Bad Campground Behaviors?

[RanCarr]

Originally Posted by GreatWhite

Cats.. yah, I agree. Tell me why do dogs have to be licensed and on a leash and cat's get off free? Life isn't fair.. but, no one ever said it was.

Cats are not allowed to wander off-leash in CGs. But some CGs highly discourage cats on leashes or tethers since dogs will somethings get loose and can maim or kill the cat, even with the owner at the other end of the cat's leash. They can also be attacked by wildlife I was told, as wildlife often enters campgrounds looking for food.

[RanCarr]

Originally Posted by BFlinn181

Wow, I thought this was about bad campground behavior. Unfortunately the OP started about unleashed animals and this turned into a pet rant. (even a parenting critic)

Parenting critic? I'm a greatgrandmother and know children well. The child can awake before the parents, open the RV door and wander off. There are pedophiles everywhere. Or the cat can get out and get run over or lost. Cats don't back-track as dogs can. Sometimes parents don't think of these things. No one is being critical of parenting. If I wasn't concerned about the child as well as the cat I wouldn't waste my time posting anything.

[sirpurrcival]

I find the music pollution one of the ones that get on my nerves. I don't understand why people see the need to get out into nature only to fill it with music that they can listen to anytime at home.

Follow that up with the drunken party yahoo's that one sometimes encounters, all stuff that has been mentioned and I guess the other thing the gets me is the practice of sending people ahead to hold campsites in areas where reservations are not required. eg. three groups getting together for the weekend, one arrives a day early and puts two lawn chairs on two other sites for their friends. Not cricket in my books in a first come first serve situation.

[Wayne M]

Cats will be cats, dogs will be dogs, and 1 year old children will be 1 year old children.

With that said, it is unfortunate that a 1 year old child that does not "fully" understand rules and regulations, and even when you think they do, they do something to offset the mentality that the child should know better. They don't. It is a learning curve but not one that a 1 year old child can latch on to quickly. It just happens.

Cats are notorious for trying to sneak out. Could better safeguards been in place. Who knows. The family must care a lot for the cat to have it travel with the family, and to go to its rescue.

Dogs will also try to sneak out. I can say unequivocally that when we open the door to the motor home, our 80 pound husky will sit there until you put a leash on her. However, all bets are off if there is an unleashed dog roaming around in our yard, whether it escaped of was just let out because the owner thinks it is a good thing for the dog. Talk about protective, our 80 pound pooch would jump in a heartbeat. Therefore, before we do open the door we typically have her leashed.

Prior to her 18 months of life she would have approached any dog, sniff, play and cavort, but at that time she was attacked by an unleashed dog sitting at the dogs master's feet until we walked by with our dog leashed. Trust me, the attacking dog would have been a thrown, dead, fluffy toy had I not been able to control my dog and kick at the on-coming dog until the "master" got hold of it.

So my "pet" peeve are those owners who do not think that there dog needs to be leashed. As friendly as my dog is to people, it becomes very protective when any dog approaches, when a dog is on or off leash. I will warn people. However, if a dog is i their yard, controlled by their owners, when we are walking by, the 80 pounder at my side will just glance and walk along.

Second, but just as intolerable, are those owners who do not pick up after their dog. What is wrong with them, besides just being morons.

Cutting through is on my list, but not as bad as the first two.

Loud music is also on the list. I'm not interested in your genre of music. It should only be heard in the immediate vicinity of your RV, not your neighbors, neighbors space.

[RanCarr]

Originally Posted by SarahW

Since we enjoy peace and quiet, we find it most annoying to be next to the "weekend party animals", sharing their music and drunken loud mouths till all hours. We try to avoid campgrounds with lots of amenities because those seem to be the "destination" campgrounds with lots of yelling kids. Do I sound grumpy??

No, not at all. We camped at a place in PA called Buttonwood CG. The drunks screaming over blaring ballgames on their TVs was unbelievable. A few of us went down to the office to find it locked for the night and no one answering the phone after 5 PM. We were on our own. It finally quieted down around midnight. And people wonder why some of us spend nights, when on the road, at TruckStops and WalMart lots.

[RanCarr]

Originally Posted by sirpurrcival

I find the music pollution one of the ones that get on my nerves. I don't understand why people see the need to get out into nature only to fill it with music that they can listen to anytime at home.

If you complain the Host of the CG will almost always put a stop to that. You can call up at the office as to remain anonymous. Only the Host will know who complained.

Follow that up with the drunken party yahoo's that one sometimes encounters, all stuff that has been mentioned and I guess the other thing the gets me is the practice of sending people ahead to hold campsites in areas where reservations are not required. eg. three groups getting together for the weekend, one arrives a day early and puts two lawn chairs on two other sites for their friends. Not cricket in my books in a first come first serve situation.

Since they are paying for those sites to sit their chairs on, whether they are there or not, they have that right. It may be the only way they can get adjoining sites. You may do the same thing one day.

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by RanCarr

Why was your cat OUTSIDE your RV? First, that is not allowed in any CG.

One of our cats does go outside, on the end of a leash. He loves to go for walks. We've never had any problems in any campground we've been in. He also climbs trees while on the leash. But he only goes up to my heade height, then he stops and waits to be picked up and put down on the ground. The best one was when he tried to climb a steel light pole. The look on his face was priceless!!
None of our other five cats go out.
We do have a couple of Kitty Kondo's that hang on the side of the MH over a window so they all DO get to go "outside", just in a cage so they're protected.

[clyon51]

Originally Posted by RanCarr

They can also be attacked by wildlife I was told, as wildlife often enters campgrounds looking for food.

Last November while in our favorite spot near Sanford Fl, we had two bear yearlings come into our campsite every afternoon. Our dogs didn't care too much and neither did the bears. They climbed up in the tree overhanging our rig and ate acorns for several hours. What really ticked me off is, their mother never came around to pick up after them! I used up most of my "doggy bags" on them. The good part is they broke a lot of dead branches down and were handy as kindling starting our nightly campfire.

There was an incident at the other end of the park, where a small dog got loose and went after a bear....dead doggy

[Muddypaws]

Loud music. Loud conversations. Drunken behavior. Speeding. Letting dogs bark all day. Mistreating their dogs. Out of control kids. Swearing at kids. Untended fires. Staring (i.e. Mad Dogging). Littering. Urinating & defecating in inappropriate places. Theft. Not cleaning up after pets. Arriving late at night and leaving early to avoid paying for the site. Crushing my sewer hose while taking shortcut through my site. Setting up a 'karoke party tent' less than a foot from my bedroom window. Building a roaring fire close enough to blister my paint - but that one's mostly on the park.

There's more, but this is making me cranky so I'm going to stop now and get back to the positive.

Back to the OP. Swearing at the dog owner serves no purpose other than escalation. That's human nature. Just as it's a cats nature to dart out the door, and run from dogs who are following their nature to chase whatever runs......

One of our camping buddies has a 'window box' that he installs on the outside of one of his windows. The cat can go 'outside' and still be safe. Sadly I don't have a picture.

I haven't seen many cats that tolerate being on leash. We tried a few times but Mr. Fuzzybutt (Manx) would just lay down and turn it from a walk to a drag.

[RanCarr]

Originally Posted by Mr_D

One of our cats does go outside, on the end of a leash. He loves to go for walks. We've never had any problems in any campground we've been in. He also climbs trees while on the leash. But he only goes up to my heade height, then he stops and waits to be picked up and put down on the ground. The best one was when he tried to climb a steel light pole. The look on his face was priceless!!
None of our other five cats go out.
We do have a couple of Kitty Kondo's that hang on the side of the MH over a window so they all DO get to go "outside", just in a cage so they're protected.

We also have a large Midwest Cat Playpen cage over one window. They love to take their daytime naps in it. I bet your cats love them too. We also have the large GanderMt screenroom fixed like a cat playground we carry them out to most days when snow-birding.

I can picture your cat trying to climb a steel pole.

The reason we don't walk our cats on leashes is we have four and once they go outside on a leash some cats will pester the owner to death to take them outside. It's like an addiction to the cat. Or they become door-dashers and manage to escape the RV to take themselves for walks. Most of the places we camp do have wildlife that would like a tender juicy cat for dinner. And most have dogs escape or let loose on occasion.

[RustyJC]

Originally Posted by Mr_D

One of our cats does go outside, on the end of a leash. He loves to go for walks. We've never had any problems in any campground we've been in. He also climbs trees while on the leash. But he only goes up to my heade height, then he stops and waits to be picked up and put down on the ground.

He sounds like our cat, who by the way we rescued at a CG when he was ~6 weeks old, so he's RVed with us since he was a kitten. Conner thinks that since the two Shelties get to go for walks outside, he should as well. If he sees or senses a strange dog within 50 yards, he'll be in my arms or headed back to the RV in a flash! When he's in the RV, he wants to get on the top of the back of my recliner and lie there watching out one of the big windows to keep track of what's going on.

Rusty

[Possum]

I have two very small dogs and when we boondock we keep them close, very close by as we don't want them to be scooped by owls or eagles or snatched by cougars. Happens more than people believe in this part of the world and yet when you try to explain that factoid to some tourists (out of area folk) you get a dumb look that says "Why are you lying to me?"

A newspaper on the north Island ran a story about an eagle tree (lots of eagle nests in it) had to be removed on the old highway 19 just south of Campbell River BC and when the nest contents were examined there were collars, harnesses and remains of leashes in the nest. A good indication of the food the chicks were eating.

I have seen eagles fly of with 10 pound Salmon in their claws so picking up 90% of the little pooches and kitties we see in RVs is not a great feat of strength to them.

[RanCarr]

Originally Posted by Muddypaws

Building a roaring fire close enough to blister my paint - but that one's mostly on the park.

Fortunately we camp at places with sites large enough to allow huge fires for the pyromaniacs out there. What ticks me off are those people who make a fire and don't tend it. The smoke from other people's smoldering fires has already set off the alarm in our RV. They make it impossible to sit outside and necessitate we close all the RV windows. If someone has no interest in a fire and tending to it - why do they have them?

I haven't seen many cats that tolerate being on leash. We tried a few times but Mr. Fuzzybutt (Manx) would just lay down and turn it from a walk to a drag.

Before I knew better I tried it with one of our cats. All she did every time was lay on her back with her feet in the air. Now I'm glad she didn't like it.

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by Muddypaws

I haven't seen many cats that tolerate being on leash. We tried a few times but Mr. Fuzzybutt (Manx) would just lay down and turn it from a walk to a drag.

That is the "normal" reaction to being on a leash by most cats although they can be trained.
But Japanese Bobtails aren't "normal" cats. They are more like dogs. Our two younger ones will play fetch.