first multi day backpacking trip with my dog last month after 4 years of day hiking, the gap between day hiking fit and overnight fit was bigger than i expected and im writing this for anyone planning their first

Jasper is a 6yo aussie shepherd mix, 42 pounds, in genuinely excellent shape for a dog his age. weve done day hikes together since he was 2, probably 800 trail miles by now including a few 14 mile days with elevation. i thought we were more than ready for an overnight. did a 3 day 28 mile loop in the eastern sierra in april and it was both successful and humbling, sharing the specific things i learned because most of the "hiking with dogs" content out there is either rosy summit photos or generic gear lists.

What i did right and was glad about. trained him to carry a properly fitted ruffwear approach pack for 4 months before the trip, started at 5% body weight, worked up to 10%, never went above 15% on trail. did three overnight test trips in our backyard with him sleeping in the tent so the first night out was not also the first time hed slept in a tent. carried a full canine first aid kit including a soft muzzle, vetwrap, an emergency boot, and the basics for paw injuries. brought way more dog food than i thought he could eat, ended up using almost all of it. mapped water sources every 2 to 3 miles and had a backup plan if any were dry.

What i got wrong. one, his pads. they are fine on rocky day hike terrain but day 2 had a sustained 6 mile section of decomposed granite that essentially sanded his pads down. by camp on night 2 he was favoring his back left foot. i had musher's wax with me but no boots in the right size that i trusted because his pre trip boot training went badly and i bailed on it. lesson, every backpacking dog needs trail boots they will actually keep on for at least one foot, even if they hate them, because day 2 surfaces are not day 1 surfaces. two, his sleep. he slept maybe 4 hours night 1 because every sound was new, then crashed hard during the day 2 lunch break in a way he never does, which contributed to him being more tired than usual that afternoon. three, his recovery. on day hikes he sleeps it off at home and is fully recovered by the next morning. on a backpacking trip the second day starts before he has recovered from the first, and that compounds. by morning of day 3 he was not the same dog he was on morning of day 1.

What i would do differently and what i want to ask the community. one, i think 3 days is the right length for a first trip but the mileage should have been 18 to 20 total, not 28. i pushed him further than i should have because day hiking conditioned me to think of 9 mile days as easy and they are not easy with a pack on consecutive days. two, the boot training cannot be skipped. i need to find a method that works for him this summer before our next trip in october. three, for people who do regular dog backpacking, how do you think about recovery between trips and within a trip, because the cumulative fatigue thing was the part i was not ready for. trying to build a real progression for him to do 4 to 5 day trips by next summer and i need to understand what im actually training