The first summer I hiked with Moss, I carried water for both of us and no bowl. At every stop I poured some into my cupped hand and let him lap it out of my palm. Half of it ran down my wrist. The other half ran down his chest. By August I had tried a plastic bag, a sandwich container from the kitchen drawer, and a cut-down yogurt tub, and none of them survived a weekend in a daypack.
Three years ago I bought a Kurgo Zippy Bowl, and it has been clipped to whichever pack is in use ever since. It is not the most exciting thing in my gear bin. It is the piece I would replace first if I lost it. Here are ten reasons it earns its spot, plus the honest parts nobody puts in the listing.
The 1.76-ounce bowl that has been on every hike for three years
Kurgo's collapsible bowl zips down to 7 by 3.3 inches, opens to 6.5 inches wide, and holds up to 48 fluid ounces. It ships with a carabiner so it clips to a pack strap instead of sinking to the bottom of your bag.
Amazon See the Zippy Bowl on Amazon →It clips to the outside of the pack, so you stop digging for it
The bowl comes with a carabiner, and that one small piece of hardware is the whole reason this thing actually gets used. Mine rides on the outside of Moss's day pack on longer hikes and on my own pack when he is not carrying any weight. I can reach it without taking my pack off. When you are stopped on a trail with a dog staring at you, that matters more than any number on the listing.
It folds to 7 by 3.3 inches and disappears into a pocket
Zipped shut, it measures about 7 by 3.3 inches and weighs 1.76 ounces. That is small enough that on a short four mile hike I sometimes clip it to my belt loop instead of a pack strap. Opened up it stands 4.8 inches high and 6.5 inches wide. In three years I have never once had to think about where to put it.
Forty-eight ounces covers a long stop without a refill
The bowl holds up to 48 fluid ounces. I do not fill it anywhere near that, and the restraint is deliberate. I pour about a third of the way up at each stop, let Moss drink, and tip out whatever is left if he is done. On a hot exposed stretch he will take the whole third. Carrying a bowl that can hold more than you need costs you nothing, because the weight is in the water, not the bowl.
At camp it does double duty as a kibble bowl
On the one or two overnights I do each summer, Moss eats his kibble out of the same bowl he drinks from. That is one less thing in the pack. I unzip it, pour his portion, and zip it shut again when he is finished so nothing ends up loose in the food bag overnight.
At 1.76 ounces it never has to justify itself
I am not a weight weenie. I carry trekking poles and a real camera. But there is a category of gear where every item is fighting for its place in the pack, and a bowl that weighs less than two ounces never enters that fight. Mine has been in the pack for three years and I have never once considered leaving it in the car to save the weight.
It sits where you put it, so you get both hands back
Moss is 46 pounds and drinks like he is being timed. With the bowl open on a flat rock I can hold his leash in one hand and pour with the other, or set it down and let him work. The open shape means he is not chasing water around a narrow lip. He drank out of it the first time I set it down, which is more than I can say for some of the gear I have bought him.
It zips shut, so nothing leaks into your pack
The zipper is the closure, not a lid you have to keep track of. If you fill it and your dog does not finish, you can zip it and hang it back on the carabiner without a wet spot spreading through your layers. I have done exactly that on a wet October hike and opened my pack at the car to find everything inside still dry.
It rinses clean in about a minute at home
Now the honest part. Trail grit works its way into the zipper teeth, and if you leave it there the bowl feels grubby the next time you open it. Mine gets a rinse in the sink after most hikes and a longer soak every few weeks. It has not torn, split at the seams, or started leaking in three years of Saturdays.
It permanently retired the plastic bag and the cupped hand
Before this I was pouring water into my hand or a bag, and both are worse in every way I can measure. A bag does not stand up, a hand holds almost nothing, and neither works at camp for kibble. I have never owned one of the dog water bottles with a built-in trough, so I cannot compare this to those. I can tell you I stopped looking once it arrived.
Kurgo backs it with a lifetime warranty
The listing says lifetime warranty if you buy from an authorized seller, so keep your order record somewhere you can find it. I have not had to use it. Three years in, the zipper still runs, the fabric still holds water, and the carabiner still clips. That is the quiet kind of reliability you only notice when something else in your kit gives out.
What I'd Skip
I would skip this bowl if your dog will only drink out of the bowl at home, because no trail bowl fixes that. I would also skip it if your dog empties a full 48 ounces at every stop and you would rather carry a bottle with a trough built in, since that is a job this bowl does not do on its own. And if your dog only ever walks around the neighborhood, a bowl that stays in the car is plenty and you do not need one clipped to a pack strap. What I would not skip is having something. I spent most of a year on a cupped hand and did not realize how bad a solution it was until I stopped using it.
Three years, every hike, one rinse at the sink, and it has not torn, split or leaked.
One small bowl, three years of stops, no more cupped hands
The Kurgo Zippy Bowl folds to 7 by 3.3 inches, opens to 6.5 inches wide, weighs 1.76 ounces, and clips to a pack strap on the carabiner it comes with.
Amazon See the Zippy Bowl on Amazon →