Friendly disclaimer: Every dog is different. The weight my dogs can comfortably carry in their own packs will differ from what a dog of another size, breed, and age can comfortably carry. Gear that works for my dogs may not necessarily work for yours too. I'm just providing general info and anecdotes about the items my dogs use on backpacking trips. Everything shared here is my own opinion from my personal experience with these products. Nothing sponsored!
Today I'd like to share with you what's in my dog's pack and all the gear items they take along on backpacking trips. For reference, both of my dogs are German Shepherds. Barrett is a 110lb male. His measurements are 22" neck, 38" chest, and 30" belly. Nora is an 85lb female. Her measurements are 19.5" neck, 34" chest, and 28" belly. They are both two years old. Hopefully this info helps when I discuss pack sizing and their load carrying capabilities throughout the post.
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Backpack: Brother CatDog (AliExpress)
The first and most important item is their pack. I purchased this pack on AliExpress. While I was skeptical at first about the quality of this pack, it's proven to be both durable and functional over the last year and a half. I reviewed this pack in April of 2021 and still love it! So much that I bought it three times! The first time for Nora, the second time for Barrett, and the third time for Nora again when she outgrew the size Large harness. With this pack, quality is not sacrificed for affordability.
Size Options: S - XL (see full review for measurement chart)
Colors: purple, orange, blue
Weight: varies by size. L is 1 lb 6 oz. XL is 1 lb 10 oz
Capacity: L is 12L. XL is 16L.
Price Range: $40 - $50 (excluding shipping)
Special Features: adjustable harness, breathable mesh lining, removable saddle bags, handle on harness, and loops to secure saddlebags to the harness.
Where to Purchase: various sellers on AliExpress - PetTown Store, Wonder Island Store, PeTown Store
Another thing I really like about this pack is the harness and saddlebags for sizes L and XL are compatible with one another. Back when Nora still wore a L, if I needed larger capacity bags for our trip I could clip the ones from Barrett's XL pack onto her harness. I could also clip the smaller capacity L bags onto Barett's XL harness. Best of all, now that Nora no longer fits in the L pack I can still utilize the 12L bags with her new harness if need be.
DIY Doggy Sleep Pad
There are a number of dog sleep systems out there from brands like Ruffwear and Kurgo, but none of them seemed to work for me. Initially I gave the Ruffwear Highland pad a shot. It only weighed 1 lbs and seemed to be made of high quality material, but it was just too bulky. It was a little bigger than my Fly Creek 2 tent (compressed in its stuff sack.) I tried a couple other products, but kept running into the similar problems. None of them felt practical for backpacking trips. I ended up making my own pad for the dogs out of a car sunshade. I've seen other backpackers makes countless gear accessories out of the same material, so I thought "Why not give this a try?" So far it's worked out incredibly well. The pad is big enough for the dogs to curl up on AND packs down to a size I can easy fit their saddlebags. It's important to note, I do not let the dogs sleep on this pad without a cover. I want to get as long a lifespan out of it as possible. The cover is nothing special, just an old pillowcase! Some sunshades have a foam core while others have cardboard. In terms of durability, I've found the cardboard core withstands wear and tear much better.
Size: 28" long by 19" wide and a little less than 1/4" thick
Weight: styrofoam core is 2.6 oz cardboard core is 4 oz
Price Range: $5 - $7
Special Features: tailor it to your dog's size, Mylar coating helps reflect heat, lightweight, compact, multi-functional.
Where to Purchase: where ever car sunshades are sold.
If you really like this idea and want to make your own dog sleep pad like I did, then check out the step-by-step PDF guide at the end of this post. There's also a dog gear checklist with links to where you can find some of the other items I share.
Top Paw 3-in-1 Pet Coat
This is by far the most versatile item my dogs take on the trail. Not only does it protect them from the elements, it also acts as a substitute for a sleeping bag. In the cooler months the dogs will typically wear this jacket to bed. The outer shell acts as a wind breaker and rain jacket while the fleece insert offers extra warmth. Barrett and Nora wear a size XXL, which is a little too roomy on Nora. Size L or XL would probably fit her better. While I love this jacket, it's also nothing special. If you want to get this jacket a try, but are unable to find it don't stress! There are a lot of similar products out there that will do the job. When the time comes to replace these jackets for my dogs, I'm probably going to focus more on finding another with the same style/features rather than the exact jacket.
Size: XS - XXL (see PetSmart website for measurement chart)
Color: blue, pink, black, purple
Weight: varies by size. XXL shell is 4.3 oz fleece is 4.2 oz together is 8.5 oz
Price Range: $30 - $50 I paid $28 at PetSmart on clearance
Special Features: reflective material on outer shell, removable fleece layer, Velcro adjustable, multi-functional, and packs up small.
Where to Purchase: Currently this item is in limited availability. Last I checked, PetSmart had a couple in stock online. There's also a seller on Poshmark with the pink color in various size.
Food & Meals
Since I've already devoted an entire video and post to what my dogs eat on backpacking trips, I'll keep this category of what's in their packs short. For a typical 3 day 2 night trip the dogs have two dinners, two breakfasts, and two lunches/snack bags. When packing their saddlebags I try to evenly distribute the meals on each side. As the trip goes on, gear item get moved around in their packs to make up for the imbalance of those heavier food items getting eaten.
In the past, I used a zip-up fabric bowl for my dogs. It worked really well at first, but the protective coating wore off pretty quickly. Water seeped right through it in a matter of minutes, and cleaning food debris out of it was a gross mess. Now I use a small collapsible silicone bowl. It's waterproof, easy to clean, and compact enough to clip to the outside of the dogs pack. You can find this type of bowl in a variety of colors and sizes. The ones I use are about 5" in diameter and hold about 12 fluid ounces.
First Aid & Toiletries
My dogs don’t wear boots while hiking, plain and simple. Instead I regularly apply Mushers Secret paw wax to the pads of their feet. This help to strengthen, repair, and build up a protective layer on on their paw. I like to save my empty chap stick tubes as a travel size container to take Mushers Secret on the trail with me. I melt the wax in a Tupperware container in the microwave, pour it into the chap stick tube, and place the tube in the freezer to solidify. This stuff is a do it all in my opinion and I wouldn't hike without it.
Another toiletry related item is waste bags. I usually just bury the dogs poop in the backcountry, but if we're in an area where that's not an option I have waste bags just in case. Sometimes I will also pack a small bag of baby wipes for the dogs. These are really handy if they step in something messy. I can clean their paws off before letting them in the tent at night. Nora loves finding dead things to rolling in especially in the woods around camp. I may not be able to give her a full bath on trail when that happens, but I can at least use the baby wipes to make her bearable to be around.
Everything in the dog's packs related to first aid is tailored to their most common issues or needs. Benadryl is an important item. Depending on the time of year, this is really helpful when Nora is experiencing her seasonal allergies. It alleviates some of her itching, scratching, sneezing, you name it. Benadryl is also handy when they get stung or bit by a bug. Much like the paw wax, another item I would never hike or backpack without is Pepto-Bismol chewable tablets. German Shepherds have very sensitive stomachs. Giving them food with probiotics helps eliminate those problems for the most part, but sometime they will have digestive upset on the trail. Of course it's always at the most inconvenient times and without warning. Having chewable tablets to settle their stomachs on hand has saved the day on countless trips.
Miscellaneous & Shared Gear
A couple other items in their packs include:
Tie out cable/lead for camp. A lightweight 25ft cable works for my dogs.
Rechargeable clip on light.
Chuckit! Ultra ball. I usually don't bring toys on the trail for them, but Nora loves this really durable tennis ball.
Last but not least is shared gear. A major benefit of backpacking with dogs is sharing the load when it comes to gear items. Obviously, the largest and heaviest piece of gear we share is the tent. But since that's something I would be carrying with or without the dogs, I pack all the components of it tent in my own pack. That's not say I couldn't put either the stakes or footprint in one of the dog's packs if I needed to. I personally don't see a need to distribute parts of that particular gear item between us when there are other smaller items the dogs can help carry. These are a few examples of gear I’ll add to their saddlebags:
Trowel
Sawyer water filter.
Fuel canister
Bear bag hanging kit
How much does it all weigh?
I'm sure you've been wondering how much all the gear in my dog's pack weighs. It depends on the length of the trip. Obviously a longer trip means more food, more, gear, and ultimately more weight. The total for a typical weekend trip falls between 5 and 6 lbs. It can be as low as 4 lbs on overnight trips and as high as 8lbs for a week long trip. In the video when everything was loaded up for a three day trip the pack came to 5 lbs 11 oz (or 5.7 lbs) Carrying freeze dried food is a major contributing factor in keeping their pack weight low!
But how much weight is too much? The general consensus is a healthy active dog can carry 10% of their body weight. Some sources claimed up to 25%, but that sounds a little too high in my opinion. Going off that math Barrett should be able to carry about 25lbs? That's my personal pack weight comfort limit, so I doubt he could handle that. Going off that general rule of 10%, Nora should be able to carry 8.5lbs and Barrett 11lbs. Obviously the weight my dogs can comfortably carry in their own packs will differ from what a dog of another size, breed, and age can comfortably carry. For more info, check out some of these articles about dogs and pack weight from:
Downloadable Resources
Below are two free resources I put together. One is a copy of my dog gear list with links to where you can find some of the items shared in this post. Also included in that document is a blank checklist template you can print out to write in your own gear items. The second resource is a short how-to guide for a DIY dog sleep pad. I go through each step with little illustrations of what I did to make mine.
I hope you found this post helpful today. Once again every dog is different. Gear that works for my dogs may not necessarily work for yours too. Everything shared here is my opinion from my own personal experience.