Training Your Dog for a Multi-Day Walking Adventure

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Have you decided to set off on a long walking journey with your dog? To complete it successfully, it's not enough to find all the geographical information, dining options, accommodation, and tourist attractions.

For both you and your dog to sustain demanding levels of physical exertion, you'll need to ensure a shared training period over flat, hilly, and mountainous terrain with a backpack on both your shoulders and your dog's back.

Training your dog for a walking adventure will therefore test your own fitness too.

How athletic is your dog?

Is your dog an athletic dog, or could it become one? Are you used to exercising together, or until now has your routine been limited to walks around the block?

Is your dog's breed naturally suited to this type of endurance, or are you asking too much? Is your dog in good health, or does more intense movement occasionally cause limping?

These simple questions, properly discussed with your trusted veterinarian, will give you valuable guidance on how to train your dog for a walking journey, and whether it's even advisable to travel together.

Gradual training with progressive weight in the pack

Training your dog for a walking journey of over 10 km, sharing the load with them, means using a gradual approach. This is the advice of canine educators and mushers (handlers of sleds and dogs harnessed to humans or bicycles).

A constant yet thoughtful progression in both distance and weight, including complete rest days, recovery time, and proper nourishment.

For example, Czechoslovak Wolfdog handlers, who train their dogs for work trials of 40km and beyond on bicycles in a single day, typically start with 5 km routes with dogs not accustomed to consistent, progressive movement.

Czechoslovak Wolfdogs have excellent endurance and love long distances by nature and temperament. Starting from 5 km, you gradually progress towards 10 km and beyond.

Vary your routes, from flat terrain to mountainous sections, to accustom both your bodies to the different physical demands that varied environments present.

Walking 20km on asphalt requires different effort than a backcountry route with 20kg on your shoulders and 5-7 kg on your dog's back.

How to protect your dog's stomach during a trek

Training your dog for a walking journey and sharing significant physical effort over terrain with varying elevation, slopes, and ground conditions requires careful attention to two elements: meal management and paw care.

Veterinarians advise against exercising your dog immediately after eating because, particularly for certain breeds, the risk of gastric torsion is very high.

Manage your dog's water intake with proper caution, especially if your dog has just finished intense exercise, to prevent them from swallowing excessive air while drinking.

The widely accepted practice is to allow two hours of rest between meals and exercise, and about ten minutes between the end of physical exertion and water access.

During long journeys, however, meals will likely occur in the morning before departure and in the evening upon return.

Remember: you won't necessarily have access to veterinary care in every remote area you'll traverse.

For this reason, it's advisable to both prevent health problems with your dog and to have completed a veterinary first aid course before departure.

How to protect your dog's paws during a trek

Regarding paw care, check the paw pads daily: abrasions, cuts, splinters, and thorns can all cause varying degrees of lameness.

Feel the joints and observe and listen to your dog to gauge as accurately as possible whether they're doing well or becoming fatigued.

During the journey, you'll gauge your dog's fatigue level by observing the position of their tongue: if it's shifted to the side of their jaw, your dog urgently needs a rest break.

If the tips of their ears feel warm and swelling has appeared under their eyes (dark circles), you must let them rest because they're reaching their limit. If you can't stop immediately, allow them recovery time in the following days.

After intense effort, your dog needs at least one full rest day to recover their strength, so when planning your travel days, properly account for your companion's needs.

Pack in your backpack any pain relief tablets for joints, both for yourself and your dog, and paw balm in case the pads become too worn from exertion and cause your companion pain.

If you encounter snowy terrain, dog booties are available commercially to protect their limbs from freezing: don't dismiss them as a fashionable excess. Mushers use them too in snow competitions with their dogs.

Ice is abrasive and the risk of frostbite is always present, even in dogs considered lovers of cold temperatures.

Summary

Training your dog for a walking journey can be achieved, in essence, by focusing on:

• gradual increase in walking distance over a three to six month period before departure;
• gradual increase in distance with backpacks on both your shoulders and your dog's back;
• complete veterinary check-up of your dog before departure;
• prudent management of food resources and meals to avoid burdening or harming your dog during the walking sections.

Happy trails!

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