The Essential Guide to Hiking with Dogs: Trail-Tested Tips and Expert Advice for Canine Adventures

My family hikes with our dogs all the time, so I wanted to see this book. The photos are the best part. About half of the pages are beautiful photos of dogs in wild places. That’s the greatest advertisement for hiking with your dog! The book’s organization is a little weird. Instead of diving into the hiking part (which is why you got the book!), the first chapters are about where to get a dog. It discusses the pros and cons of adopting from shelters and buying from breeders. And then the author reminds you that puppies won’t be ready for long hikes until their bones’ growth plates have fused!

Overall, this book seems really long. It’s repetitive and a little boring. At the back, there are different kinds of packing lists for people and dogs – day hikes, backpacking, and car camping. There are dog-friendly hikes organized by region of the US, but there’s only one listed in Texas, where I live. Lucky that we can find dog-friendly trails on our own. I wish the author had told more stories about the hikes and connected stories to pictures, to inspire my future trips to wild places!