A Summary of Hiking With a Dog

This blog post are dedicated to everyone out there who likes to travel with their four legged friends and to all of you who are intrigued to try it out!

Even before we got Vattie we said that when we get a dog, that dog will follow us on our travels and hikes! And it has been a great experience for all of us, but not all experiences are of the sort you want to cheer for and here we will tell you about our different experiences and how we handled the different situations.

Let us start from the begining. Our priority was to get a good insurance for our dog. We actualy thougth that it was of great importance that our dog got a good insurance. At first we started to look around but we had a hard time to find out if the different insurances would be active abroad. But after we had been in the local paper an insurance company for domesticated animals contacted us and said that they gladly would sponsor our dog throughout our project! So far we have not been needing the insurance but it is a great safety net! We are very greatful for our sponsors; Sveland djurförsäkringar!

Many times we where approached by dogs without their masters and most of the time it was a scary experience. The dogs runned towards us and barked and we were scared of beeing attacked. Pretty fast we learned some commands (in the right language) we could use to get rid of these dogs. In these situations we were happy to have an insurance!

But accidents can happen and we were careful while walking long distances and listend to our boddies. But mostly we listened to Vattie when to rest, when to play and when to walk. And that was our way to success! Only one time we had to stop for a few days because Vattie had got a smal crack in her footpad. Maybe it was luck that it only happened one time during all these months, but we like to think that it was thanks to our precautions and good foresight. And of course Vatties sponsored equipment!

Hurtta helped us with the equipment we needed for Vattie and after getting her measurements we could fit the clothes, collars and harnesses after her bodyshape. During our hike we traversed through all different seasons and weathers and Hurtta made sure we had all equipment we needed! All products are holding up with good quality and we are very satisfied.

Various times we used the different equipments to avoid healthproblems that otherwise could have occured. For example; when we stoped for rest when it was cooler weather, Vattie used her thermal coat or her sleepingbag to keep a good temperature. Or when it rained all day long and she used her raincoat. When we were struck by the intense heat in the south, Vattie had a good use of her shoes so she would not burn her paws on the pavement.

We were not ready for the intense heat that struck us either in Basel in Schweiz or in France and Vattie was not interested in hiking. She only wanted to lie down in the shadow or sunbathe and of course swim every time we had the chance. But after consulting with our sponsor we got a cooling harness for Vattie to use so she could keep a better and more even temperature in the heat.

From the start we knew that it was important for Vattie to get enough protein and fat to be able to keep up with us and not to hurt herself. We contacted Brit Sweden that specialize in dogfood with good qualities and without unnatural preservatives. Even if Brit did not have supliers in every country we where in they still sponsered us with all the dogfood. Since we ordered the food online we kept a good contact with them and it made it easier since we always changed our delivery adress. We had som delivery problems while in France but Brit showed excelent service and contacted the different delivery services to solve the problems we were facing! A big thank you to Brit Sweden and Brit Belgium.

One problem while hiking or traveling in another matter is that all the dog stuff takes a lot of place in the bags and the weight will increase. So you have to plan carefully so you have everything you need and see to it so you can get what you need while you are on the move. And dont forget to bring som medical equipment as well. Just like for yourself it can be good to bring something for an upset stomach, we used something called Canikur for Vattie and it works wonders! We also brought eye drops with saline to cleanse Vatties eyes if she'd get dirt in them. Since we were hiking accross big areas we also had medicine against worms and other parasites that we used periodically to prevent sickness and infections. Other than that we had a first aid kit adapted for dogs with us all the time.

And don't forget the importance of having passport and all the pappers in order and it is good if you have a hard copy of all your documents and even copies on a memory stick or online so you can access them if something happens to your real credentials or hardcopies. We thought it was a good idea to keep the hardcopies in our first aid kit if something would happen to us. If a stranger would find us and use the first aid kit we have, they can at the same time find out who we are!

Even if you have all this and take different precautions there is still one thing that can make everything much safer; train with your dog and learn usefull commands. One thing that will come back and bite you in your ass is if you stop training. To use your commands right you can prevent an accident to happen so it is good to always be ready to use them. Many times we encountered mountain bikers along the trails and in those situations we had a few helpful commands depending on where Vattie was in relation to the bike; "stay", "come here", "jump up". We have also had good use of "right" and "left", but also "wrong way". We noticed that we used som commands more often than others, and after a while we realized that we had to focus more on some of those commands that we used more seldome.

Before we started our travel we had alot of enviromental training with Vattie which favoured both Vattie and us in the end. The only time we noticed that Vattie was not comfortable was when we walked up the first watch towers in Germany. Even if Vattie couldn't see how far up we where she could somehow sence it and started to shake. We walked down with her and encouraged her every time she tried to go further up and soon she walked up the watch towers herself, not always to the top but she always have the enthusiasm to explore.

Basic enviromental training usually involve socially crowded areas like a park, city centre etc. It is never wrong to train your dog with public transportations like busses and trains. And teach your dog to be comfortable with a transportation cage. Since we often slept in our tent we even did som training in our back yard before starting our hike. We wanted her to be comfortable sleeping in a tent and in a sleepingbag so it would not be a completely new thing for her. And lucky for us she loved it from the start!

During our hike we have got a lot of encuragment and prais for how well behaved dog we have, but honestly some of the times we thought; we need to train more on this and that. It is important to us that the people we encounter thinks Vattie is well behaved and that we are doing a good job with her. Not to mention that we are responsible and respectful towards the people we meet especially if they themself have dogs. Why this is important to us is because this is how we would like to see other people and their dogs.

To get the best experience it is important that both you and your dog is comforable and like to do what you are doing while you travel! Have a safe trip!