I have a week off for vacation and would love to take a road trip with Caper. There are some beautiful beaches and trails along the california coast that I'm sure we'd both love! Very excited just planning the route

I'm planning to put him on a 25 foot lead attached to my waist (what we've been doing locally) and camp in the car for a few days. What basic things should I know, have, and be ready for?

Also, he is still very distractible and although he knows "leave it", "drop it", recall and "let's go" if he's lagging, but I have to constantly police him and remind him every few minutes to focus on moving along. Do you think it's safe/practical to try a trip or should we wait until he's older and a bit calmer? I don't know if after a while of being saturated with nature he'll stop being so intensely fascinated with everything and be happier with just moving along.

I hear of so many people bringing their imperfectly trained dogs on trips and am wondering how they make it through. Any advice would be appreciated

We took Dizzy hiking for the first time a couple weeks ago and it was a blast. He was fascinated with a lot of stuff, but didn't have a problem moving along. I had his harness on him and he was happy to follow the trail, I think they have an instinct to do that. He definitely wanted to check stuff out and I had to have him move along, but he did fine. You should go for it! You'll have a ball.

Rhia and I took Karli and Korra for their first real hike two months ago I think it was. And it was a blast! As long as you keep moving, he'll keep moving. We didn't have that long of a lead for the girls, they stuck pretty close to us. It was a lot of fun and they really enjoyed it!

Some of the things to remember, poop bags!!! A bowl for water (I have a collapsable one.) Musher's secret or something similar (I got the petsmart brand on short notice.) Treats will make it easier to get him to keep moving. It'll be fun!!

Thanks for the responses! Are your doggies well-trained to stick close to you and ignore deer/dogs/animals to begin with? Caper will stick by me off leash in a ~25ft radius but if he sees a dog or running person he will definitely try to go say hi (no more lunging/freaking out thank god). Deer, rabbits, skunks = game over as far as focusing. Also if he finds something interesting to smell, I'm sure he would sniff it for so long that he wouldn't notice that I'm out of sight if I don't say anything.

I keep picturing those mellow 6-year old yellow labs lumbering in a permanent heel position by their owners on hikes, oblivious to all the wonderful dog-enticing things of the world around them, and wonder if that's the level I have to reach before being able to take him into public.

What about the car camping? Any experiences sleeping in a car with your dog??

We decided to make the hiking trip local (about 1hr drive from home) and break it into a 3 day trip so that no camping was involved. Today was the first part, and we hiked up Mt Tamalpais in Marin County to start off with. It was amazing, and SO MUCH FUN. Wish I had an actual camera for photos!





The views were absolutely breathtaking (much like Casper David Friedrich's "wanderer above the sea of fog" in the early morning). Caper was wearing his pulling harness attached to a six ft lead attached to a belt around my waist. We had zero problems with him behaviorally. There were a couple of times towards the end of the hike where he saw lizards dashing out from the brush and tried to pounce on them, but didn't bolt down the side of the mountain like I thought he would. No pulling or lunging at all!


Starting out at the paved entrance


Enjoying the view or thinking about all the animals he could be chasing!


Early to catch the sunrise

We were going doggie pace, with Caper leading at a quick trot! We jogged for over 4 hours straight up then down the mountain with a 15 minute break (that Caper wanted to skip!) once we got to the peak. He is tireless, and we all got a great workout :O


Starting up again from a water break


In the shade at the top.

Thanks for the encouragement everyone. Our first official hike was a great success!

Love the low clouds in the pics, looks like u both got in a great workout!

The clouds were like a living creature slithering over the hills and mountain ridges towards the ocean. Never seen anything quite like it, a movie-esque scene for sure! I think I sense the start of a hiking addiction here :)Jennifer, you go hiking with your two quite often right? What do you bring for them as far as food goes to keep their blood sugar up?

i pack their dog food, i think they get about 1.5cups each, some at the summit and the rest at the car after unless they are really hungry then they get it all at the summit. i also pack any high protein treat i can find. Costco will get in these salmon nuggets that are light weight and tasty, and some times they have freeze dried liver treats that are light and good to, or dog jerky. i give them treats at every other water break on the way up. then less on the way down as they dont need it as much and had just had a big meal at the summit. they also think marmot poo is the best tasting thing ever so they pick that up on the trail  

Thanks, I'll pack more treats on our next trip. I'd been wondering what to bring for him. He was even less interested in dog food and even people food when we are out with all the interesting sights and smells. The only thing he would eat was the cheese, jerky, boiled pork treats I brought to reward good behavior but it was nowhere near enough to keep him energized. Lol, Caper also found a certain type of poo delicious, but I'll have to step up my scatological skills to find out what animal it's from

It took my blu on his first camping trip this summer, the things I found to be handy was, a steak tie out (so he could hang out but be safe) a kiddy pool (it got hot... Plus he like to lounge in it like its a sofa <_<). And all the usual dog stuff.

a word of advice for beaches... This is something I learned quick as me and blu are on the beaches here year round. Watch out for sea life carcasses (crabs fish turtles that sort of thing) if I remember from my youth California beaches are fairly clean but here I. Jersey the beaches are filled with dead crabs turtles and other various stuff... But doesn't hurt to keep an eye out for those sorts of things ahead of him/her.

and of course pack a ball... I love playing fetch on the beach.

Always like to see advice posts followed up with positive results!

I've hiked with Chuck about 5 miles on just a lead, but the it didn't go that well, lots of pulling. It was light pulling, not pulling my arm out of my socket, but it gets old. I think I'll wait until he's full-ish size to buy him a harness for more hiking :/ I'd okay with some light pulling he he were to be attached at the waist.