Dog pack for Irish Wolfhound — robust carabiner fix

A snapped carabiner mid-trail with an Irish Wolfhound is a serious problem — that's a lot of dog to suddenly lose control of, and it tells you the pack wasn't built for a dog that size. The essentials for hiking with any dog are a well-fitting harness, a collapsible water bowl, and paw protection if the terrain demands it — but for a giant breed carrying their own kit, the hardware holding everything together matters just as much as the pack itself. Before I point you toward something that'll actually hold, can you tell me a bit more: what terrain were you hiking on when it snapped, how much weight was in the pack, and does your Wolfhound have any joint issues at 8 years old?

That's helpful — and actually reassuring on the weight front. The carabiner failure wasn't a load issue, it was a quality issue. Cheap zinc-alloy carabiners are stamped onto a lot of dog packs and they simply aren't rated for the leverage a large dog puts on them when they lunge or stumble on uneven ground. On rocky terrain like you're describing, that kind of sudden pull is inevitable. Given the arthritis, keeping the pack light is exactly right — so you don't need something with huge capacity, you need something built with genuinely solid hardware. What's your Wolfhound's chest girth? That's the measurement that matters most for fit on a dog his size.

That's on the larger end even for a Wolfhound, so fit options narrow quickly. My recommendation is the Ruffwear Approach Pack. It's built specifically for working and hiking dogs, and the difference in hardware quality is immediately obvious — the buckles and attachment points are reinforced nylon and aluminium, not the cast zinc you'd find on generic packs. It has an integrated top handle which is genuinely useful on rocky ground if you need to steady him through a tricky section, and the saddle bags are removable so you can strip it back to almost nothing on days when he's carrying less. The large size fits up to around 90cm chest, so you'd be looking at their XL, which goes to 107cm — check current sizing on their site before ordering as Ruffwear occasionally revises the fit bands. It sits well on deep-chested giant breeds, distributes load evenly, and won't compromise his movement in a way that would aggravate his hips or hindquarters.

Yes — it has four points of adjustment and the buckles are designed to be operated one-handed, which matters when you've got a large dog that's excited at a trailhead. The top handle also means you can guide him without reaching for the harness straps. One thing worth knowing: because it's a proper load-bearing pack rather than a fashion piece, there's a bit more structure to it, so I'd do a few short walks with it before taking it on a full hill day — partly to let him get used to the fit, and partly so you can check the saddle positioning settles correctly under movement. With his arthritis, that break-in period is worth doing anyway.

Good luck — it's a solid bit of kit and should last the rest of his hiking years without any nasty surprises on a hillside. Search for Ruffwear Approach Pack XL on Amazon UK or go direct through Ruffwear's UK site if you want to confirm the sizing chart first. Either way, you'll see immediately that the hardware is in a different league to what you had before.