I am planning to take my husky out on a hike. She's still relatively young, but I thought she would benefit greatly from fresh air and cool forest (away from the city). I wanted to ask about factors I should be watching out for, apart from length of hike (time-wise) and the terrain (cement vs grass vs soil vs rocky soil).

For example, how much do inclines matter in adding strain to a husky on a hike? If the ground is mostly soil/leaves but the trail is on an incline, would my husky need extra support, more down time, etc.?

Is it okay, if it feels like she's getting too tired, to carry her some of the way then let her walk some of the way again, in cycles?

How old is "relatively young"?

I have a small mountain near my house where I hike with my two, one at a time though. Mishka was about 11 months old when I started and initially I thought it would be too much for her. I did give in to her sad face one day after I brought Kohdi home and I took her up the mountain. It's a mountain consisting of soil and rock, at a pretty good incline, and we stopped often to rest her tiny legs, give her water, and people watch (Mishka LOVES people watching) there were several times where I did carry her as well. On the way down she flew, haha, nothing could stop her! part of my decision to finally take Mishka (and in all honesty it shouldn't have played a part at all) was when I went up with Kohdi, at the top I met a girl who had a 7 month old husky who did the entire hike, at 7 months though, she was bigger than my Mishka (but smaller than Kohdi) so I thought I may have been to overprotective of Mishka . Mishka did really well though, but yeah, I'd recommend for you if you do it, take weather into consideration, bring plenty of water and a first aid kit, "listen" to your husky, like if she wants to stop, let her, take a break and take into consideration the distance back to determine when you should just stop and turn around. My hike in total was about 2 hours or so (could have been more) I couldn't tell you how many miles though.

Thank you for the tips, Jimmy!

She'll only be 5 months when by the time of the hike where I'm considering taking her with me (still almost a month off). It won't be that difficult, I think, since it'll be cool and it's the type of trail first-timers and non-hikers can trek. Do you think it will be too early, even with lots of stopping and carrying? Because I'm totally willing to do that.

Admittedly, I'm the one who's really excited to see her out there. She has such a grand time when we take her out to romp in open air and grass. The place where we're planning to go is a rural highland, much cooler than where we are in the city. I live in the Philippines, so we really try to take advantage of the cold months to go to areas where we feel the season best

At 5 months old, the hiking would have to be really light, no super steep terrain, hard surfaces, etc, I'd also not recommend a doggy backpack at this age yet either if you were thinking about it. While the hiking is really good for building heart strength at this age, she is just still too young (in my opinion) for a structured hike with things like rocky terrain/steep inclines, but light hiking would be great. And again, when she wants to stop, stop, take a break, drink some water and that sort of thing (probably good photo opportunities at those times too, haha, that's how I did it with Mishka)

Maybe someone else will chime in though and give you better advice, as I'm not super experienced with this, I just honestly think 5 months is a little young, and yeah you would be carrying her a lot too, which isn't that bad, I did it with Mishka as well at approximately 11 months.

Jimmy gave great advice, I as well agree she is to young to take. At that age she really should only be out for about a half hr. Also not pointed out is in the woods or forest no matter where you live lurk bugs and parasites she could pick up and if picked up and not caught in time could kill her. I'm assuming she has all her puppy shots by now? I would wait a few more months to take her out. Better safer while she is young so you can enjoy many years with her.

Thanks a lot, guys! That really helped me decide. I have never been on the trail we're planning to trek so it's still difficult to say if it's light or strenuous. I suppose I shouldn't take my chances there. Also, bugs I did not take into consideration! She's had her shots, yes, but that really tipped the scale. I once lost a puppy to a tick-borne disease and I don't want to go through something like that again. Thanks, Jennifer. I'll calm down and wait. Will try to look around for shorter, less structured nature trips for her though...

Oh, and don't worry, Jimmy, I don't think we'll be getting her a backpack at all anytime soon. We'll wait 'til she's just about her full size

im glad you are going to wait, our girl Sierra i swear looks at something on our hikes and picks up parasites! they are also not cheap to clear up either.

for the time being you can look at all the great hiking threads here to tie you over till she is old enough

Yes, yes! I love clicking through the scrapbooks as well