While hiking in Hanging Rock State Park in North Carolina, Laika, a beautiful Samoyed owned by Ricq Pattay, puts her purple Trekker Wolf Packs dog pack to the test.

Size & Color: Small, Purple

Buddy, owned by Charlene LaBelle, author of the book Guide to Backpacking With Your Dog, shows off his forest green Banzai dog pack. Buddy is an Alaskan Malamute bred and shown by Charlene. This picture was taken next to our shop during their visit. Charlene and Buddy have logged many miles with this pack, including an exciting adventure near Devil's Slide in northern California.

Size & Color: Medium, Green

Kodiak, a beautiful red Malamute owned by Gary Michelsen, romps wildly through deep snow while wearing his XLarge teal Banzai dog pack. Kodiak was only one year old when these shots were taken, but already weighed 142 pounds!


Since first purchasing Kody's pack in July '96, it has seen many trail miles. Their adventures include sections of the Marble Mountain Wilderness, Trinity Alps Wilderness, Mammoth Mountain, much of the Eastern Sierra, Cucamonga, and Sheep Mountain Wilderness in the San Gabriel Mountains. These two photos were taken on a trip in the Cucamonga Wilderness, CA.

Size & Color: XLarge, Teal

Date: Wed, 15 May 1996 11:04:09 -1000
From:Ken Severin
Subject: Pack is Here!
The pack arrived and indeed looks and fits well. I'm glad we went with the medium instead of the large! Haven't had a real workout yet, but hopefully this weekend. Pingo seems to think that the pack is "just another one of those strange things they keep making me do."

Thanks again.

Ken Severin

This paragraph was later added by the author to further explain the preceeding message:

I ordered a purple Trekker pack for our Akita, Pingo, but was unsure of the size, as Pingo was right on the dividing line between a medium and a large. Linda answered my questions quickly via email, and even had the pack ready to go while she was waiting for the credit card number to arrive via snail mail. I also really appreciate Linda taking the time to ship by Parcel Post rather than UPS, a considerable savings when shipping to Alaska!

Size & Color: Medium, Purple

This is Jim Greenway's Golden Retriever Bonnie at the top of Brasstown Bald (elevation 4,800'), Georgia's highest mountain. Brasstown was too foggy for scenic shots, so Jim photographed Bonnie on the deck of the lookout. She is proudly sporting her orange Banzai dog pack, complete with patches showing some of the miles she's logged.

This photo shows Bonnie sitting near the marker for the Southern Terminus of the Appalachian Trail, located on Springer Mountain (elevation 3,782'). Her dog pack setup includes an ingenious leash created by Jim.

Here is an email message we received about a tornado that Bonnie's pack survived:


Date: Tue, 2 Jul 1996 18:10:01 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jim Greenway
Subject: Testimonial

On Palm Sunday, 1993, a powerful storm system passed through the Southeast, spinning off a number of tornadoes. One tornado traversed my neighborhood and almost leveled my home. Both of my dogs required treatment after their kennel was pretzeled. All but a portion of my house suffered extensive wind and water damage. In digging through my former kitchen, I saw a spot of orange underneath a muck of broken glass and spoiled food from my overturned refrigerator. It turned out to be my Wolf Packs pack. I didn't expect much of it after it was blown through the house and buried under rather smelly garbage. However, the pack was unscathed. A good washing and another coat of seam sealer made it as good as new.

I continue to use the pack, and the tough fabric and manufacturing still serve me in good stead. Last fall, I returned it at the last minute to Wolf Packs for an upgrade before an Appalachian Trail trip. Linda didn't think twice about processing the request and turning it around to me in time.

Ironically, Bonnie and I were bumped out of that trip when Hurricane Opal steamrolled through the southeast three days before my trip. Maybe we could put Linda and The Weather Channel together....

Jim Greenway

Size & Color: Medium, Orange

Forest Godsey's Leslie Ann shows that even fine boned greyhounds have what it takes to help carry the load. This photo shows her hiking in her red Trekker dog pack on a trail close to Forest's home. The photo below shows a different view in a local park.

Forest has two dogs, both outfitted with our dog packs. He says, "All I have to do is get their packs out of the closet and the dogs get excited. They associate the packs with fun! I honestly think my dogs enjoy walks more when I put their packs on them and make them carry something. If I've been careless and not put their packs in the closet, my Lab will bring me his pack instead of his leash to indicate it's time for a walk."

You might enjoy reading Forest's comments (see Keeping Cool) about how Leslie Ann stays cool with her dog pack.

Size & Color: Small, Red

Trapper relaxes in his red Banzai dog pack during their hike in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. One of the nice features of our designs is that they all allow dogs to lay down and relax while wearing their dog packs. As you can see in the photos, Trapper is resting peacefully after a long hike. He doesn't look like he's aware that his pack is still attached.

We received several email messages about Trapper's pack, which we will share below.


Date: Tue, 19 Mar 1996 20:57:03
From: Geoffrey Blair
Subject: Trapper's new backpack!

Hi Linda -

Can't tell you how pleased we are with Trapper's (our Golden) new pack. We dove right in and bought the top of your line and are glad we did. He is not easy on it and it has been through the toughest of brush, rock, snow and ice without losing a stitch! It's also hard to believe how much better he walks / runs with it over the last pack he had (from another manufacturer). It sort of just hung on him, hitting his elbows and shifting forward whenever descending a mountain.

Your pack is terrific. Thanks for all your help on the phone just before we ordered it.

Geoff and Fran Blair (Bloom)

*****
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2000 18:42:46 -0500
From: Geoff Blair
Subject: Our Banzai
Hi Linda -

Was looking at your new site (new to us anyway). It's great.

In doing so, I saw that we had bought Trapper's pack almost four years ago. Trapper has somewhat retired from the arduous hiking and our new addition Summit is taking over, WITH the four year old Banzai! Not a stitch has broken...not a tear in the cloth. Trapper has climbed 39 of New Hampshire's 4,000 footers with his Banzai...through narrow rock openings, under low blow downs, through ice arches, and has been swimming with it on virtually every hike and the Banzai keeps on ticking! I can't say enough for the overall quality. It was certainly worth the few dollars over what was certain to be a far inferior product!

Hope things are well with you. Looks like the company is in a steady growth mode!

Take care,
Geoff Blair

Size & Color: Medium, Red