Best dog pack for Australian Shepherd thru-hikes

A four-year-old Aussie doing thru-hikes with you — that's a dog that's going to love every second of it. The essentials for hiking with a dog are a well-fitting harness, a collapsible water bowl, and depending on your terrain, possibly boots — paw protection on rocky or hot ground matters more than most people realise. But if your dog is carrying their own pack, the kit list changes a bit, because the pack itself becomes the most important piece of the puzzle. To point you in the right direction: how much does your Aussie weigh, what kind of terrain are you typically covering — rocky mountain trails, forested paths, mixed? And are you doing single overnighters or longer multi-day routes?

Perfect — 22kg is a solid weight for a working pack, and a fit Aussie at four is right in his prime for this kind of load. The general rule is a dog shouldn't carry more than 25% of their body weight, so you've got roughly 5kg to play with, though I'd start closer to 3–4kg until he's conditioned to it. For Scottish highland terrain specifically — the scrambling and the boggy sections — you need a pack that sits securely and doesn't shift when he's picking his way over uneven ground. Can I ask: has he used a pack before, or would this be his first one?

That's a good starting point — harness-trained dogs usually adapt to packs pretty quickly. Given that this is his first pack, you're doing multi-day wild camping on technical Scottish terrain, and you need something that'll genuinely hold up, I'd go with the Ruffwear Palisades Pack. It's designed specifically for overnight and multi-day trips — the saddle bags are removable so you can take them off when he's scrambling or you want him unloaded at camp, and it has an integrated harness with a solid top handle for helping him over trickier sections. The fit system is proper and adjustable, which matters a lot on a deep-chested breed like an Aussie. It's not cheap, but it's built for exactly this use case rather than the occasional day walk. For a dog that's going to be a genuine trail partner on 5-day routes, it's the right tool.

Yes — don't just load him up and set off on a 5-day route. Start by having him wear the empty pack around the house and on regular walks for a week or two, so the fit and feel become normal. Then add light weight — maybe 1kg — on a few day hikes before building up gradually over several outings. Watch how he moves: if he's compensating his gait or seems stiff afterwards, back the weight off. By the time you hit a full thru-hike, he should be comfortable at his working load. The Palisades also has good padding so it won't rub during the break-in period, which helps.

Honestly, for most dogs on Scottish highland terrain, boots are more trouble than they're worth — the ground isn't typically hot and the rock is usually rough enough to give good grip rather than wearing paws down fast. That said, if you're doing serious mileage over consecutive days, it's worth carrying a small pot of paw balm like Musher's Secret — apply it in the evenings at camp and it keeps pads from cracking or drying out on extended trips. Check his paws each night anyway, especially between the toes after boggy sections. For a fit Aussie doing 3–5 day routes, that's usually all the maintenance you need.