"Pets are NOT to be Left Unattended.." What? Really?

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MicheleF

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Toronto, Canada
Does this phrase in a campground description mean that we aren't allowed to leave our dogs alone in the RV when we are touring?

That's how it reads to me, but that also doesn't make sense to me. I can understand not leaving them tied up outside unattended...

Michele
 
If they don't bark and annoy the neighbors it should not be a problem. If they do, the host can point to the regulation and say deal with it or leave.
 
There are many cities in this country where it is illegal to leave a pet in a vehicle. You can get a ticket for doing so. Many dogs have died from being left alone in a hot vehicle. Unfortunately they do not seem to understand that leaving a pet in an RV with the A/C running is a whole different thing.
 
I have always taken that to mean people who put their animals outside on tethers or in enclosures (in the fewer and fewer places where that is allowed) and then wander off in the campground or go to the store.

Our pets (cats) are left unattended all the time (in the coach)!  :eek:

Then again, I have been places where the dogs barked in the coach all day long while the owners were away...they usually got a visit from the campground staff when they returned. It never ceases to amaze me how some pet owners are oblivious to the behavior of their charges.

 
Our experience has been that, of those parks where we stay that print this rule, enforcement is generally limited to those who leave their pets outside. After all, unless your pet is visible or barks while you are gone, how would anyone know? Because we typically park in one spot for 2-8 weeks at a time, every time I see this rule I ask at the office whether this means I cannot go to the grocery, doctor, or laundromat? The answer, so far, has been that as long as the dog is quiet they would not be checking.
 
TomS, when are you going the fix your avatar line displaying your piccasaweb URL ?

  On my computer it is running into the text of the message, Don't ask me why .

 
We stayed in a park where the owners left their two Basset hounds from 7 am till 8 pm inside their coach, howling all day long, and I mean all the time. Amazing that they had that kind of energy!  Needless to say, on their return they were very unceremoniously evicted from the park.

We all felt so sorry for those poor dogs, staying cooped up like that all day long. One can not even comprehend what the inside of the coach must have looked and smelled like. And it was a very nice looking coach from the outside.

What some people do not realize is that ownership of pets come with a huge responsibility and you owe it to your pets. 
 
Why does one have an animal if that's all you do is leave them all day? I say animal because in this scenario they are not treated as pets/friends as they should be!
 
carson said:
TomS, when are you going the fix your avatar line displaying your piccasaweb URL ?

  On my computer it is running into the text of the message, Don't ask me why .
I fixed it just for you Carson. Now you can sleep better at night. ::)
 
ironrat said:
Why does one have an animal if that's all you do is leave them all day? I say animal because in this scenario they are not treated as pets/friends as they should be!
I have three cats. It is just not possible to take them with me everywhere I go. It is not possible to take them anywhere I go since they are indoor only cats. Having a pet does not mean you are required to spend 24/7 with them. I spend a few hours a day with my cats so they know they are loved. But cats sleep 18 hours a day so what am I suppose to do? Take three sleeping cats with me everywhere I go? Catblaster took me to the DMV this morning and then to the beach. Cats aren't allow in the DMV nor are they allowed on the beach. Should I have stayed home to keep the cats company while they sleep instead of having a nice day with CB? I don't think so...
 
Thank you SeilerBird for your succint reply to whoever thought having a pet means spending all your time with them.  If that was the case, why would I have bought an RV?  I could have stayed home with them!  ;D

I honestly don't know how they are going to react to being left in the RV, but my experience has been if they've been fed, walked, peed and pooed - they only want to sleep!
 
MicheleF said:
Thank you SeilerBird for your succint reply to whoever thought having a pet means spending all your time with them.  If that was the case, why would I have bought an RV?  I could have stayed home with them!  ;D
You are welcome Michele, ma belle. The beautiful thing about RVing is that if you leave on a vacation flying and staying in hotels you are required to leave your pets at home and have them boarded or cared for by people other than you. With an RV is you can take the pets with you. No, they can't be with you every single second but at least they are with you most of the time.
 
(Hit Post too soon). It's our first time, so we don't know how our dogs are going to react.  We are going to be parking the trailer at a friends property and boondocking a couple of times before we hit a local park, and then we're going to a park for 2 nights to practice hooking up and everything.

Our plan was to leave the dogs in the trailer on the property, and see how they react if someone they don't know walks by the trailer.

Then if that's good, we'll do the same thing at the park, where there will be more people, but we'll only be 2-3 campsites away, visiting with other people.

Then and only then would we feel comfortable leaving them, after they've been exercised - and we would never leave them without leaving a phone number where we could be reached to return immediately if there were a problem.  And - btw - we put a generator in our FW - JUST for the DOGS!!  :D
 
Cats are a bit more independent for sure, I don't see a lot of problems with them. But when talking about a dog, well then if you're going to leave them all day or hours on end in your RV you should not have them in this kind of setup! So flame on but you are not a good friend of a dog this way and you surly do not know how your dog acts when you're away either, such barking, howling and yea just unhealthy all around!
 
MicheleF said:
(Hit Post too soon). It's our first time, so we don't know how our dogs are going to react.  We are going to be parking the trailer at a friends property and boondocking a couple of times before we hit a local park, and then we're going to a park for 2 nights to practice hooking up and everything.

Our plan was to leave the dogs in the trailer on the property, and see how they react if someone they don't know walks by the trailer.

Then if that's good, we'll do the same thing at the park, where there will be more people, but we'll only be 2-3 campsites away, visiting with other people.

Then and only then would we feel comfortable leaving them, after they've been exercised - and we would never leave them without leaving a phone number where we could be reached to return immediately if there were a problem.  And - btw - we put a generator in our FW - JUST for the DOGS!!  :D




Two or three camp sites away is a whole different thing than people leaving their dogs and going to town. You are in the area if there is any problems of any kind.
 
I meant that we would be 2-3 campsites away in the local campground, just to see how the react.  Hopefully, they'll be good and then when we hit the road, we could leave them while we tour.  I don't think most tourist sites will let us bring our dogs in, and I sure as heck won't leave them in a hot truck - and the RV was so we could tour our country and our neighbours' as well - so....
 
MicheleF said:
Thank you SeilerBird for your succint reply to whoever thought having a pet means spending all your time with them.  If that was the case, why would I have bought an RV?  I could have stayed home with them!  ;D

I honestly don't know how they are going to react to being left in the RV, but my experience has been if they've been fed, walked, peed and pooed - they only want to sleep!

Michele
We bring our 2 Corgis with us wherever we travel and leave them in our motorhome when we are out seeing the sights. We don't usually leave them for too long or we might have a mess ::) . After all, when we are at home and both working, they don't see us until lunch time. I then take them out for a walk. That walk is usually around the park where they make new friends. They are also a source for social interaction with my neighbors. We stop and say hi. I usually ask my next door neighbors if they have been noisy at all. Traveling with dogs and walking them thru the park is part of the experience. 8)

 
Like most rules, this one gives the campground owner/manager a way to deal with problems. A barking or howling dog inside an RV is one of the more common complaints the management receives (we've spent 7 summers as campground workers, so we know this well!) and the owners inevitable say "not my dog - it never barks".

One very pet friendly campground we worked at handled the problem a bit differently. They required that a key be left at the office if your pet was left inside and unattended. It was for pet safety as well as noise problems - if campground power failed they would gather the animals and put them in the fenced dog run, and they had pet carriers in the office for smaller animals. Owners were encouraged to leave their pets at the outdoor run while away - it was a nice facility, with partial shade and located behind the office, where the staff could keep an eye on them. No charge to use the dog run or for the staff to rescue lonesome animals either.

In defense of responsible pet owners, I must say that we had a campsite neighbor last summer whose big Lab moaned/howled continuously when they left for the day. I spoke with them that evening and they were mortified. The dog was very well-behaved otherwise but had rarely been left alone before, so they simply didn't know he would react that way. For the next week they took the dog everywhere, or somebody stayed with him while the others (two couples + a kid) went out.
 
I concur on the pet friendly campground,I have never heard of that.  We have 2 hienz-57's and at home they are left alone all day when we are both working.  When in the RV, we keep the front curtains closed so they don't see other people/animals too often.  That would be the only time they would bark.  As to taking them with us in the car, we do that only if we are not visiting sites.  If we are just driving around then they go with us.  If we are seeing sites we have to leave them in the RV, because even if they were in the car and we left it locked and the A/C running and they had water, some goody two-shoes without a brain busy body, would call the police on us and we don't need the hassle. 
 

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