When Ryan first adopted Yukon years ago, I thought he was crazy. I would have much rather had a golden retriever (I grew up with goldens, and my sister has one now), or an Aussie.
But, not only did Yukon grow on me — I fell in love with him. Not only was he sassy, stubborn, independent and goofy, he was also so spirited and high-energy! He had a big, bold personality and a love of adventures.
I came around to adoring our husky so, so much that, when Yukon sadly died, getting another husky was a no-brainer.
Which is how we ended up adopting Ochi.
One of the best parts of having a super active breed is being able to take it on adventures. We never hesitated to take Yukon on all the adventures, and we are doing the same for Ochi!
Of course… taking your dog on adventures requires a lot of planning, preparation, training… and gear.
We’ve spent the last few years as dog owners learning how to acclimate our pups to outdoor adventures, and outfitting them with all the supplies they need to stay safe and happy while hiking and camping.
SHOP OUTDOORS DOG GEAR
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So, to preface this: 90% of the following list is products from one of our favorite dog brands, Ruffwear. None of this is sponsored and while some of the links below are affiliate links, I’m not being paid to say any of the following. Ryan and I just genuinely love Ruffwear, and it’s our go-to brand when we’re outfitting our huskies.
DOG HARNESSES + PACKS
When we first got Yukon, we outfitted him for his adventures by strapping him into a Ruffwear Front Range Day Pack for the hiking part, and then we would switch out his day pack for his everyday harness — the Ruffwear Front Range Dog Harness — for camp.
We did that for a few seasons until we found a better option!
Last summer, we upgraded Yukon (and, therefore, now Ochi) to the Ruffwear Palisades Pack, which we highly recommend for anyone looking to backpack with their dog. One of our biggest issues with the Front Range Day Pack is the tendency of the harness to slide off to either side if the saddlebags aren’t perfectly counter-balanced. The Palisades Pack allows for a little more flexibility in weight distribution because the harness has three chest straps rather than the traditional two, and the saddle bags clip down to the harness and cinch in to your dog’s torso.
The saddlebags on the Palisades Pack are also removable, which was the biggest selling point for us. Because we don’t let our dogs off-leash, the Palisades Pack’s design means we only need to pack one harness instead of two. The saddle bags have three pockets on each side, including special pockets designed for the (included) water bladder bags. There’s an external daisy chain on the pack so we can clip things (like poop bags and collapsible water bowls) within easy reach.
We still use the Front Range Day Pack for shorter day hikes, but the Palisades Pack is our go-to for overnight backpacking adventures.
While the Front Range Dog Harness is our everyday harness for walks and (we don’t use collars and prefer to use harnesses for the security and comfort), we have a Neewa Sled Pro Harness that we use for running and skijoring.
We also have and use a RuffWear Float Coat for all our water adventures. Huskies typically aren’t born with a love of water (Yukon was not an exception) and having a life jacket when we bring our dogs along for paddle trips makes us feel a lot more secure during lake time.
Make sure that — regardless of what method you use for harnessing or collaring your pup — your dog’s harness or collar has an ID tag on it! Ours has Ochi’s name, my and Ryan’s phone numbers, and our address on it. We also keep his Rabies and microchip tags on his harness as well.
DOG COLLARS AND LEASHES
While we don’t use a traditional dog collar, we do use our Garmin collar for outdoor adventures. We have the Garmin Alpha 100 (an older model of the one linked), which is equipped with a GPS tracker. Our Garmin collar was PRICY, but we love it more than more affordable options (like Fi or AirTags) because it has a long range and works via satellite — which means we can use it in areas without cell service.
We have a few leashes we use. Our main leash for hikes and backpacking trips is the Ruffwear Roamer Bungee Dog Leash. While the elasticity doesn’t do too much for us (our huskies are such pullers that the elastic has been fully stretched out after three years with this leash) we love the adjustable waist band part of the leash. It’s easy to clip this leash to our bodies for the hike, or to a tree/ branch/ heavy backpack once we’ve set up camp.
Sometimes, we’ll also bring a tie-out cable with us (mostly for car camping, not quite so much for backpacking) to give our pups a little more space to roam.
DOG FOOD AND HYDRATION SUPPLIES
We have both a water bottle and a few water bowls that we bring with us on adventures. First, we use this PETKIT dog water bottle when we’re hiking. We love it because it has a bowl built into it, and the bowl will reverse-flow — so any water that doesn’t get consumed can be dumped back into the bottle instead of pouring it out on the ground. It also fits perfectly into the side pocket of my hiking pack and helps counterbalance the personal water bottle I keep on one side of it.
We also have a few of Ruffwear’s Bivy bowls. These bowls collapse and they’re great for food and water. While we use the PETKIT water bottle for short breaks while hiking, we use a Bivy bowl at our campsite or for longer breaks.
DOG EMERGENCY SUPPLIES
While we don’t typically put booties on our pups in snowy conditions (they’re huskies!) we do carry a pair of Ruffwear Grip Trex dog boots with us on longer hikes just in case. We often use them on hot paved surfaces or on walks around down where there may be glass or other unsafe litter.
We also pack a Mountain Dogware Pack-A-Paw Rescue Harness with us. While we’ve never used it (knock on wood), we decided it was a good investment after the incident at the hot springs.
We don’t carry a dog-specific first aid kit, but only because we know several of the supplies we keep in our personal first aid kit are dog-friendly. If you don’t carry dog-friendly first aid supplies in your personal first aid kit, though, I’d highly recommend getting a dog-specific first aid kit, like this one from Adventure Medical.
We also (of course) chip our pups. Our vet placed a HomeAgain microchip in Yukon when we adopted him, and Ochi came to us with a shelter-implanted 24Petwatch chip.
SHOP OUTDOORS DOG GEAR
Listed products may include affiliate links
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Do you have a pup? If so, let me know what fun adventures you’ve shared in the comments!
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