What's the longest walk/hike for your Nihon Ken?

edited February 2012 in General
My wife took Kuki for his longest hike yesterday.
Estimated about 7 miles over 3.5 hours in Red Rock Canyon area west of LV.
Our usual walks with him in our neighborhood are 1-2 miles.
Sometimes he'll get a 3 mile walk.
I think his previous long hike was 5 miles.

He was a tired, tuckered out doggy, dog for the rest of the day.

What's the longest distance you've taken your dog for a walk/hike?
Does anyone have an estimate on what is the safest long distance he could hike?


Comments

  • edited February 2012
    Longest distance I've gone?
    10 miles in about 3 hours with a Shiba Inu.
    I was tired after the hike, the Shiba was not. I think he could have gone another 5 if I'd been able to find more trail that we hadn't already been on.

    Safest distance entirely depends on how fit and healthy the dog is. If the dog isn't very fit, I don't think a 10 mile hike would be a good idea, especially if it's strenuous. Conker is in pretty good shape but he sometimes doesn't want to go for a long hike. I let him decide the length even if I'm just getting started and he wants to quit, or wants to keep going when I'm tired. If anything I can always carry him back but he's only 24 pounds.
    So for Conker, I'd probably say 15 miles if he was conditioned for it, or about 5 hours or so.
    Juneau could probably do 25 miles or 7 hours.
    Sasha would only be up for about 5 miles or 3 hours.
    (The last two aren't Nihon Ken.)

    For Conker, I need to avoid trails with lots of big rocks and things he could screw his knees up on, even though that's my favorite type of trail. He's got Luxating Patella and one misstep onto or off of a biggish rock could be really bad, so I tend to only take him on flatter trails. He wears his Ruff Wear harness so I can lift him up/over/off obstacles I don't feel comfortable letting him do on his own.
    That's another thing to keep in mind. Although Conker really loves those crazy rocky trails, it's better if he doesn't go on them as often as the flatter trails due to his knees.
  • Not counting multi-day camping trips, I've done 20 miles in about 7-8 hours with a few Kai before.
  • On average I thnk we do about 10 to 20 miles on our weekend hunts. We start at about 6AM and goto about 4PM or from sun up to sun down. During the summer I will limit it to no more then 10 miles.
  • edited February 2012
    On a one day hike, 20 miles. But I usually only do 12 miles. Koda and Mei (Kais) are fine with them. They are tired, but not overly exhausted.

    I would say on average in a day, Koda and I do anywhere from 3-7 miles right now. It will become more in the Spring when we have more light out after work. That's when we get ready for the long hikes, ie Memorial Day Weekend trips and such during the summer.
  • Saya and Bella longest walk has been 3hours and 26minutes or so I dunno on millage hard to tell when your walking in woods and different directions. I need get me a pedometer.. Saya is a 2 year old shiba and Bella a 3year old boxer..

    Both enjoy these walks especially in the woods kind hikes which I only do in winter due to bad tick issue..

    Today I climbed up a steep hill with the two dogs crazy! Saya climbs up like it's nothing she even try stop mid way to investigate a hole. lol
  • I think the most we have done with Kaiya has been 5 miles (at one time) but probably 10 miles in one day. She likes to go for long walks, so on the weekends we will do several 3-4 milers. She has had some leg issues that we are FINALLY over (knock on wood), so I expect that she could probably do more now. She is usually POOPED on days that she gets 10 miles but I am sure that has more to do with her heart than anything else.
  • Tomoe is used to going on runs for 6-10 miles when my wife is in training. This has the effect of making smelly running shoes the most wonderful thing in the world to chew for her...
  • @kenshi How is she after a run? Ready for more or is she done?
  • When Saki first started taking her out, she'd be wiped for the rest of the day, and mellow the next day. After a couple weeks, she will be mellow the rest of the day, and extremely bouncy the next day. In other words...she really seemed to develop her stamina. I've watched her closely for any gait issues and talked to her vet about running and so far it seems to be a pretty healthy thing for her.
  • Wow, you guys go on some really long hikes!
    Thanks for the responses.
    Kuki is healthy and fit, but at 14 months, still a growing boy.
    I didn't want to take him too far and possibly hurt him.
    So, 10 miles does not seem out of the question.
    thanks again everybody.
  • edited February 2012
    This is not at all a suggestion, but it reminded me of this thread...

    I just finished watching a video on Trappers who live (and trap) in the Siberian Taiga. They use dogs, Laika to be specific. At one point toward the end of the video they showed the trapper headed home for New Years Eve. His dog goes home with him, but isn't allowed to ride on the snowmobile with the guy.

    That the dog ran behind him the whole way, in deep snow, never riding on the snowmobile. The VO guy said it was 150km (94 miles)... That's very impressive, the dog runs that whole time behind the snowmobile in deep snow. wow.

    This is a hunting dog, not a sled dog. Just to be clear.

    ----
  • That's crazy Brad! Those Laika are some awesome dogs. I might get me one sometime.
  • Sumo did his AD test in 2008, that's a 20km run in 1,5 hour. Aiko will do the same on the 6th of may.
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