Pets and the a/c unit

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Pauls Toy Hauler

Pauls Toy Hauler

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 5, 2011
Posts
127
Location
Greater Houston Area - West
So, I'm fresh to RV'ing and haven't had a chance to take my pets on an official camping weekend.  Where we are going is to the hill country in Texas for about 3 days and riding our motorcycles around the area.  My question is it ok to leave my two dogs in the TT with a a/c on all day, maybe from like 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.?  I'm always paranoid about leaving things on and running.  I know in the morning it will be cool probably in the 50's, it will be shaded all day and probably not get above 85.  What can I do?  what do you guys do?
 
I leave ours running all day for the dogs. I'm guessing you will be in a park with ac power and not the generator running. I came up with a small circut that has a ac and a dc timer relay in it so when the ac goes off the dc timer kicks in and starts the generator and then kicks it off when the ac comes back on. Got to really love dogs
 
If the A/C works and nothing happens to the electricity to it, then the pups should be okay.  If they aren't used to camping, you might want to "camp" in the drive for at least one night with them.  Let them get used to the TT.  When you're actually camping, you might not want to stay gone all day the first day but leave & come back several times so they know you aren't abandoning them.

We camped this past weekend and about 4 sites down from us were 2 dogs whose owners didn't feel it necessary to keep them on leashes so they wandered around our end of the campground all weekend.  The humans did put them in the TT when they left and the dogs howled, barked and cried for the entired time they were gone.  Make sure to follow the rules for pets established by the campground and be courteous to your neighbors.  Are you sure the dogs don't bark while you're gone?

What kind of dogs do you have?  Some breeds, especially those with short noses like boxers, pugs, bostons & bulldogs, don't cool off easily and seem to be affected by heat more quickly than some other breeds.
 
If we go to do something that the dog can not go to we leave him in the TT with the A/C on. When we get to a CG and get set up we take Bentley for a walk to get to know the area we are in. The first time we took Bentley camping with us we took him for the walk then later in the day we put him in the TT and we went for a walk. He didn't bark while we were away and he was happy laying on our bed. (he thought he was getting away with something. Usually we leave a radio on when we are gone. I he is not going with us we make sure he gets a good long walk before we put him in the TT and leave.
 
Thanks for the replies.  My dogs aren't big time barkers by no means.  they are smaller dogs, older dogs, about 11 years old.  They are comfortable with with TT.  they came with us on our trip to go pick it up and spent two nights in it, but they've never been it by themselves.  We travel a lot, this being the first in a TT, so they have never felt abondoned.  they are used to us being gone for short spurts.  I was just mostly concerned with leaving the a/c running for 9-10 hours until we got back from our motorcycle ride.  And really with the way the weather is gonna be in fredericksburg, tx, is where I'm staying, it almost seems as if the a/c doesn't even need to be run until maybe the late afternoon, if that.
 
You referr to Pets and not Pet. Having more than one is the best medicine for leaving them alone. The anxiety is much less for most Dogs when they are with at least part of the pack.

We leave the A/C on when we go away and leave the dogs in the MH. As long as we have a electrical hookup the coach stays cool. We also pull the shades down and cover the front window, this helps keep the heat out and makes it so the critters can't see people walk by and cause a ruckus. We don't think they bark when were gone but of course can't know for certain. They can get quite protective when they think you have left them in charge.
 
We take Duncan everywhere we go in the motor home.  Duncan is the picture of perfect behavior at home, in the motor home he is good when we are there, but tears the place up when left in charge.  The solution is to keep him in his crate when he doesn't get to go on what ever the adventure is for that day.  He likes his crate and he knows that it is a safe place we will always return to so it is very settling to him to go in there.  We leave him with water and the thermostat set to the same temperature it would be when we are inside the rig.  Keeping in mind that the AC doesn't run "all the time" it only runs when it gets warm enough to trip the thermostat.

Jeff
 
Hi,
We also leave Toby in the RV. We do open the ceiling vent and a window (slightly) so some circulation is maintained if the AC(s) should quit.
Ernie
 
So do the ac unit turn off completly?  no fan constantly running?  Haven't had a chance to use it and probably won't even need to use it, but I just don't want my buddies caught up in heat if it's not necessary.
 
Start out with shorter trips and gradually work up to 8-9 hours. 

We live full time with two dogs in the trailer and try not to leave them for more than four hours, but that is just our "rule."

If is is going to be hot, we leave our cell phone number with the office and ask them to call us if the park loses power, so we can return.

So far, so good.
 
The A/C will only come on when the thermostat setting calls for it like in a home.  We also have pets, 2 cats and a 75 lb standard poodle.  When we leave and are parked in a camp gound we leave the A/C on.  I also turn on the fan so that air is circulated even when the A/C doesn't kick in.

Marsha~
 
Not all RV A/Cs have a thermostat. On our Class C, you turned it on and it ran constantly until you turned it off. If you don't have a thermostat, I don't know how hard it would be to add one but it would be a good thing to have if you're leaving the hairy kids alone in the RV. When we have electric hookups we leave our 82-pound lab alone in the coach with the thermostat set at 80 and both roof vents open and a couple of windows open part way, just in case the power goes off. If we're boondocking and have no electric, we don't leave him alone in the coach if it's going to be hot.

Enjoy your trip with the kids.
Wendy
Cortez Colorado
 
Dog Folks said:
Start out with shorter trips and gradually work up to 8-9 hours. 

We live full time with two dogs in the trailer and try not to leave them for more than four hours, but that is just our "rule."

If is is going to be hot, we leave our cell phone number with the office and ask them to call us if the park loses power, so we can return.

So far, so good.
Click to expand...
I really like this suggestion, leaving my cell number :) I totally agree with leaving the AC and genie running also. Now in another forum I an additional suggestion: putting down plastic topped with a wet blanket (wet with cold water) for the dog to lie on and keep cool should things shut down. This really made sense to me as a security.
 
mike eddleman said:
I leave ours running all day for the dogs. I'm guessing you will be in a park with ac power and not the generator running. I came up with a small circut that has a ac and a dc timer relay in it so when the ac goes off the dc timer kicks in and starts the generator and then kicks it off when the ac comes back on. Got to really love dogs
Click to expand...

This is a big concern of mine, I heard of pets dying because their was a power outage at the campground and pets were in the RV's with no ac. I was wondering if there was something I could put on my MH so the generator auto kicks on if the power goes out. Does anyone know of this?
 
While its conceivable that an outage can occur and that it gets hot enough to harm a dog (rarely so for a cat), it's also one of those internet alarmist things that has been blown way out of proportion. But to answer your question, yes you can add "automatic generator starting", auto-gen-start or AGS for short. Onan makes an add-on system called Energy Command, and both Xantrex and Magnum offer it as an extra feature on some of their inverters.
 
Thank you for your response, I will check into your suggestions. Actually, in Delaware a few years back in a private campground the power went out and several people lost their pets because they were away for a few hours and didn't know. When its hot it doesn't take long.
 
Some RVs come with generators that have the auto start feature.

ArdraF
 
Pauls Toy Hauler said:
So, I'm fresh to RV'ing and haven't had a chance to take my pets on an official camping weekend.  Where we are going is to the hill country in Texas for about 3 days and riding our motorcycles around the area.  My question is it ok to leave my two dogs in the TT with a a/c on all day, maybe from like 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.?  I'm always paranoid about leaving things on and running.  I know in the morning it will be cool probably in the 50's, it will be shaded all day and probably not get above 85.  What can I do?  what do you guys do?
Click to expand...
For piece of mind what I did was get a La Crosse Alerts Remote Temp. Alert and I can check on the temp in my trailer when I am away.
 
May be a little technical and doesn't really address the ac issue, I think there are some good suggestions here, but as far as being able to check on the pups, I use a dropcam connected through my mifi device. I can then check on them real time using my phone. It also records them so I can see what they did while I was away (which is sometimes good for a laugh). I don't usually leave them for more than an hour, but if I check on them regularly and they are doing fine, I'm comfortable staying away longer if needed. Also, if I lose power the app on my phone will tell me the camera has shut off.
 
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