High Sierra Topix

My mutt after a good swim on a hike.

I agree with snowtrout. It really depends on the breed. I have medium size (22 – 26 pound) dogs.
They are too small to carry a pack. They spend a lot of time exploring brush so it is probably best I pack all of their stuff.

They do wear a harness like they do every day during our walks.
I remove the harness when we make camp, just like I do when we get home from a walk. This tells them we are “home” at least for the night.
They eat the same dry food they eat at home. I do sometimes bring some special “premium” dog food. Sometimes at night after dinner I’ll pop open a can of Vienna Sausages and we each get a bite from each sausage.

I always have some rope so I can improvise a leash if I need a leash. My girls are really well socialized. They do not cause problems with people or other well behaved dogs.

Like snowtrout we do a lot of walking almost every day. This probably helps toughen up their paws. We have tried paw protection but that didn’t work out. They DO NOT want anything on their paws. I have also tried the sweaters. The girls do have very short hair. Their bellies are exposed.
I can put a sweater on a dog. I don’t know how they do it but they manage to get it off. They would much rather cuddle up in my sleeping bag inside the tent.
Where do they sleep? Inside my bag off course! Don’t you know where the band Three Dog Night got their name! They really do warm things up!

I never leash them at night. I usually get up a couple of times at night. They join me in my “outside” activities. Sometimes they will hear something and ask to be let out to investigate. I let them out.

Some very cold mornings can be funny. They want out as soon as daylight arrives. Often times it is freezing outside. We stay nice and warm cuddled up in our bags while they run around for a while. Eventually they realize they are freezing and dive back into the warm bag.

I always bring in more food than we need. I do a need better pack planning strategy, but at the same time, other than the extra effort, what is the harm? Regarding water…they are dogs, dogs drink out of any source of water they can find. If there is no water (as there is often time when hiking the local hills) I pack in a little plastic bowl that I fill with my bottled water.

Stream crossings are usually not a problem. I have leashed them up and let them swim during one rather deep stream crossing. I first crossed with them, packless. Then I went back and got my pack. They waited patiently on the other side.

I have thought about what I would do if one of them got sick or injured and could not walk. I would carry them around my neck like a Shepard would carry a lamb. Let’s hope that never happens.

There is one important thing you forgot to ask about. How do you tackle very rough terrain? We encounter this sometimes while out peak bagging. Sometimes this is an issue because of their size. We can scramble down a 10 – 20 foot cliff if there are good foot and hand holds. This is not the case with dogs. Sometimes you just have to grab them by the scuff of the neck and swing them down to safety. This requires A LOT of trust on their part.
These dogs have hiked up to 12,000 feet. We always acclimate for ourselves and I believe this is why we have never had an issue with altitude sickness in the dogs. Lightening does not affect them. They love playing in the snow.
I would never take them on a real snow outing like a snow shoe or cross country ski trip. They just aren’t designed for that kind of exposure. That is something breed dependent. A Malamute would do fine, but my girls would freeze to death.
I love backpacking with my dogs. I never have to hike alone. I do not plan my trips around dogs. If we are going to a place where dogs are not allowed (dumb rule…JMHO) they stay home.
Dogs are more than just man’s best friend. We are both “pack” animals dependent upon the group. We have evolved together as a species in a symbiotic relationship over hundreds of thousands of years. Just like humans girl dogs are way, way smarter than the boys (JMHO).
Thanks,

-Russ

Nice thread, I have lots to say about it, as some of you could imagine. I'll just answer a bunch of the questions in a stream of thought, in no particular order.

I always carry a leash for Callie, but I rarely use it. The key for a good leash is for it to have some elasticity, and for it to have an adjustable strap so that you can either put it around your waist or attach it to your waist belt, allowing for your hands to be free. For backcountry Sierra trips, the times I use it are: when I see wildlife such as deer or a bear and I want to dissuade Callie from making any sudden movies, when we run into other dogs or people who seem fearful of dogs, around camp if I want to keep her out of water as we are approaching sundown.

I carry the same food she eats at home. We feed her eukanuba premium performance food, which seems to have a very good calorie/weight balance and nutrition, as far as dog food goes. Like another poster mentioned, she normally doesn't want to eat much on the trail. I often fix this by putting a little bit of my dinner below hers in her bowl, and she ends up eating all of her food in order to eat a little bit of mine. We carry a rubber colapsible bowl, as well as another bowl from ruff wear, so that she has a water and food dish at camp.

I have never filtered water for Callie, and there was one time that she may have gotten sick from it, but I think it was unrelated. Either way, so far so good as far as I'm concerned. The prospect of keeping her from drinking stream water seems too much. Speaking of streams, she doesn't swim, likes to play in the water, but only up to her ankles. She is agile and can rock hop or walk over logs to cross streams, but sometimes I need to carry her.

She absolutely loves snow.

I've never run into any indication that altitude is a problem. The highest that I've taken Callie is around 12k feet. She is fairly invincible so this is not a concern.

What is always a big concern is her paws. She never wears booties and we haven't had any problems, although I just noticed that a layer of one of her pads wore off after a series of winter adventures this week. She is fine but I wonder how much more activity would be required to wear through the next layer and cause real issues.

We carry a small cut out section of a blue foam sleeping pad. She sleeps in the tent. She is crate trained so it is natural.

I would activate my SPOT for my dog, but more importantly, I plan my trips knowing that she could always hurt herself and be able to get out. I try to make sure that I'd be able to get her out. That is one of the reasons that I didn't get a bigger dog. I feel that, at 40 pounds, I could carry Callie out of nearly any place we go.

I don't think there is any sage advice to give to a dog owner to make their dog a great hiker. The dogs need experience just like we do, and it comes naturally to them over time. I think the one place where they really need our help is with rattlesnakes, so I recommend everyone gets their dog rattlesnake training if they are in areas where an attack is possible.

Snowtrout wrote:I think that the breed of the dog has a lot to do with what is needed for them to be successful and comfortable in the backcountry.

It helps to have a high energy breed.

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-Russ

I just saw in another thread that Calpidder has an incredibly cute puppy who should be trail savvy within a year. We had 11 great years with a golden retriever whose best days were in the Sierra. Although it kept us from going into the Parks (yes, we obeyed the rules), we got to know the areas between Kings and Yosemite very well. Aside from his first trip, he carried his food which we double wrapped in plastic, because he was prone to hop in any water we came across. We also trained our guy early on to use me as a landing pad for descending off trail passes like Snow tongue, Cox col and even Puppet Pass. We're still debating getting another canine companion: maybe one of those big guys who can carry the brandy?
cg

You'll get another friend. Calpidder's dog Thor is really cute. I'm putting off getting another Lab until Bubba goes. He's almost 12 (JRT). Don't want the bad habits to rub off He's not that bad but has several kills to his name; we won't go into that. If Bubba floated like a Lab, he'd be duck hunting with me. He sinks like a rock.