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Peter posted on January 15, 2007 15:18
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION AND PHOTOSThe Ruffwear Palisades Pack II is large volume, multipurpose dog pack for most any size K9. Available in two colors and three sizes, these packs are constructed of tough nylon to handle the beating most dogs will dish out on the trail. The undersides are padded for comfort and use of mesh throughout helps keep dogs cool on the go. - Retail Price - $80-$95
- Sizes - Small, Medium, Large
- Colors - Red and Blue
The view of the rear of the pack shows the compression straps on the side as well as the wisely placed zippers. Having the zippers on the rear of the pack prevents accidental opening when brushed against trees or brush on the trail.
The top of the pack gives a good view of the uppermost storage pockets and ample cutouts to help encourage air movement and cooling.
I believe in this picture I have the pack on too far to the rear. Not a lot, but the fitting is to be closer to the front shoulders to help take advantage of the dog's natural weight distribution.
Both colors offered by Ruffwear are attractive and feature a reflective strip along the length of the side to help make dogs more visible at night.
The pack is held to the harness with three quick release bucklet. These buckles (two fore and one aft) seem stout and easy to use even with gloves on.
Here you can see an empty harness with the pack removed. The harness is fit on the dog by unclipping the two buckles seen on the left, slipping the harness front over their head, stepping the front right leg through the front harness and then reclipping the side buckles. The carry harness can also been seen in this picture. Useful for picking a dog over obsticals or into vehicle, the strap is well sewn into the rest of the harness.
Ample padding on the body straps make sure no edges can rub into your dog's belly.
Here is a good picture showing how the front straps help hold the pack forward while ensuring the pack stays on.
The harness features two clip in points. The rear clip pictured above is for towing slids or skiiers. The front clip picured below is the standard spot to help control your pet while on the trail.
The mesh webbing covering the pack areas seems to let a fair amount of heat out to keep dogs cool.
The top pouches are smaller and perfect for treats or a leash.
The ample main packet is both deep and long. There is plenty of room to Fido carry his own meals or toys on a longer trip or a some towles on a shorter, wet walk.
The zipper pulls on the main compartment are easy to find and use even with gloved hands.
The outer pocket has a small amount of room and features the well thought out compression system (below). Cinching the straps helps ensure loads are held close in to your dog which prevents wobble while walking, increase comfort while wearing the pack. The straps are easily released by pulling on the center cord to make unpacking quick.
To the rear of the pack is a small zipper hiding the water bladder on each side. The side compression can also be seen here.
The baldders vary in size depending on the pack size. All come complete with large fill hole and innovative pour spout. With the notch seen in the picture pointing down, simply lift up on the center peg to dispense water. Beyond hydrating your pet, the bladders do a good job helping cool dogs on warm days. Possibly the best use of the bladders is as adjustable ballast tanks. When you notice the pack listing to one side or the other on your dog, just drain a little water from that side until things are even again. Even a little amount helps a lot.
REVIEW
My wife and I harnessed the dogs and took the packs out for a test spin to see if they were usable and comfortable for the dogs. Initial fitting is important and being able to disconnect the pack from the harness aided this task greatly as compared to past products we've used. Having your dog be able to stand on command also helps as attempting to fit the rear most body strap with a sitting dog leads to a sloppy fit. Ruffwear suggests tightening the body straps so you can still fit two fingers under each strap. This is accomplished by tightening the body straps, at times sometimes hard as the strap would get lost inside the padded strap sheath. But once set, this is not an ongoing problem.
With both dogs' harnesses on we filled the water bladders for weight, noting the suggestion to start light with dogs not used to carrying a pack (just like humans, I guess :) ). Attempting to get the bladders equally filled proved difficult as they are opaque. The bladders are easily filled by removing the rubberized cap, blowing in a few breathes of air and then filling to your desired level. Setting the packs on the harnesses is aided with matching logos on the packs and harness. Line those up and a velco patch on the rear of the harness will help keep the pack in place while you snap the three quick clips. With the packs in place and one dog, the one who runs away, on leash, we headed out for a 2.5 mile hike.
At first Kenai, the dog in red, was having troubles with a lopsided pack. I incorrectly thought this was because of improper fitting of the harness. After unsuccessful attempts to pull the pack back to middle I decided to dump some ballast (water) from the left bladder. This helped a little and further down the trail I dumped more to finally gain a well balanced dog. After this Kenai was quicker on the trail and more sure of herself to the point of even running into underbrush after a bird, giving the pack a thorough thrashing which it handled well.
Yukon, the husky in blue, wasn't so sure of this new pack idea at first. He had trouble getting his feet under him and moving around. Part of the problem is we attached the packs inside the house and he was bumping into things with the wider load. Once outside and moving forward he had a better time. We got lucky with his weight balancing and he was steady the whole walk. Being a husky, clipping into the forward attachment point on the harness was a mistake, as it only encouraged his natural tendency to want to pull....hard. So while this point may work well on most dogs, pulling dogs should not be clipped in this way. He kept up his normal fast pace for most all of the hike and was able to handle varying terrain.
The extra weight did stop the dogs from jumping over obstacles they normally would have, but with the advantage of being able to easily lift them over roadblocks via the handle on the harness, this wasn't much of a problem. Both dogs did well with the packs which ended up weighing close to 10lbs each, about 20% of their body weight. Ruffwear notes most dogs will handle 30% of their body weight well when you work up to it, but this amount should be good for most any trip. This helped them carry over a gallon of water each which will be enough for an overnight trip and then some.
I'm very happy with the packs and quality of construction and would recommend them for anyone wanting their dogs to start carrying their weight on the trail.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007 7:16 PM
Good review - I have a chincy pack that I tried using with our lab, what a piece of trash! These look great however. | | |
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