Dog Hiking Gear for Water Crossings
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Two containers ride on a creek route, one for you and one for the dog, and neither of them should be the creek itself. This kit is an insulated bottle with a bowl built into the base, a second bowl that clips to the pack, and a bag that keeps treats and waste bags apart. The fish treat is there to give you a reason to call the dog out of the water.
The route this suits
Trails with running water on them. If your loop crosses a stream twice and your dog goes in both times, you know the problem already. The dog is wet, the pack is wet, and the water you would actually let it drink is back in the car. Training for the off leash half of that is a different job, and our notes on off leash reliability cover it properly.
Five pieces that hold water, hold treats or clip to something that does
Rubyloo's shared bottle is the anchor. Food grade stainless steel with double wall copper vacuum insulation, an 8 ounce bowl that twists off the base, and a chug lid Rubyloo describes as leak proof. The base fits car cup holders wider than 3.6 inches, so it rides in the console between trailheads instead of rolling around in a footwell. On a hot afternoon the insulation is the point, because cold water in the bowl gets drunk and warm water gets sniffed and left. Rubyloo items are sold and shipped by Rubyloo through Shopify Collective, not made or shipped by Sniff and Shift.
The Onyx Heart collapsible bowl from Pink Papyrus Co. is the backup, and it is the one that actually lives on the pack. Black silicone, flat when folded, holding up to 1.5 cups, with a gold clip that goes on a leash or a haul loop. Pink Papyrus Co. says to run it on the top rack of the dishwasher and dry it fully before storing, which matters more than usual on a bag that spends its life damp. Skip it if you are already carrying the bottle and walking under an hour. Pink Papyrus Co. items are sold and shipped by Pink Papyrus Co. through Shopify Collective, not made or shipped by Sniff and Shift.
The 2 Hounds Design bag keeps three jobs in one clip on piece: treats in the pouch, a roll of waste bags in the dispenser, and a collapsible bowl folded into the body. It is made in Indian Trail, North Carolina. Wet hands are the reason we put it in this kit rather than a zippered pouch, since a zipper with grit in it is a two handed job and you have one hand free. 2 Hounds Design items are sold and shipped by 2 Hounds Design through Shopify Collective and arrive separately.
Our freeze dried pink salmon is a single ingredient, Alaskan pink salmon, in a 1.5 ounce pouch, with crude protein listed at a minimum of 66 percent. It smells strong enough to cut through moving water and wet fur, which is the whole reason it is in a creek kit rather than a plainer treat. Our storage line on every treat bag is cool and dry, and the inside of a wet pouch is neither, so this one stays closed between payments rather than open in your hand at the crossing.
Our strawberry scented waste bags fill the dispenser. They are leak proof, they fit a standard holder, and a creek bank is the last place you want to be improvising.
What we left out
No life vest, and no boots. A vest earns its place on open water and on a boat, not on a knee deep crossing, and most dogs manage a creek better barefoot than in boots that fill and slide. If your route ends at a lake rather than a stream, a vest is a real conversation, but it is not this kit.
Using it on the trail
Fill the bottle cold at home. At the first crossing, let the dog drink from the bowl you poured rather than from the stream, and do it before the dog is hot enough to gulp whatever is in front of it. The clip on bowl comes out at the halfway point, gets a half cup, and goes back on the pack wet, because a flat silicone bowl dries on the strap as you walk. Pay the dog with salmon on the near bank after a crossing, not the far one. Refill the bottle at the car and rinse both bowls before the next trip, since creek silt in a folded bowl is what makes it smell by week three.
What this replaces
A separate human bottle, a rigid dog bowl and a plastic bag of treats in a jacket pocket. One insulated bottle covers both animals on the trail, and the two folding bowls mean the only rigid thing in the pack is the bottle itself. The waste bag dispenser in the 2 Hounds bag also removes the loose roll that always unspools at the bottom of a pack.
Questions
Three things come up most often when people plan a route with water on it.
Can my dog just drink from the creek?
Plenty of dogs do, and plenty of owners would rather they did not, which is why the bottle is here. Carrying your own water also means you are not stuck when the crossing is a trickle in August.
Does the bottle hold enough for both of us?
For a two hour loop with one dog, usually. On a longer day, or with two dogs, fill the collapsible bowl at a clean crossing and keep the bottle for yourself and for the last mile.
Will the treats survive a wet pouch?
It holds up as long as the bag stays closed. Reseal after every stop and take out only the handful you are about to spend, because the rest of the pouch spends the day damp.
Fill the bottle cold the night before and clip the folded bowl onto the pack while you are thinking about it, not at the trailhead.
Related guides
Every kit in the trail cluster is listed on our bundle guides hub.
Swapping the salmon out is easy from freeze dried dog treats, or filter by protein and format on Explore.
