rethinking getting a puppy

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I have a Trend that's 24 feet long from front bumper back to the itty bitty hitch.  So yes, big dogs in small motorhomes do work.  My lab Bailey is close to 100 pounds.  We can both have our feet on the floor at the same time, but he does have to back out of the bathroom doorway since he can't turn around. And he knows he doesn't fit in the bathroom so the doorway is as far as he can go.  ;D  He loves traveling, and I like having a very large and deep bark when I need it.  He thinks he's the walmart greeter at campgrounds.
 
Come on folks, post some pics of these RV fur babies!

I posted pics of my 6 pound clown above.  8)

I know laugh... someone accused me of not having a "real" dog until I showed him how my joke of a dog can run catch a full sized frisbee and bring it back. Then I asked "Can your dog do that?" And now they were stammering cause their 90 pound dog hadn't been trained to fetch a frisbee. LOL!

My dog is so energetic I taught him how to play ball and frisbee so I could tire him out.

All it did was build up a tiny muscular doggy!

The new vet said he was underweight (I get so tired of hearing this!) and I said "Wait until you touch his muscles!" She was plenty shocked cause this little guy has built up lean hard muscles from all his playing and running. Finally she admitted he was indeed a healthy weight and healthy dog.

I was at a beach campground where dogs are allowed on the beaches too. After a few days my neighbors said they felt like there were more dogs than people in the campground. I aid "Yeah there is cause the dogs don't want to go home!"

But that week I think there were 2 dogs per person because they were every where!
 
I lost my wife in May, and thought about selling my coach. Thing is I can't go any place over night because I have 3 fur babies that need my care. I promised my wife I'd take care of them so long as they live. They all like to travel, but the snoodle  get's very excited when we stop, so I have to take them out immediately. It is a chore sometimes with 3 on a leash, but I keep my rubber gloves and plastic bags by the door. When I leave I close the shades, even the windshield curtain. If I leave the curtain open, my Lhasa likes too get up on the dash to look out, can't seem to break her of that. Here is a pic of them when they were younger. All are about 9 years old now.  I visited some friends earlier this year and parked in their driveway, left the dogs in the MH with the air on. We never heard a peep out of them, and we spent much of the day talking in the garage next to where I was parked.
 

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Our fur babies.
 

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Here is our Ami. I call her Pitstop, but her name is Ami Lee.
She was a sort-of rescue almost 16 years ago.

Way back before we had an RV, We were on an extended road trip.
near the beginning of the trip, we were on the way to St Louis with daughter and grandkids when one of the grandkids demanded a pit stop.
We pulled into a truck stop somewhere near Cuba, MO and this guy comes walking out of the truckstop holding what appeared to be a small rat by the nape of her neck.
Margo said, let me see that. The guy handed her over and began telling how he was going to have to dispose of it because he couldn't sell it. She had an underbite, so none of the pet shops in St Louis would buy her.

It was love at first sight. No matter that we were on a six month road trip living out of our car and hotels, gallivanting about the country for my work, and we would not see home til Fall, Margo was hooked.

The guy let me take her off his hands for 100 bucks.

 

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I enjoyed reading all of the suggestions... I'm a first timer in a 5th wheel (picking it up in a couple of weeks) and my fur baby and I are going to be living in it for at least a year...  she's an only child... loves people, but get's all bossy when there's another dog around... I also go through a ritual when I leave her... she doesn't bark... she understands the 'wait' and the 'stay' and I swear she understands 'I'll be back'

Since she may be around more dogs than normal, I'll have to work on socializing her more with other dogs.  Here's my 6 lb diva dog.

 

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We have two Yorkies which we got five years before we started full-timing we so we have some experience with this issue.

Most campgrounds have this policy because of nuisance barking.  When we are gone we keep the shades closed so the dogs can't see people walking by and the TV on to help disguise outside noise.

We can't leave for more than about 6 hours at a time since the dogs need to be let out unless we ask a friend/coworker to let them out for us.  We can never go away overnight which we would occasionally like to do, unless we put them in a kennel.  I'm planning a trip to visit my children and grandchildren in Boston and my husband is staying home with the dogs.

Once you have a dog you must adjust your lifestyle to accommodate them. Honestly, as much as I love our furbabies and wouldn't give them up for the world ... if I knew then what I know now ...

 
We have two dogs and have been full time for about three years.  The dogs are no real problem when traveling.  The only down side is we cannot be away from he motorhome for extended periods of time, overnight, unless we are willing to pay for a kennel.  The pleasure of the dogs outweighs the travel restrictions.
 
johnaye said:
We have two dogs and have been full time for about three years.  The dogs are no real problem when traveling.  The only down side is we cannot be away from he motorhome for extended periods of time, overnight, unless we are willing to pay for a kennel.  The pleasure of the dogs outweighs the travel restrictions.

I have a potty patch for my dog... at home I had a 'porch potty', I had that outside on the patio... they're big enough for multiple dogs but they have to be able to get to it... I cut the screen so she could go in and out as she pleased and wasn't on the ground floor... and a smaller patch indoors which she never used/uses unless I found myself away longer than normal... I still work...
 
We have a jack russell terrier never had a problem and you know what they say about Jacks.?
 
Wow!!!
  OP here.  We got our puppy.  We picked her up on October 21st. 

  We live in northern California.  Very early morning on October 9th my Search and Rescue pager went off.  We were activated to assist with evacuations from the wildfires that ended up destroying nearly 9 thousand structures, in 3 counties.  Once the evacuations were done, we started work on finding the remains of unaccounted for persons.  A thoroughly exhausting job.
  My son had evacuated to a town about 3 hours away (His girlfriend's parent's house).  He called and asked if we were still interested in a puppy.  His GF had seen a puppy that needed a home.  I called down and the owner/breeder agreed to keep her until I could come down and check her out.  We immediately bonded and we took her home.  I'm not sure if she needed us, or if we needed her.  Anyway. she is now learning her manners and her place in the family.  We have taken her on a couple of weekend trips already.  She's going to be a great dog!

Greg

BTW, we will be going full-time in May.  So... she will be, mostly, a companion.  Of course, we will play games that will prepare her for search duty, if we decide to go back to a "sticks and bricks" house.
 
Greg, we no longer live in California but still have family in both north and south.  They were all close to the evacuation zones in Santa Rosa, Sonoma and Oceanside.  I just want to say thank you for all you and the others did to help save lives and homes.  A yeoman's job for sure!  And a particularly difficult one when looking for remains.

I hope you and your new puppy will share many good times together.  Yep, you need one another!

ArdraF
 
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