Question for those who hike with their dog(s)

[mccallum]

What is your average mileage on a hike with the Dog?

What is the average speed/how fast do you coverr the distance?
Thanks!

[hummingbird]

Our dogs stay with us. If we go slow so do they, if we travel fast so do they. They go on a lot of hikes with us and they are used to walking so it's no problem for them.

[bsmit212]

I would say agerage milage is about 7-8 miles a day, but She has done a 13 mile day with me before and probably could have gone father. We normally cover about 2-3 miles an hour.

I will also say though that my pup runs with me daily and is a very fit dog. Same as with people, take into concerderation their fittness level when planning hikes.

[Grandpa]

Tank can still outwalk me, despite his old age (or maybe it is my old age). I do about 2 mph average, faster downhill, much slower uphill. However, he can only carry enough food for about 3-4 days so our trips are limited on that.

[ghostdog]

When my boy was young and the weather was cool he could hike as fast as I could and pull me up hills with his leash. He was smart enough to know not to pull when we were going downhill. He could easily go ten miles in rough country, off trail and still be ready for more.

Now that he is 16 years old he can make it about two miles and does it fairly slow. Sometimes I have to carry him for long distances. He still insists on going and loves it out there.





The weather has to be fairly cool or they can get into serious trouble.

[Theo]

It would depend on the dog. My last hiking dog I had was a Siberian Husky/Malamute mix. Let's just say there weren't too many people who could out walk her.

[JeepThrills]

Our vet said that it can be really hard on a large dog's joints to walk over about five miles a day. After our Golden turned nine we shortened his walks to about two miles and let him go at his own slower pace.

[Tubby]

We don't usually do anything more than a day hike with our Husky. She can easily out distance me if she wants too so I have had to make sure she knows to stay close. She is chipped and will stay with me when hiking. She is very protective too but I can't justify carrying extra water and food for her when we go out.

[Hikenhunter]

Copper at ten years old, and I do up to 10 miles a day with the norm being 6 to 8 miles. we can do 8 miles in about 4to 5 hrs.

[ppine]

Younger dogs in decent shape can go much further than you can. I have done lots of 25 mile days in the mountains on horses and mules and had dogs along. They sure enough get tired though. I took my 15 year old Border Collie out for 8 miles in the mountains last week and that is about all she can handle now. Younger dogs run back and forth on the trail to keep track of everyone. My old dog just follows me everywhere.

edit- I remember ranch dogs that work for a living and follow horses all day. Most them were pretty worn out by 7 or 8 years of age and tended to have a lot of arthritis.