What to do with the dog

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mtonepa

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Joined
Apr 19, 2009
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11
We have been camping for three years now but we are new dog owners. We took him on the first trip ( short) and he liked it and we all did well in the popup. I am wondering about how does everyone deal with their dog(s) when they want to go to town for a day trip to some shops, museum, water park for the kids, etc.... What do you do with the dog. At home we put him in the crate and if we will be longer then 4 + hours we ask a friend to let him out. I am wondering about doing the same, in the cmper put him in the crate and lock it up but i just get the feeling that this might not be a good idea.

What do you all do? 
 
What scares me is heat from the sun cooking hot  inside the unit.  Second is fire.  Those two tihings make it so my yorkie goes with me..
 
We leave the three of them in the rig, crated, with the thermostat set at 74°.  Then we worry about something tripping the A/C's breaker.  So we usually stay away only 4-6 hours.  We leave a little fan running down on the floor to circulate air, in case the A/C goes off unexpectedly.

We've never heard of them barking continuously while we're gone - some dogs do that though, and are very unpopular with other campers.
 
Before anyone jumps my bones I have owned dogs for over 20 years. we just don't have one at the present time...

This question is probably best answered before you obtained the dog!!!!!
My suggestion is always take the dog with you...... :(
 
We have two dogs, one is a traveler, the other one is not.  We have to have someone watch the non-traveler when we go camping.  For the traveler, we try to take her with us when we go somewhere, but that is not always possible.  We leave her in the camper with the AC going, and try not to stay gone more than two or three hours at a time.  We were gone almost five hours one time and she did fine.  We got no reports of constant barking, and she is usually pretty good when we leave.
 
If you have a barker, please don't leave them in the camper (or chained outside, as I have seen several times).  If you're going to be spending a LONG day, look for a groomer/kennel near where you are camping an negotiate with them.  We regularly leave our dog in our camper for 4-5 hours with AC and fan.  While you can't prepare for all possible circumstances, we try to perpare for some.
(1) Try to make friends with you neighbor.  If for no other reason then to get some recon on your dog's behavior during your absence.  If they are very amiable, you could volunteer your cell number for emergencies.  We also tape ours to our window next to the DOG ON BOARD sign when we leave for a day.
(2) Tell the camp host if you are going to be gone all day and there is a dog in the camper.  In the case of a fire, they will know that you would want them to do everything possible to get that dog out.
(3) Find the closest vet to your campground and have directions in your car, just in case.
(4) ALWAYS provide too much water and enough food.
(5) Know your dog's limits.  Ours can EASILY go 10 hours without using the facilities.  Some, however, cannot.
 
I think because you are in a pop-up camper, things might be a bit different for you than for those of us who have hard sided trailers, 5th wheels and motorhomes.  More than likely you don't have an air conditioner.  If so and you are camping in hot weather, I would NOT leave the dog in the camper. And most likely you will not be able to leave it chained outside.  Often when you check in at some campgrounds, it states on the receipt, do not leave animals unattended; that implies alone in and out of the camper.

We travel with 2 cats and a large standard poodle.  The dog goes with us everywhere.  If it's too hot to leave him in the car, then we do something that he can do with us.  We've found some places allow dogs to participate, especially if I go inside and tell them we have a dog and we don't want to leave him in a hot car, they allow us to bring him in.  So, it helps to check with the establishment.  One thing you'll want to make sure of is that if you do take your dog in with crowds or other situations where people will be in close proximity to you, is that your dog is well behaved and friendly.

If we find ourselves in a situation where we can't take the dog in and it's a long tour (i.e. Silverton Railroad ride in Colorado) often the campground will recommend a kennel or they may have someone on site to let your dog out and take it for a walk.  Having someone come into the camper to let the dog out would be my last resort.  I'd be worried something would happen then I'd be responsible.

If it's hot and we plan to leave the animals for several hours, I tell the management that they are inside the motor home and leave them my cell phone number in case something happens.  That might work well if the entire campground looses electricity; but if only your site has no power, no one will know.

Traveling with a dog makes things more difficult, but for us, it's worth every bit of inconvenience.

Marsha~

 
We'll be using Doggywood next month while in the Smoky Mountains.  Two days of dog-sitting for $30 is not bad at all.  We'll be gone from 9:00am-8:00pm, so it wouldn't be fair to her if we left her in the camper.
 
mtonepa said:
We have been camping for three years now but we are new dog owners. We took him on the first trip ( short) and he liked it and we all did well in the popup. I am wondering about how does everyone deal with their dog(s) when they want to go to town for a day trip to some shops, museum, water park for the kids, etc.... What do you do with the dog. At home we put him in the crate and if we will be longer then 4 + hours we ask a friend to let him out. I am wondering about doing the same, in the cmper put him in the crate and lock it up but i just get the feeling that this might not be a good idea.

What do you all do?  

We leave the dog in the trailer and did so with his predecessor both over a period of 13 years.   In warm weather, we leave him with the A/C on and a vent and window open at least partially and window shades down.   In cooler weather, with without the A/C on, but with all windows and vents open.  Neither critter was a obsessive barker.  Both were comfortable with the trailer as a family 'den'.

We have a travel trailer with limited glass area.   I would be much more cautious with a motorhome with its large windshield area -- the surface for greenhousing is much larger.   I also know from personal experience that my trailer, shut up in 90? plus weather will remain quite comfortable for over 4-5 hours from a cool morning start  You should checkout your unit yourself.

 
I forgot to mention that we do have AC in the popup but we are also in the process of upgrading to a travel trailer(Partly because of the dog). He is not a nuisance barker so I do not worry too much about being a bother to my neighbors IT just seemed kind of odd to think about leaving him in the trailer. He does very well in a crate, sleeps in one for 7-8 hours a night without a peep until I take him out in the morning.

Looks like a I have several options that I can look to incorporate, thanks for all your input. 
 
We're on our 3rd labrador. All have traveled with us in the motorhome and all have done well. When we need to leave Gordon in the motorhome, we always leave windows open and the A/C set. I don't care if we're cooling the great outdoors with our A/C. Our current motorhome has a thermostat so it only comes on if it exceeds a certain temperature. On our old class C, there was no thermostat so we usually just left windows open. And a lot of the time, the hairy kid goes with us.

We've checked on doggy daycare at a lot of places, just never had occasion to use one. But some of them look so good, I'd like to stay at them !!

Enjoy traveling with your hairy kids. They're part of the family.

Wendy
Colorado
 

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