Want to Learn How to Snowshoe with Your Small Dog?

I have been thinking about this for a while but now I have to get off my butt and do it.

Last weekend we met with our Adventureweiner friends at a local dog park. My friend from Life with Doxies said she had been enjoying reading about our snowshoe adventures and asked me what to look for if she wanted to start herself.

I said, “funny you should ask” because I have been thinking about doing a Snowshoeing With Your Small Dog 101 series of blog post after Christmas. Of course, I wasn’t going to make her wait that long so I told her a few of our secrets and tips.

We love hiking. We love connecting with nature, getting our blood pumping, escaping from the stress of the computer, forgetting our to-do list for a while and having fun!

We don’t want to have to stop just because it is winter. Luckily, about 4,000 to 6,000 years ago, some dude invented snowshoes so we don’t have to. As soon as it started snowing this year, we strapped ours on and continued getting outside. We have already been on several great snowshoe hikes, including our snowshoe “almost” up to Franklin Falls.

Not only do we want to share our experiences with you, we want to give you the tools so you can go out and have your own adventure.

My friend from Life with Doxies reminded me that just because I have been snowshoeing for years, this sport is still a mystery to a lot of people.

I don’t want her to read this and think I am making fun of her because I am not but I had to giggle a little at one of the things she said. She said, “I thought snowshoes still looked like huge tennis rackets for your feet until I saw your pictures”. Uh…those went away about 15 or 20 years ago 🙂 Glad I could show you otherwise.

I am going to share a series of posts with you on snowshoeing to help you get started. I will cover subjects like physically preparing, getting the right gear, safety tips and trail resources.

Your questions and comments along the way will help me to know what you want answers to. For now, I do have a couple of questions for you: What the biggest mystery to you about snowshoeing? Would you try it? What is holding you back?

Thanks. Happy Tails and Trails!

About the Author

Hi, I’m Jessica. I’ve been studying the Dachshund breed since 2007, owned 3 of my own, and shared in the lives of thousands of others through their owner’s stories. When I’m not sharing what I know on this blog, you can find me hiking, camping, and traveling with my adventurous wiener dogs.

11 Comments

  1. Woof! Woof! So COOL! … we’re suppose to get lots of SNOW according to some man’s prediction … looking forward to your upcoming posts. Lots of Golden Woofs, Sugar

    1. Thanks for your support Sugar. We have been putting a lot of effort into drafting the posts and it makes it all worth it if we know at least ONE doggie will be reading them. Ha, ha.

  2. It is so fun! The latest gear makes it easy for anyone to partake! There are snowshoes in all sizes and types…that’s a good place to start…most people don’t know which ones to Buy. Ofcourse, many areas also rent them out. The trail in your photo looks like our trail up the North Bowl of our local Mountain. We have to strap on headlamps and do this after dark though, because now that it is ski season, it is only open to uphill traffic on that route after skiing:( Cn’t wait to see your future posts! Let the Liitle Dog Adventures begin!

    1. Thanks for your enthusiasm Scrappy! We agree that it is pretty easy to get the right gear and start. We will definitely cover how to choose snowshoes and where to get them but we plan to start even simpler than that with fitness and conditioning. Our hope is that by the time someone finishes reading our series they will have the whole picture and be totally prepared.

  3. Hi Jessica,

    I’m gonna be interested to learn about the Snowshoes – however, I really doubt I’ll get a chance to use them cos we never get Snow here! 🙁

    I live in hope that one day Mum and Dad may take me to the Snow and then I’ll be all ready to go in my Snowshoes! 🙂

    Have fun,

    Your pal Snoopy 🙂

    1. That’s too bad, it is a lot of fun. We can take you snowshoeing if you ever come to Seattle in the winter 🙂

  4. I’ve wanted to try snowshoeing with the dogs for years but inertia held me back. My questions would be:

    Where are the best places to go near Seattle
    Can you rent the shoes
    Is there dog friendly lodging nearby so we can make a weekend out of it.

    Looking forward to seeing your posts!

    1. Thanks for the questions! I already planend on covering places to go and where you can get snowshoes but hadn’t thought of dog-friendly places to stay for weekend trips. I thnk that is a great idea!

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