Reddit reviews Ruffwear - Palisades Multi-Day Backcountry Pack for Dogs, Red Currant, Medium
We found 5 Reddit comments about Ruffwear - Palisades Multi-Day Backcountry Pack for Dogs, Red Currant, Medium. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
FULL-FEATURED, BACKCOUNTRY PACK: The Palisades Pack includes hydration bottles and spacious saddlebags ideal for multi-day backcountry adventures with your canine companion. The modified Web Master Harness, with four attachment points, provides load stability and comfortable weight distribution. The reflective trim helps you keep an eye on your dog, even in low-light visibility environments.REMOVABLE SADDLEBAGS AND LOAD COMPRESSION: Easily remove the saddlebags from the pack to lighten your dog's load and give him more freedom of movement at rest stops or for water crossings. The pack also features a load compression system to ensure the load is secure while traveling.SECURE LEASH ATTACHMENT AND PADDED HANDLE: The Palisades Pack offers a secure leash attachment point via the single-piece, anodized aluminum V-ring, making it easy for you to attach a leash to the pack when you want to keep your dog close. The padded assistance handle makes it easy to help your dog up and over obstacles.COLLAPSIBLE HYDRATION BOTTLES: The Palisades Pack includes 2 collapsible, BPA-free hydration bottles, each with a 1 liter capacity, to ensure your dog has the water necessary for wherever your adventures may take you.PALISADES PACK SIZING: The Palisades Pack is available in 3 sizes (see images for sizing chart): Small: 22-27 inches (56-69 cm); Medium: 27-32 inches (69-81 cm); Large/X-Large: 32-42 inches (81-107 cm). Choose the right size based on your dog's girth. Girth can be determined by measuring around the widest part of the rib cage. For in between sizes, choose the smallest size.
Here's some of the gear I bought:
hands free leash
Boots + socks
Collapseable Bowls
pack and harness
That's the only hands free leash I've ever tried but it's worked well. I'd recommend it.
Boots - my dog got used to them after a really funny 1-5 min adjustment period every time I put them on. The downside to the boots was they'd fall off and if the dog was heeling we'd have to back track to find the boots. So now I only use them on sharp rocky terrain or grated metal stairs/bridges. Definitely nice to have the piece of mind that if your pup cuts his foot you can throw them on and protect his feet.
Collapseable bowls - for short trips these are great. Using daily for months they became a little gross, leaky and some threads started coming undone. Now we just pack out cheap Tupperware bowls that I have around the house.
Pack and harness -. I have mixed feelings on this one. I actually went through 3 harnesses. Mostly because my pup would chew them while wearing them at first. Not the fault of the gear (and he no longer does it) Luckily Ruffwear was great to deal with and never made me pay full price for a replacement. Though on one harness I did get some wear and tear where the leash attaches. He also got a little raw in his front armpits where the straps went around his chest. We added some moleskin to the straps and that seemed to help.
Overall I'm happy with the pack, but if I were to do it again I'd strongly consider getting a Groundbird Custom Pack. I saw a handful on the trail and they looked great and I wonder if the custom fit might have helped with the rawness in the armpits. Also the same price as the Ruffwear pack.
>Also, how did you train the pup that pack=good trail behavior?
Reinforcement mainly. When we hiked we kept moving, no playing, no picking up sticks (Mac loves sticks so much they called him LumberMac on the trail). For breaks and at the end of day the pack comes off and he's free to be a pet instead of a trail dog. :). And nowadays he gets super excited everytime he sees the pack come out.
Also, another thing I couldn't find details on was puppy claws on inflatable sleeping pads. My dog walked on many of the most popular pads during our hike and none popped, so that's good to know.
Hiking the Appalachian Trail is about as demanding on gear as it gets, so these were pretty extreme circumstances.
If you're planning a weekend hike vs a long distance hike I'd probably give you different sets of advice, but the #1 piece of advice is to always put your pup's well being first. Remember they'll run themselves into the ground trying to keep up with you.
Feel free to ask any questions you have. I'm happy to help puppies become trail dogs. ( :
There's a lot of backpacks/saddlebag options out there for dogs. Iuse this one for my 60lb black lab mix. I've taken her on a few overnights and one 3 day trip with it and it worked great. My only compliant is that this pack has no leash clips and I usually walk her with a harness so they kind of interfere. Also if you don't weigh out each side really equally it will start to shift to the heavier side. But that may be me not having it adjusted right...
I'm thinking of upgrading to Ruffwear which has the rear clip and looks a lot more durable for longer trips hope to take with my dog. People really seem to like the ruffwear gear. but I don't have any personal experience with it.
She has a small pack that I bought at pet smart but after 15ish trips with it, it ripped above the zipper. I finally bought her a Ruffwear Palisades Pack http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005OTYE3Q/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1419083776&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SY200_QL40#
For $100 on sale. This pack is way nice and she is worth it
His is pretty good, but I prefer Ruffwear's Palisade model. The harness and saddlebags are connected on his pack, whereas the Palisade model has detachable bags (good if you're doing some bushwhacking/backcountry adventures).
Here's my girl with it on: http://i.imgur.com/iFq3P3a.jpg
Quality stuff, use the harness separate a lot for running with her, but the pack itself is well balanced. She's held 2 liters of her own water, food, and treats while in the backcountry with no problem. Most the time she likes having her own pack because she knows she'll be going out on an adventure and gets super excited.
It's a bit more expensive than the approach packs, but you can often find the Palisade model for sale for under 100 bucks. I got mine during an REI sale for 80 bucks. Here's an Amazon link for reference though: https://www.amazon.com/Ruffwear-Palisades-Multi-Day-Backcountry-Currant/dp/B005OTYE3Q
We don't live in Colorado (yet, we actually just started to apply for jobs out there and hope to move to the Denver-area later this year. We've already mapped out the drive and done some brainstorming about where we'll stay on the road since from where we live (Pittsburgh), it's about a 24 hour drive, so let me know if you need any help on the research we've done on that), but do camp (in OH, PA, and MD), hike, and road trip with our 1.5 year old Golden Retriever pretty frequently when the weather is warm. I'll discuss what we have for our dog's set ups.
Road Trips
Camping
Hiking
Additionally, for camping, I'd strongly recommend doing some camping training in your home before taking your dog camping for real. We set our tent up in our living room and slept in it at home a couple of times with our dog just to let him get a feel for what things would be like before we went outside camping for the first time. Lots of treats were involved to show him that being calm in the tent was a good thing. Also start small. The first time we took our dog camping was at a campsite in Ohio about 20 minutes from our parents' house. We made sure it was just one night and that we had an easy-out in case Summit wasn't ready and started to freak out or disrupt the other people camping. Everything went perfectly but if Summit hadn't been having a good time, we could have quickly packed up and left and slept at either of our parents' houses where he would have felt more comfortable.
In terms of hiking, also start small. Start with shorter, easier hikes that take maybe 30-60 minutes. Then work up to longer, steeper, more challenging hikes.
Finally, for road tripping, especially in places that you don't know as well, I strongly recommend taking a look at bringfido.com and dogfriendly.com. These websites will allow you to easily look up different dog-friendly establishments (such as restaurants, hotels, parks, activities, etc.) in the areas that you are traveling.