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Our Favorite Adventure Dog Walking Gear

adventure dog walks

adventure gear

 

Now that you’ve scoped out our favorite Adventure Walk trails, it’s time gear up! We treat our Adventure Walks like hikes (because they basically are). As such, we like to come prepared with water, snacks and durable dog gear. It also doesn’t hurt to have a towel in the trunk in case someone comes back muddy.

Car Gear

Since most of these trails require a bit of a drive, it’s important to make sure pups are comfortable and safe for the ride. We require every dog to wear a seat belt and we like to have seat covers in the event of a particularly muddy walk or car sick pup (we won’t name names!). A good seat cover also helps keep pups secure in the backseat.

Seat Belts

Seat belt attachments, like these, are super easy to use. You just clip one end to the dog’s harness (see below for more on harnesses) and buckle the other end into the seat belt receptacle, just as you’d buckle in yourself.

You could also get a specific car harness, like the Sleepypod Clickit Sport Crash-Tested Dog Car Harness or SlowTon Car Harness.

dog sitting in car wearing a harness and a seatbelt
Harris buckled in and ready for an Adventure

Seat Covers and Barriers

In general, we like bench-style seat covers with an added barrier more than hammock-style seat covers. The hammock-style seat covers tend to droop at the barrier, making it easy for dogs to try to climb over them.

bench-style car seat cover for back seat
bench-style car seat cover
hammock-style car seat cover
hammock-style car seat cover
Our favorite bench-style seat covers:
Our favorite barriers to use with bench-style seat covers: 
Our favorite hammock-style seat covers:  

Adventure gear

Pet Water Bottles and Bowls

Water breaks are important on longer walks, particularly as the weather starts heating up. We’ll usually bring a big water bottle just for the dogs, but these water bottle/dish combos are great if you want to pack light.

portable dog water bowls
Rita and Desi taking a water break

Our favorite dog water bottles:

Our favorite collapsible water dishes: (Just make sure to bring enough water for you and your dog!)

  • Bonza – one big water dish
  • SLSON – two smaller water dishes

Harnesses

The Weiss Walkie is our “official” leash. We chose to equip our walkers with these leashes, specifically, because they double as harnesses when attached to a dog’s collar. When the dog pulls, the Walkie applies pressure around the dog’s middle, as opposed to its neck, thus gently correcting them.

While Walkies are great for walking, we ask clients to have their pup in a regular harness for the car ride, as these work best with our seat belt attachments. 

For medium to large dogs, we recommend:

Freedom No-Pull Harness with Double Connecting Leash. This is the absolute best harness for pullers. It comes with a leash that attaches to both the chest and back area for ultimate control. The leash it comes with is pretty short, though. We suggest getting the Euro leash to go with it, instead: Euro Dog Leash (Double Connection)

PETSAFE Easy Walk Harness. This is our second favorite harness for medium to large dogs, but only when the leash is attached to the chest. Some people flip the harness so the leash clips on the back. This basically turns your dog into a sled dog, which does nothing to help with pulling. One other important thing to note: we do not recommend this harness for nervous dogs. It’s possible for a dog to back out of it or step a leg through, especially if the harness isn’t fitted properly

Julius-K9 IDC Powerharness. Works just as well as an Easy Walk, but pricier because it looks fancier.

For small dogs, we recommend:

Harnesses that clip at the back as opposed to the chest. Small dogs tend to trip over the leash if it’s connected to the chest.

dog wearing harness
Chance wearing harness with leash attached at back

Some of our favorite small dog harnesses:

Leashes

When it comes to leashes, we have one big rule of thumb: no retractable leashes. Ever. They are, quite literally, the worst. It’s important to have firm control over your dog, especially on an unfamiliar trail. Retractable leashes are way too easy to drop, as you can’t wrap the leash around your wrist for multiple points of contact. (We teach our walkers to do this in training.) 

Some of our favorite leashes include:

Mighty Paw HandleX2. It has an extra handle near the bottom of the leash. Great for firm control and leash training.

Cycle Dog No-Stink Anti-Bacterial. We love Cycle Dog in general. The leashes are made from recycled bike tires. They’re super durable and waterproof. Plus, they won’t stink if they get wet.

Hands-free bungee leashes, like the Tuff Mutt Hands Free Bungee Leash or EZYDOG Zero Shock Absorbing Leash. We don’t recommend these for everyday city walks (not enough control), but they’re great for adventure trails or jogs. It connects around your waist, and the bungee has just enough give to let your pet chase stuff without jerking you around.

Misc. Human Stuff

Sometimes, we’re more high maintenance than the dogs. We like to wear backpacks on longer walks in case we need snacks, sun screen, first aid kits, treats, a place to stash layers, etc. Target has some good well-priced options:

They also have this cute travel first aid kit that comes with bandaids, triple antibiotic ointment, Hydrocortisone anti-itch ointment and hand sanitizer: Welly First Aid Kit

And finally, remember: if a dog poops in the woods and no one is around to see it, you still have to pick it up. Seriously. And since these trails don’t have many garbage cans laying around, something like this poop bag carrier (modeled by handsome Grouper) can be super helpful:

The Original Dog Krap Carrier, from $13.99 on Etsy

dog carrying satchel holding supplies during adventure
Grouper carrying poop bags in his Dog Krap Carrier

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