Dog Backpack

The Brown County Humane Society now has two dog backpacks. One of the dogs had chewed up one of the backpacks but I was able to fix it this morning. The backpack will become a regular part of the dogs' lives and the volunteers are thankful that we have them now.
The best part about the backpacks is that we now have a way to increase the intensity of the exercise of the dogs without increasing the length of the time doing it. At this point I do not know the time ratio for walking a dog with a backpack to walking one without it but Cesar Millan and other dog professionals advocate the use of backpacks to increase the amount of energy burned during a walk or just while the dog is going about around the house.
After I fixed the backpack that had been chewed through I wanted to see how some of the dogs reacted to having it on their backs. I picked Boomer and Chelsey. They reacted in completely different ways. When I put it on Boomer it was so foreign to him that he froze for about 2 minutes. The added weight of the backpack and the two cans of dog food that were in it were so strange that Boomer didn't know how to react. It was so strange that even though all four legs were not under him when I put the backpack on him he wouldn't move to a more comfortable position. Luckily though he did eventually become more comfortable and he did start to move around in his kennel with it on. Once he became comfortable with it I took it off so the next time I put it on him he will remember the relaxation he felt at the end of his trial run.
After I took it off of Boomer I went to put in on Chelsey. Like I said earlier Chelsey reacted in a completely different way than Boomer did. Chelsey welcomed the backpack and acted like it wasn't even on her back. As you may know from earlier posts Chelsey is usually very obedient and an excellent walker. In her kennel however she can get quite excited and loves to jump up to be close to you. The backpack didn't keep her from jumping, not even a little bit. For all I know she didn't even know it was there. It will be interesting to see how she does with the backpack when she goes for a walk.
I hope to have an update on this tomorrow.