Pack-Training Your Pup

Tired of carrying Fido’s food on the trail? John Rettig shares a few tips for training your favorite four-leggeds to haul their own.

Edited by Kristie Perry

I have seen far too many people attempt to make a dog carry a pack for the first time right at the trailhead, and it looked very unpleasant for the dog. I have also twice found packs abandoned along the trails, and my assumption was that the dog ran off, squirmed out of it, and just left it there.
So when it was time to for my Siberian Husky, Leila, to start carrying her own kibble, I took a different approach:

I started her by having Leila wear an empty pack in the house for just a minute or two at a time, and rewarded her with treats and praise. After a few days of this, she seemed agreeable to wearing the pack for longer intervals, and stopped paying much attention to it when it was on.

Next, I took her for walks around the neighborhood with an empty pack. Like most dogs, Leila loved walks, and she started associating seeing the pack with having fun. That was the key, and from that point forward Leila donned her pack without protest.

After a couple of days of walking Leila around the neighborhood with empty panniers, I stuffed them with crumpled newspaper to bulk the pack up. Occasionally, I’d have to help her if she caught a tree with a pannier.

Once Leila became accustomed to the pack's width, I started adding a bit of weight, always being careful to keep the panniers balanced.

Within two weeks time, Leila was easily carrying five pounds—the equivalent of two liters of water, plus her kibble. So we hit the trails.

After a month of hiking every weekend, Leila was ready for Mt. Defiance. And she knew when she saw my pack and hers come out, fun was on the agenda.

The results of this gentle acclimation was that Leila took the pack for granted and never tried to squirm out of it—it was just part of the trail experience. The flip side: she also learned what it meant when only my pack came out and hers didn’t. She knew I was heading out, and she couldn’t understand why she wasn’t going. I suffered many a withering scowl, something Siberians are famous for.

Long-time Mazama member John Rettig has been a Mazama member since 1999. He is currently serving his third year on the Executive Council, where has also served as Secretary for all three years. He has completed the 16 Northwest Peaks, was awarded the Parker Cup in 2012 for service to the organization, and the Montague Conservation award in 2014.