| Now that you found a good dog and have trained him / her, how do you care for it? The first thing you should do is bring your dog to your veterinarian for a physical. Let the veterinarian know what the dog is going to do and what kind of trail you'll be on. If your veterinarian does not think your dog would be a good candidate for the hike, then leave the dog home. It is better to miss your dog for a little while while you're hiking than to miss it forever because you didn't follow what the veterinarian said and then have the dog die on you.
Let me start this next paragraph by telling you about by medical background, I have been an EMT for 17 years and have tough first aid and CPR classes, I also took a dog first aid class.
 Before you go out on the trail get some dog first aid training. The Red Cross has a very good course in dog first aid. One of the volunteer fire departments offered this course and I found it to be very similar to a human first aid class. It covered every thing that you'll need to know to keep your dog healthy and well cared for. If you have any first aid training, you might be able to get by with a dog first aid book. I like and use Dog First Aid, A Field Guide to Emergency Care for the Outdoor Dog by Randy Acker, DVM. This book is small enough to carry with you at all times. It covers any emergency you could think of.
You should know how the dog acts when it is not feeling well, hurt or tired. You should also know your dogs resting pulse. To check your dog's pulse; Feel the chest behind the left elbow, count the beats in 15 seconds and multiply by four. My old dog Fritz had short hair and it was easy to find his pulse, with Duff''s long wired hair this winter I'm having a hard time finding his pulse. It takes a little practice. Taking a pulse is good to tell if your dog is stressed for some reason or is going into shock.
Being from Connecticut and living not far from Lyme CT, a town that got a distinct pleasure of having a disease named after it, Lyme disease is of concern. For my dog I use Frontline plus, this works for me. Whatever you do use some kind of flea and tick control.
Porcupines are my other concern. My veterinarian told me that porcupine quills have little barbs on the end and can pull at the tissue and let the other quills get slip under the skin more if just pulled out. He said that skin had to be held down and pulled tight to open up the hole that the quill is in, so it could be pulled out. This is very painful for the dog and should be tried only if you are far from a veterinarian. The one time I had to do it I used my thumb and forefinger to pull the skin tight and a small key chain pliers to pull the quills. From that point on I don't let my dog out of the tent or shelter without me going with him.
Snakebite is a very real hazard that you should be ready for. The first thing to do is try to slow the venom from getting into the dog's system, calm the dog down, immobilize and apply a loose tourniquet between the snakebite and the heart. Then get the dog to a veterinarian as fast as you can. A lot of Thru-hiker hand books have a list of veterinarians that are near the trail, if not, research what veterinarians are in area that you're going to be hiking.
I just added some things to my first aid kit, any well stocked backpacking first aid kit will do. The things that I added are; blunt nose scissors and comb for the fur. I also added Bagbalm to rub dogs pads, it also helps soothe cuts, scratches, skin irritations, and paw abrasions. Walking in snow and some kinds of rocks can tear your dog's feet apart, you might want to thing about getting booties for the dog if it's feet are getting hurt. Some of the medications that carry can also be given to dogs, a real good list of medications and dosage chart is in the back of the Dog First Aid book.
 As for food, snacks and drink, on the trail I want to give my dog the best food I can find. I use Eukanuba Premium Performance it provides higher protein and fat to provide more fuel for your dog food stored the same way you store your own. Make sure the dog drinks lots of water. A cool thing that I tried a few times and my dog seems to like is  K9-Quencher, it's like Gatorade for dogs. For snacks you can get dog energy bars, I use the same snacks my dog eats at home. I like the store bought snacks that come in the zip-top bags. When I'm backpacking I have a training food bag that I clip to my pack's waist belt, I fill it and feed my dog all day.
To leash or not to leash is up to you. I leash at trail heads, road crossings, and road walks / towns. On the Appalachian trail and Long trail in Vermont there are spots that require the dog be on a leash, like Shenandoah National Park. If the dog runs off, stay put and wait for him / her to come back. My dog came with a micro chip in him to identify him if he is found.
On the Appalachian trail there are places that don't allow dogs and a lot of national parks are off limits to dogs. On the Appalachian trail you can not take a dog through the Smokies or in Baxter State Park. Also you can not take a dog through Bear Mt. Zoo you have to go around. It adds a degree of difficulty in terms of planning. There are kennels near both the Smokies and Baxter that will shuttle your dog for you, but they are not cheep. I don't know the rules for any other trails.
Basically dogs have plenty of ways of telling you whats going on with them. When your dog starts to trail you all the time, constantly look for shade and lay down, its telling you its time to take a break. When hiking with dogs you need to be flexible, because your dog may need to rest more than you do. The dog should control the pace of the hike, but pace your dog. don't let it go all out in the morning only to dragging in the afternoon. Above all make sure your dog drinks lots of fresh water and eats lots of food.
I could just keep going on and on talking about dog care and first aid but, I wanted to keep this short and basic. After a few trips you'll find what works for you and your dog.
|