Does your dog use a doggy backpack on walks/hikes?!

I have two boxers and have been trying to find backpacks for them forever! We've bought and returned over 6 in the last month! Finally, we stepped it up a notch and purchased some high quality ones ($75 a piece!). They still aren't fitting correctly..or maybe it's just me. Ugh.

They are supposed to sit more forward on a dog, correct? Not in the middle of their back, right? Also, my male dog urinates on his back strap? This has been a common issue that we probably won't be able to get around, I suppose. Also, how tight should the strips be exactly? I find if they're looser, the back moves a lot. If they're tight, I'm worried they'll cause sores?

I was just hoping to find some sort of pack, that allowed them to carry their own water, bowls, and bags on our walks. We also plan to use them on our camping trips, if we can ever find them that work properly!

I'm not sure if you guys use these in the UK or not, but if anybody has any experience out there...please let me know! Thanks!

Can't say I have ever seen a dog with a backpack so not much help here I'm afraid! I think if I put one on my dog she'd roll around until it came off and then try to eat it

I must admit, if I was having as much trouble finding a good one, I'd probably consider just carrying them in my own back pack. Whenever we go for long walks or train journeys I have a Molly bag that I keep all her stuff in. I guess it might not be so practical if you have a lot of dogs though?

I have often gone for walks for several hours at a time and have never needed to carry anything for the dogs bar my keys, phone, lead, FA Kit. But if I did think I needed to carry anything I would carry it myself.

I have a friend whose three GSDs all wear backpacks when he takes them out into the Scottish mountains - they carry food, water, first aid kit - all sorts. I know he struggled finding ones that were long lasting and so made his own.

I use one for Yiannis. he carries his own water, bowl (assuming we're going somewhere there isn't a lake or puddle to drink from), FA kit, etc. I carry spare leads, keys and phone.

The other dogs never took to them but I never had a problem getting them to fit properly.

Having said that, many of them in the UK are not very sturdy and a decent quality one can be expensive. So maybe do what Kirsty has said someone else did and consider making one yourself??

I do - and use the Ruffwear Approach packs

I have a 3 Peaks one from PAH. Generally the dogs dont wear it as they are normally off lead but I have used it on occasions round dogs shows/game fairs. The 2 boys dont mind wearing it at all, although it tends to make them a bit too warm.

I have an Ezydog one for our Malamute and it fits her very well. I've had an Outward Hound one before but I found it moved a bit.

Thank you so much for your replies! I'm happy to find I'm not the only one having some difficulty. I got a small Ruffwear today, it seems to do the trick. Sizing seems to run big - but this one fits both dogs and stays put!

We're going camping in a few weeks, we'll see how it does then I suppose!

I don't know anything about packs for dogs but I found this cute photo of dog with one which I hope to insert here. Maybe you can see some detail in the photo that will help you?

nope...can't work out how to get a photo here so I'll put it into Photobucket and here's the link (I hope)..

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v355/annieher/