Backpacking with a Goldendoodle

Let me start by saying, I am no dog expert. I adopted my Goldendoodle four years ago, with him being the first dog I have owned. He has been such a wonderful companion for me and it has been a fun journey spending time with him in the outdoors.

My Goldendoodle is six years old now and has been backpacking with me for the past three years. He has been camping since he was a pup, but three years ago, we started taking him backpacking. I love having him along on my adventures, but he comes with a little higher maintenance than I would like but it is worth it to have him there.

The traits that he has that become challenges for me on my backpacking adventures, I believe, kind of go with the breed, from what I have learned over the years. Traits that help reinforce my thoughts that Goldendoodles are probably not the best breed for backpacking, but they sure are a fun, friendly dog to have around.

I've come across many dogs backpacking, but I don't ever remember seeing another Goldendoodle in the backcountry.

What are the challenges of backpacking with a Goldendoodle?

• My Goldendoodle can't be on his feet all day long. I generally limit daily hikes to 7 miles and I have to stop to rest with my Goldendoodle or stop and fish from a single spot for an hour or more so he can get a nap in. Even constantly moving while fishing around a lake all day long can do him in. He needs as much rest as possible. Also, to help prepare him for backpacking, he goes on early morning hikes with me a couple of days a week, year-round.
• Getting him to eat! This has been the biggest challenge. It has been a waste of time to pack his dog food. He won't touch it. My first thought was that if he gets hungry enough, he will eat. I quickly changed my thoughts on this as I need him to have the energy to hike and be on his feet a lot more than lounging on the sofa much of the day. So what ends up happening is he eats my homemade deer jerky and half of my Mountain House meals and any other human food I can get in him. This was the case the first two years backpacking with him. This past summer, I switched him over to Honest Kitchen dehydrated dog food. He loves this food. I also started dehydrating thinly sliced chicken breast for treats. He really loves the dried chicken treats. Between the Honest Kitchen dehydrated dog food and dehydrated chicken treats, I now get to eat almost all of my food... I sometimes can't resist those loving eyes looking at the jerky I am eating. :)
• Carrying his own pack. There is no way I dare load him up with a pack. I have pushed him to the brink of not eating or drinking for most of the day after a long day of fishing in the Wind Rivers. We only hiked a couple of miles, but we spent almost the entire day fishing nonstop around a couple of lakes. The next morning, he stopped eating and drinking and his tail was down. You could tell he wasn't doing well, so we just stayed in camp and rested all day. I worry that adding the extra weight on him will push him a little too hard as well, so I carry his food and fleece blanket.
• Insects! To help with mosquitoes, I heavily spray his collar and harness with Permethrin. All our clothing also gets a heavy spraying of Permethrin... it's good stuff. They say you can spray it right on your dog, but I don't like the idea of spraying him with a chemical. Anyhow, Permethrin on his collar and harness helps keep the bugs away. I also don't have him groomed anytime close to our backpacking trips to keep his fur longer to help protect mosquitoes and other biting bugs from getting to his skin. 
• Keeping track of his location. While my Goldendoodle is always close by, I like having a GPS radio on him just in case. This helps me not worry about him wandering off looking for squirrels or something. We have him set up with GPS tracking on his collar using a Meshtastic LoRa radio that is sending out his GPS location every two minutes to the rest of us, who all use the radios to track each other's position and send text messages to each other. See my LoRa Radio article to learn more: LoRa Meshtastic Radios For Backcountry Hunting and Backpacking

You can see a lot of my Goldendoodle in this video from our big backpacking trip to the Wind Rivers in 2024. 

Best of luck out there in your adventures!