing 2-3 mile wood hikes 2-3 times a week. She does go on a daily hour long walk with the wife and wears her pack then too. I started with an empty pack also for a while and have been slowly increasing the weight. She is an American Bulldog which is the tall bulldog that the English bulldog was created from. Basically means she is built for fighting, not endurance. She has been trained to be extremely over socialized and is a very sweet dog, but I don't think I will ever get her up to heavy loads. Her body type and breeding is just not designed for it. She can walk through a glass door if she wants to but, chase that retriever? I don't think so. Maybe a couple of times, but after that, forget it. Wrestle with the dog? She will do that for hours, chase it? Forget it.

I haven't weighted her pack but I would estimate it to be at around 5-8 pounds. I will continue to work with her, but right now that seems to be about her comfortable max and I doubt I will get it up any higher before my planned hike. I didn't get her planning to turn her into a trail dog, she is a family dog. Just decided later that she enjoys the hiking trips and would make a good trail dog...except that she can't carry all her own food. Oh well. Can't have it all.