The legs out design doesn't look very comfortable to me. Laurel's body is different from my human children's bodies. Some of the inexpensive dog carriers look more like costumes, trying to imitate the look of some of my favourite human infant carriers without understanding the function of them.
My favourite carriers for Laurel are a purse made out of the same material as the Baja hoodie I wore over the sling when she was an infant and a DIY:
https://www.mysocalledcraftylife.com...ozy-pet-sling/
designed for a dog's body, not a human's. Because I seriously geek out on this sort of stuff, I have altered the pattern even further to take into account the fact that my kids like to cuddle next to my heart and see the world closer to adult eye level.
Most designers seem to want to doggie bouncing around at my hip like a purse.
It probably isn't that important if you only use the sling 1-3 times a month for hiking. An old pouch style human baby sling worked for the first few months after Laurel came home and I just tied her on safely with a T-shirt long enough to look through the boxes in my closet and find one on "gotcha day".
She's an 8 month old intact preteen right now so she can easily manage 5+ miles on the trail and there are way too many interesting things to smell on the ground. We still love our sling for cuddles. My favourite time is in the morning when I know I need to get the dishes washed or some sort of food packed and ready to go but I don't waaaaaaaaaant to leave my cuddly little girl to go do chores.
And I don't have to.
