Dog hikers: How much does your pack weigh?

[Harpua]

i no longer make my dog carry a pack. i carry her food now. however i make it and dehydrate it myself so it is very nutritional and light weight.

[yappy]

I have seen very few happy long distance hiking dogs....carryg their food believe me will make a better hike for both of u pay close attention and always alllwaays put ur. Dog first.. b prepared to go home or have another plan if ur dogs struggles

[Robishack]

Thanks for the info on Canadian hiking, defnitely looking at the Voyageur trail - looks like a good prep for the AT, this side of the border.

As for one of the thread question (any tips / suggestions for hiking with dog) I'm working on making a long leash out of paracord (military cord strong to weight of 550lbs). You can weave* pretty much any length of cord into a belt or sling or whatnot, and you can have your leash double as an emergency cord if you get in a bind.

*You can see the weave instructions here.

[stonedflea]

swayze hiked with ruff wear's approach pack. she ate one full quart bag of food a day (sometimes a little more, depending on the quality of the food we found on resupply). in her pack, she carried 5 qts of food, my AT Guide, and her dog bowl. i carried any excess food she couldn't carry (sometimes we could only find 8.8# bags of food), her raincoat/jacket, her sleeping pad, and first aid supplies.

as for water, she drank from the streams (i shouldn't have to specify this, but i'm going to, so that no one jumps my case - AWAY from the water source), but on really dry sections, i carried water for the both of us. i specifically bought a 3L camelback in hamburg, pa because the northeast had gotten so dry in the summer. that brought my carrying capacity to 4L, which was heavy as hell, but when you're carrying water for two, it's a necessary evil.

i weighed her pack a few times, and it averaged 9-10#. she weighed 60-65, so anywhere from 13.5-16.5% of her body weight. she's a vizsla, and she turned 6 on the trail.

[CrumbSnatcher]

DOG PACK WEIGHT----------------ZER0
MY PACK WEIGHT-----------whatever it took :-)
happy birthday BEAR 12-29-93
miss ya