Welcome! Today, we’ll be reviewing the Ruffwear Palisades Dog Backpack, made by Ruffwear. If you don’t know much about dog backpacks and won’t mind being informed, you should check out our review on dog backpacks here.
So, the brand that brings us this backpack is Ruffwear. The founder of the company, Patrick Kruse, loved exploring the outdoors. He did this through all the ways he could find, whether by foot, planes, water cruisers, anything. But one thing remained constant, he always wanted to take his pooch along.
That desire and zeal to carry his pet sidekick on all his adventures is what made Patrick launch this dog gear company from his garage. Today, Ruffwear is a global brand that supplies pet gear to countries all over the world.
The company is always updating the efficiency of its gear through product researches and field tests. It takes on road trips with its “employed” dogs, testing out the efficiency of every product released.
Want to know more about ruffwear? You could look them up and find out about their sales, offers, and return policies. But for now, we’ve got to run along.
Table of Contents
Who Can Wear The Ruffwear Palisades Dog Backpack?
If your dog has a back, then he can wear this pack! Lol. Well, backpacks are very universal dog apparel. Most dogs can wear whatever backpack you give them.
However, there is one thing we always say, “ask your vet before getting your dog a backpack”. Only your vet, who knows your dogs’ medical history, will be able to determine whether this particular backpack is good for your pooch or not.
Has your vet agreed? If yes, brilliant! Now, we can move on to the features of the backpack.
Features Of The Ruffwear Palisades Dog Backpack
1. Design
This backpack is a backpack can be divided into a harness and saddlebags.
a. Web-Master Harness
The harness part of this backpack is a “web-master harness”, given that name because of its four attachment points. These four attachment points are placed strategically to resemble the grip of a spider’s web.
This grip the backpack has on your dog provides load stability and comfortable weight distribution. All you have to do with this is to slip on equal, or nearly equal, weights in the two saddlebags, and watch the backpack stay on and not slip throughout the journey.
The four points are clipped on with buckles, and not Velcro straps. With those, you’re sure that the backpack stays in place, and doesn’t fall off.
b. Saddle Bags
The saddlebags are the bags where you place all your dogs’ essentials in. You can carry them yourself when your dog is resting, or buckle them on to the harness and make him carry them himself.
The bags feature a load compression system. This ensures that no matter how little what you put inside the bags are, they still remain completely secure during your travel. The bag is also spacious enough to put all of your dogs’ essentials.
So, no matter how small or large the load is, these bags will carry them properly.
2. It Comes With Hydration Bottles
If you’re wondering what hydration bottles are, they’re simply water bottles that help track how much water you’ve taken. It measures this using markers around the bottle. This backpack comes with 2 hydration bottles, one for each saddlebag.
Another good thing about these bottles is that they are collapsible. So, when the water in them is finished, you can easily collapse the bottle for easy storage. That way, it’ll take up a lot less space. Each of these bottles is 1 liter in capacity.
3. Sizes Available
The Ruffwear Palisades Dog Backpack is available in three sizes, small, medium, and large. Below is a table, featuring the company’s sizing chart for this backpack:
| Small | Medium | Large/X-Large |
| 22-27 inches (56-69 cm) | 27-32 inches (69-81 cm) | 32-42 inches (81-107 cm). |
The sizes there, refer to your dogs’ girth. If your dog is in between sizes, the company’s advice is that you pick the smaller size.
If you can’t find a size which you think would fit your dog, head on to our alternative options. There, you will find other dog backpacks, hopefully, you’ll find one that’s available in your dogs’ size.
4. Leash Attachment V-Ring
This backpack features a v-ring as its leash attachment option. It’s a single-piece, anodized, aluminum V-ring. This ring makes it easy for you to hook your leash to when you need to control your dogs’ movement.
The backpack only comes with one leash attachment, which is quite centered on top of the backpack. So, if you prefer it at the front, or at the back, you might want to look elsewhere.
Also, if your dog requires, either for medical reasons, behavior modification, or training, a specific placement for his leash, then he won’t be able to use this.
5. Padded Handle
Still talking about controlling your dogs’ movement, another feature of this backpack is its padded handle. The handle gives you an alternative control for your dog. This is especially if you want to control your dog in close proximity, or you want to carry him over an obstacle.
The manufacturers claim that the handle is strong enough to lift your dog with. While that might be true, we wouldn’t advise that you do this regularly. Maybe once in a while to get him across water or over a log, but never use it to lift your dog for a long period of time, it’s too much stress on his ribcage.
Pros Of The Ruffwear Palisades Dog Backpack
1. Freebies!
Everyone loves freebies, everyone loves added value for the things they purchase. Ruffwear knows this, and that’s why they added two free collapsible hydration bottles. These bottles are 1 liter each. Together, they’re enough to keep your dog hydrated, at least until you can find some more water.
Another way you can use these bottles is by freezing them and using them as a cooling mechanism. If you’re going out when it’s very hot, your dog runs the risk of overheating. Placing frozen bottles in the bags will help keep him cool.
2. Versatility
This backpack is very versatile. The fact that it can be used as a normal harness and also as a backpack is really good. When you want, you can simply use it for a walk around the block, or a run around the park. And when you want, you can also use it for a journey into the wild.
Cons
1. Chaffing Armpits
One severe problem we found with this backpack is that after using it for a very long period of time, your dogs’ underarms begin to chaff. This is primarily because the web style straps are not padded, which is something they used to do for older versions of this pack.
Without proper padding, the coarse nature of the straps begins to tell on the dog over a period of time.
Alternative options to the Ruffwear Palisades Dog Backpack
Padded Straps (Sleeves)
If you prefer padded straps, you know, stuff you’re sure won’t chafe your dogs’ underarms, then you really should check this out. Pretty smart backpack from smartelf. It’s also designed as a harness + saddles. However, it doesn’t come with the webmaster design.
More Affordable Option
Not the most popular brand out there, but this backpack by Pawaboo is extremely affordable. However, because of the huge price difference, you do not expect it to be as versatile and efficient as the Ruffwear pack.
Quick Comparison Table
Ruffwear Palisades Dog Backpack
|
Smartelf Dog Backpack
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Pawaboo Dog Backpack
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| Color | Red | Red | Black, red, blue, orange |
| Design | Webmaster harness + saddlebags | Harness+ saddlebags | Backpack |
What Do Others Think?
People really like this backpack. They like the fact that the saddlebags are detachable, and they absolutely loved the freebie in the form of the hydration bottles.
What Do We Think?
Great pack from Ruffwear, we expected nothing less, to be honest. However, one thing they need to work on: the straps. They’re too thin and not padded.
