It definitely felt like I aged 10 years in a few minutes this am. I must have looked like a complete crazy person. My neighbors don't know me because I moved up here mid-winter, and only recently has it warmed up enough for chance encounters with neighbors outside. I went running outside at 10:30 am with 2 leashes, 1 dog, a sample bag of cat food, wearing Christmas themed pj pants, a bright yellow Georgia Tech hoodie sweatshirt, no glasses so i can't see, randomly shouting "HAVE YOU SEEN A LITTLE DOG RUNNING AROUND!" at my neighbors.
Both of my girls are microchipped. I know there is a lot of debate about collars. I fear, especially with the martingale style, that mine will strangle themselves if they get caught on something when I'm not around. In this case, I'm glad Callie didn't have a collar on because the rungs on the porch are so close together, she may have caught the collar without realizing it & jumped & hung herself. I do worry that they will get out & somebody will find them but not know to check for a microchip, but even dogs with collars can lose them while running around loose. So I don't think there is a right or wrong answer for when to collar them. Mine don't usually dart out of doors, so I don't worry about it too often.
As for the porch; that will not be accessible to them if I can not supervise them from now on. Fortunately I will only be here for a couple more weeks, so I won't worry about adding chicken wire or anything. I'm already saving up for a basenji proof fence for the new house though. Callie is quite the escape artist when she has motivation (clearly!)
Backpack brands/sizes
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I'm putting together a wish list for Cooper, and I've been thinking about training him to use a backpack for hikes or for fun around the house. He also walks the half mile to the post office with me every day, and now that I've usually got the baby in a front carrier for the trip, I sometimes run out of room to put the mail. It would be awesome if he could carry it home for me in a backpack. I think he'd like the idea of doing the extra work, too. Our walking route is boring!
We live in a little town and everyone stares at us anyway. Cooper's one of the few dogs in the area who gets walked regularly, plus he has that cute little basenji prance and wears sweatshirts when it's cold. So I'm not worried about getting funny looks for that.
I searched the threads for backpacks and saw a few pics, but no specific brands mentioned that work really well.
Any recommendations on brands and sizing for a 23 pounder?
Thanks!
Ruth -
I used to hike frequently with mine, and considered getting them backpacks so they could haul some of their own water. However, when I did research, the recommendation was not to give them more than 10% of their weight to carry, which would be less than 2 lbs each for my girls. I decided I could carry that 3.5 pounds of water myself quite easily.
So I don't have any recommendations, but if all he is carrying is mail, I think any of them would be fine.
