For those with dogs...

[FourRingCircus]

It was mentioned in the napping thread, but I didn't want to hijack so I figured I would start a new one...

How do you hammock with a dog? I would be afraid of their nail puncturing or tearing the material! I pulled ODS's dog in with me one day, just for fun, and she did OK, but that was my fear as he (not realizing where she was) whistled for her and she attempted to take off. She's only 21 lbs so it wasn't difficult to lift her up and set her on me, but with the bigger guys I don't see that being possible and have even seen some in hammocks by themselves.

[dkurfiss]

Please keep your responses centered around the hammock and not how you otherwise deal with your dog when hammock camping. If these thread moves away from OP question it will get moved to the DM section.

Thank you!

[alifeoutdoors]

Inspired by Fronky I had this bug net custom made for me so she can sleep underneath, yet be contained and protected from bugs.
hammocknetThree.jpg

[Pyrogen]

I too was wondering if anyone's had any rip-paranoia while hammocking with a pooch. My dog randomly decided to hop in with me last weekend and somehow completely missed the hammock and landed perfectly on my torso, and layed down (Dog defies gravity, I swear..), but I imagine if he got stuck besides me, he'd probably get fidgety and try to escape.

alifeoutdoors, that pooch-modded bug net is genius!

[alifeoutdoors]

Thanks, it is the pride of my kit. I was working on the design for years but finally Fronkey came up with a working model and I was able to show John from Bear Paw Wilderness Designs what I meant. Has worked out beautifully.

[CoreyR]

My pup, all 41 pounds of Border collie, has, thus far elected to sleep beneath my rear end, on a pad. The only problem is, every time he hears something, during the night, he leaps up to investigate, slamming his head into my butt!
I have been kicking around trying to make him a hammock of his own but, because of his claws, I figure it wold have to be canvas or something.

[Pyrogen]

Maybe spreader-bar style ala-Dutch? 2 hammocks, one suspension setup? Be sure it's to the side though, and not below you. Wouldn't want midnight pooch-fartz waking you up from the murky depths!!

[Turk3]

Contact Randy at Dream Hammocks about his new material that will not rip...I saw it in person it's really impressive.
turk3

[Ratdog]

Altogether I had maybe 50lbs of dog and 300+lbs of me in my hammock for weeks on end. Both at home and backcountry camping, backcountry for about 6 weeks. Dogs were fine in the hammock.

Most of the time I used a WBBB or WBBB XLC so I could zip it up with the bug net or top cover and everyone stayed put. The dogs quickly learned where the zipper was at the head end and if something riled them and they wanted out, they'd both charge up to "my end" of the hammock pushing at the net or cover. It was pretty funny most of the time, not so much at 4 in the morning.

Getting out of the hammock first thing in the morning, making sure they were both leashed up if we were at a campground was always humorous. It was a mini circus to watch the 3 of us pile out of the camo colored XLC when I first unzipped the top cover.

As for protecting the hammock material, I just threw down a wool blanket at the foot and and one dog would curl up in the footbox, the other buried himself in the top quilt. We stayed outside from -10º to 95º without an issue, no damage to any hammocks. I didn't even pay much attention to the nail clipping. I will say that most of my hammocks were double layer so I had that safety margin in case something did happen.

Now the 85lb Golden Retriever, he has to sleep outside. It only took one surprise landing, when he jumped into the hammock on top of me, to decide, uh No, that's not going to work. Anything under 40lbs, yeah, they can hop in, find their spot and chill. And I have to say, the dogs really like hanging, they will jump up and nap half the day away if I let them.

So I'd say, throw a little something, fleece, wool, woobie (poncho liner) or whatever, even a CCF pad, down at the foot end and you should be good to go wrt the potential tear/rip issue with dog claws. The rest of it, finding space in the hammock, getting comfortable, the dogs figure out for themselves.

[BigE94]

Responding to alifeoutdoors bug net system.

That looks great. Grand trunk has something similar but I don't know what the floor is made of. It may be an off the shelf solution. I'm assuming GTs design would be inferior as yours looks beefy.