I'm looking to get Appa a palisades pack, but I wasn't sure about sizing. Ruffwear lists their medium as 26"-36" girth. Appa is now right at 27", being only 5.5 months old, do expect him to outgrow it (adding 10" of girth) before he's full grown or am I safe to get a medium and use that for years to come?

I think you'll be fine with a medium, unless you end up with a 100 lb husky like my Storm.
Ginger is 58 lbs and she has a medium with room if she ever got fat.

Backcountry K9 will be having a 4th of July sale with Ruff Wear products on sale at 25% off starting Monday. I'm not 100% sure they will have the Palisades Pack on sale, but you might want to wait.

http://www.backcountryk9.com/Backpacks.aspx

Larges at Ruffwear are HUGE- you have to keep in mind all their products aren't meant for small dogs. My dog is about 53lbs, 23.5 inches tall and has a big chest- a medium is still lose on him, in all reality he should wear a small probably at the loosest setting. If your dog is going to be average size, I'd do medium.

I thought we kinda settled on Appa being Malamute. I would go large and just deal with the slack until he fits. You won't be seriously loading him anyway until it does fit right. A large fits both of my Mals fine, just fine.

I just just thinking the other day if we had all decided if appa was a mal or not....

a Med on Jack is pulled tight on the chest area and still lose, now a Med might work just fine for him but if he gets as big as eddys Mals, then a Lg might be the way to go.... you could get the med and resell it if he does out grow it.

other then the issues i have been having with the palisades pack i think it is a great pack and backcountry K-9 has been amazing with working with me to fix everything!

Well I just can't decide what he is. He's an Appa.

I was talking with my bro in law about getting this pack and he informed me he can get all RuffWear gear at 55% off through work! I'll do the med. and switch if he outgrows it.

rileyflorence wrote:

Well I just can't decide what he is. He's an Appa.

I was talking with my bro in law about getting this pack and he informed me he can get all RuffWear gear at 55% off through work! I'll do the med. and switch if he outgrows it.

Score!!

Ginger has a medium, and the belts are cinched almost all the way. She probably could fit the small if the belts were let out all the way. Ginger measures 28-29 in girth.

Storm has a large, and his girth measures 35-36 inches at the widest point, and he's 99 lbs. The packs on the large is bigger than the medium.

If you want, I could see if Storm can actually fit the medium if that'll help you decide what size to order?

Thanks for the offer, but I think with such a discount I'll just get the med and when/if he outgrows it I'll sell it and buy a large.

You'll have lots of use out of the medium! He may not even grow out of it until you need a new pack!

His pack should be here on Friday, just in time for the long weekend. I'm excited! Hopefully these stomach-woes will pass so we can go play outside with his new pack.

So, his pack got here, it fits great, and he does great with it. I do have one question though: getting his right front leg into the harness seems to be a bit of a chore. I put the harness over his head first, then I have to manually feed his leg through the loop. Is there an easier way? At first he didn't mind this process, but now it's getting to be a bit annoying to him...

Looks great on him! I don't have that pack but most harnesses require a leg or two be fed through, at least all of mine do.

That's how I get jacks on but I bend the right leg at the wrist and it slips on eaiser. It will take time for him to get used to it. I also find it better to put on the harness then snap on the pack when its full.

Nike is about 4.5 months and she's around 25 lbs. We're expecting her to end up around 45-50 lbs. What would you recommend for a size of harness?

till she is close to fully grown you might be better off with adjustable ones, im not much help in that area other then to say ruff wear does have one. but if your talking a X-back pulling one i would wait.
http://www.backcountryk9.com/Harnesses.aspx
i love the web master one, we have it cause it comes with the one back pack

Most harnesses come in the

-small
-medium
-large

Range.

Some have extra small and extra large options too.

Most have adjustable straps allowing you make it snug and comfortable on your pup.


You will more then likely need a Medium for a Husky, though to be 100% sure without trying one on in store you simply measure the girth of your pup.

You can measure the girth by finding the circumference of WIDEST part of your pup's Ribcage (generally right behind the front legs).

Most online retailers, like ruff wear, will give you an example of what size you should be using based on the girth.

~Chris~

ETA - LOVE LOVE LOVE our harness + pack too. Best money ever spent.

Check the webmaster harness by Ruff Wear. I have the small for Ginger and she's 51 lbs and she fits it with room to expand a little. It'll adjust down to a 22" girth so measure her girth now and if she fits the small now, she could fit the small for a while.