I know that some dogs have a hard time when above tree line with there paws getting beat up. Do we start small and see if his paws will get tough, or do you put dog booties on? What is good to take with on hikes for if the paws crack or start bleeding?

There are a few factors before really being able to tell, how old is your dog?
Have you gone hiking with him before? Has he already built up caluses from walking on pavement?
Has he ever worn a pack before?

It really depends on his current age and condition, if he's just a puppy I wouldnt bring him hiking yet. They need to have tough paws.
Kelly

He is 6 months
Him and I have gone on hikes before, we haven't had any problems, he has done just fine.
He doesn't get to walk on pavement, there isn't any where we are
I haven't had a pack on him yet

i know what it takes to get to tree line here in CO. but not sure for you, at 6 months your pup should not be out on long walks/hikes. and he should not be carrying a back yet. what is the ground that you will be hiking on made up of, rock, grass, gravel? dog booties are always good to have on hand as is mushers secret.

I would not be going on any super long hikes at that age either.
A backpack as a rule of thumb is about 1 year. Then they can carry their own water and snacks if you want.
We brought our young one in the woods a lot, but never in rocky terrain. She walks on pavement a lot and developed good calusses especially now that shes a year and a half.
You will also find his energy increase at about a year and he will be more able to keep up on a long hike.
I second what Jen said about the booties. You should also have vet tape in case a split does occur.

I've always wanted to try this stuff... http://www.tuffoot.com/


Other than that, just getting him on as many different surfaces as possible will help a lot. My dogs have never had pad issues on rock, only on snow. If he has been out already and done fine I wouldn't worry about it much. The peaks with lots of sharp volcanic rock are the worst. Not familiar with the geology up there, our peaks usually have another route on them that avoids veins of that stuff. I carry a roll of vet tape and some big gauze pads in case I do need to wrap one up. For me boots have been nothing but a pain to deal with. Might as well take a $5 and toss it up in the wind.


As far as the age thing, I took my dog out regularly at six months old. He did 5 miles round trip at most the first couple of times, but then I stopped worrying about it. The impact of barely moving 1-2mph isn't enough to do serious damage in my opinion. You'll know when he's getting tired but you'll want to head back before he shows it.




And welcome to our forum! Let me be the first to make a comment about off leash dogs of that age. All in sarcasm of course.

stumbles wrote:

He doesn't get to walk on pavement, there isn't any where we are

Now that is where I want to be!

Welcome! I had an uncle that lived in Big Piney for most of his life. He was the principal and later superintendent of schools.

Having been all over CO and that part of WY, I seem to recall more volcanic rock and sage brush up there than in CO.

Never hiked with dogs though so I don't have much to offer. Eddy is the resident expert on it though.

The terrain is just a little bit of everything on the short hikes. The backpacking trips will be going above the tree line at times through out the trip. That is where the worry about the rough terrain comes in. Most of the trails below tree line are loose dirt and some hard packed ground. Should there be any worry about crossing stream where I would have to rock hop? The dog pack will wait till he is around a year old.

I live on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere lot's of room for blaze. Im like 15 min from the mountains

As long as the rocking hoping lets Blaze hop behind you you should be fine, if not make sure the stream is not a fast moving one and let Blaze walk in the water, some rather hop rocks and others will go in the water to cross, up to the dog really. sounds like you have a fun trip planned. you can try the dog booties on the rougher terrain and see if they stay on or just hope his pads build up a tough skin, nothing worse then a pad cut on a hike.....

have you checked out Eddys post on first aid kits and such in this section?

I will have to check out the post on first aid kits. I have got may trips planed as soon as we can get back into the mountains. We have got a good a mount of snow now. That's for the help.

do you plan on any snowshoeing trips? waiting for our snow to build up now!

I do plain on doing so. I have to wait for more snow tho. What should i watch for with Blaze