How to prepare to take your dog on a back packing trip

If youre planning on going on an extended hike or camp with the dog then you really want to put in the effort to making the necessary arrangements for life in the great outdoors. You will likely need to invest in the right equipment and supplies to make certain that the dog can be kept well and comfortable throughout the adventure. If you have one of the larger dog breeds you might wish to think about such supplies as the dog back packs to ensure they are able to help travel with some of the essential supplies.

Relying on the dog to carry some of the basics on your outdoor adventure

You are likely to find that a healthy dog equipped with the right type of dog back packs is easy able to carry a good deal of supplies when out in the wilderness. If you have a large dog breed for instance you are able to equip the backpack with supplies that may weigh in the region of a 25% of their body weight, which was on the larger dogs might mean 15 to 20-lbs. You might wish to fill the backpack with such supplies as extra food and water, and other essentials and that might be necessary for the particular type of trip you are participating in.

Making sure to train the dog to become accustomed to wearing the backpack

In order that your dog is able to take to wearing the pet back pack it will be necessary to give them some prior training, which should be done a good few months before you intend on starting on your outdoor adventure. If you are able to go through this early training with the help of dog training collars then this is certain to help the dog accept the backpack when it comes to being worn. It is likely that it will take a certain level of training before your four-legged friend is willing to accept wearing the backpack over the long-term.

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Catahoula dog

I trained my first Catahoula dog about a year ago. A couple brought in an eight week old puppy for puppy class. They said the female was a rescue and that they had been told she was a Border collie mix.

In the Manners in Minutes system we do not train puppies. We do however show you how to condition the puppy so it is ready to fully train at 16 weeks.

When the dog came back eight weeks later, I remarked to the owners that I would have expected a Border collie mix to be larger at four months. They told me that when they took her to the vet he told them he thought she was a Catahoula. Then as they were leaving a man recognized their dog as a Catahoula, since he owned two of them.

The Catahoula is a dog bred in Louisiana. The dog is used for both herding and hunting boar as well as other game. It is descended from Native American dogs. They come in a wide range of sizes and coats. One distinct feature is their webbed feet.

The dog is very intense and very pack oriented. But they are herding dogs and are easy for me to work. This dog turned out to be a very nice student.

Since then I had only seen one pure bred Catahoula and one Great Dane/Catahoula mix.

Earlier this week a Border collie mix that is deaf came in for an assessment/demonstration. When I looked at the coloring, I asked her if the dog might be a Catahoula mix. She did not know. However when we checked his feet, we found they were webbed.

I asked her where she got the dog. She got it from a rescue group from the San Luis Valley area in central south Colorado. It was the same group the first dog came from.

Then yesterday I got a call from a woman with a blue heeler mix. It sounds like the dog has some serious pack order confusion. She is coming in later today for an evaluation. I asked her where she got the dog. It was a rescue. After talking some more about the dog I began to think that the Catahoula breed might be involved. She checked with her husband and although this dog was adopted from a shelter in Pueblo, it originally came from the San Luis Valley. Then they checked his feet. They were webbed.

Now with a dog that has unknown lineage, the only way to know for sure is DNA testing, and expensive and usually unnecessary procedure since the dogs are not going to be used for breeding.

But I am beginning to suspect there is either a lot of Catahoulas in that part of Colorado, or one very promiscuous dog running around.

Doug

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