When I was first researching getting my first dog as an adult (I grew up with Australian Shepherds), my now-husband and I had some different traits we valued. He wanted a short haired dog to minimize shedding (we now have three cats and two dogs so that may not have worked out for him). I wanted an active, trainable breed so we could do agility together. My husband liked huskies and Malinois, I like Aussies and herding breeds.
We both agreed, however, that we wanted a hiking dog. We love hiking, camping and backpacking so it was obvious that our new dog would be coming with us on these adventures. The combination of our desires lead us to Rory, our Vizsla. Vizslas are awesome active, outdoorsy dogs. Unfortunately, Rory was very aware that he was born to be a hunting dog and he was going hunting with or without us. So began my crash course in dog behavior.
Here are my top skills to enjoy hiking with your dog:
Long line skills: I love a long line--which is literally a longer leash attached to your dog's harness or collar. Dogs enjoy hiking by sniffing and a long line allows your dog to enjoy sniffing without restricting your movement or his. Long line skills are foundational to being off leash, if that is a goal of yours. A dog should respond to voice or line pressure so the walk isn't like mushing a sled dog. The human side of the leash needs to know how to safely reel in the long line to avoid trip hazards and how to slow a dog down so a pesky squirrel doesn't dislocate your elbows. I walk Rory on a 50 foot long line routinely. My younger dog, Skye, is a bit more clingy (Border collie problems) so she is typically on a 20 foot long line.
Pulling off trail to allow others to pass: I like to train my dogs to "pull over" and sit, stand, perch on a log, eat food from my hand, or do some fun behaviors while we let others pass us. Depending on your dog (and who is passing you) it makes sense to adjust your "pull over" plan depending on what the dog needs.
Attention noise: This is the dog trainer's "hey, you!". I use a little cluck or kiss (from my horse riding days) to request my dog look at me. Being able to get your dog's attention is the very first step to getting them to do ANYTHING. Some dogs have very few issues with this and some.... struggle. (Rory was the latter!) I like to train this just by making the noise when the dog is already paying attention to me and then feeding, gradually increasing the difficulty until you can make the noise when the dog is very focused on something else and it snaps their attention to you.
A "this way!" cue: I like this, especially with a longer line or when off leash, to let the dog know to follow you. This is great when the dog has picked a trail you are not planning to follow--whether it's taking the 'wrong' fork at an intersection or if Fido is haring off down a deer path after an interesting smell. I also like to train a 'wait' and I'm working on an automatic wait at trail intersections with my dogs but "this way" has been a foundational, low-conflict way to redirect a dog who is going off on their own adventure.
Recall: A dog coming when called is a huge safety feature and is the gold standard. Dogs who cannot recall successfully cannot be off leash in most environments. There are plenty of dogs for whom a kind of relaxed recall comes fairly naturally but to get the sharp, about-turn recall under any circumstances is HARD. For example, my Border collie Skye is rarely NOT listening to me and rarely goes more than 50 feet away from me, so recalling her is not as challenging. Rory the Vizsla ranges much much farther and has a much more difficult time disengaging from smells and prey to re-engage with me (after all--Border collies were bred to follow complex verbal directions at distance and Vizslas were bred that you follow them to where the birds are). Whether it's easier or very hard for your dog, recall is a critical skill and the younger you start, the better your odds of success.
Folks who hike with dogs, do you agree with my top 5 skills? Are there any other skills you find critical when hiking with your dogs?