New and RVing with Dogs

[gklehner]

Ready in a few days for our first shake down trip in our new (old) RV, '97 21' gulfstream. This is our first RV and a bit of a restoration project. We will be taking our dogs and would like any input, issues, problems and experiences on travelling with the "kids" before we hit the road. They are not small, choc lab and golden retriever. The lab (Atticus) is still a puppy - lots of energy - at 6 though well mannered and quiet. Will skip past the two couches, wall, fridge, table and so forth that he managed to eat or "age" in his youth. The golden (Clemintine) is shy, quiet and a couch potato at 9. We have 32' of low metal fencing we were planning on using to give them some area around the RV when at a camp spot and of course all the dog doo cleanup items, leashes, etc.
After some work (Clem was terrified of it) the RV is now the house of dog cookies so they are generally first in and last out.
So dog owners, what are your experiences????

Many thanks,

Greg, Karen and the "kids".

[RickO]

Glad you're here!

We've spent most of the past two years full time with our three (under 23lbs) dogs and love it. Just some thoughts:

Some CGs won't allow you to set up an outside pen or even leave the dogs outside your coach when you're inside. I've seen this rule a lot but have never seen it enforced. We don't use a pen but often times tie them up outside while we're inside.

Take the time to make sure they don't bark when you're gone. Maybe get ready like you're going out... drive away... park near the entrance and walk back to your rig is they can't see you coming and see what's going on. Maybe get to know a neighbor and ask them to listen in for you so you know if you've got an issue. Nothing will make you more unpopular than your dogs barking while you're away.

You might get some doggie motion sickness when traveling. Ours got used to travel and it quit after a short time.

The big fear of many of us is having power go out on a hot day while we're away. The inside of an RV can get lethal in a hurry. There are options you can search here is that's a concern for you.

We had big trouble with the dogs tummys not liking constant change to their drinking water so always give them only bottled spring water. We get laughed at a lot but it saves us from cleaning up a big mess in the coach and it's worth getting laughed at. You may not have a problem but if they start to have troubles keep this in mind.

You will find some CGs restrict the size of dog they allow... often times by weight... ie: nothing over 30lbs. Almost all restrict certain breeds.


You can also use the search function and find a lot of material on pets and RVs.

Best of luck to you all...

Rick

[RustyJC]

I'd suggest checking out our RVing With Pets forum to glean a lot of insight from other pet owners.

Rusty

[Senior Chief]

We bought our first RV, a 20' Class C, strictly so we could vacation with our dogs (after a horrifying incident with a boarding kennel- never again!)

We've always owned multiple St. Bernards, and they all adapted beautifully to life on the road, including pups and crippled oldsters. Remember, you are the pack leader and your dogs will always go with the pack.

[WheelingIt]

We fulltime RV with our pooch and 2 cats. When we first started out we stayed at a lot of private campgrounds but there were 2 things we didn't like; first some private campgrounds have breed/size restrictions; second most private campgrounds have limited outdoor space.

Both the dog and us like to do alot of outdoor activity/hiking so for the past 8 months or so we've staying at public campgrounds (state parks, national forest, COE). Lots more space and hiking, less restrictions plus $$ savings. If you like to see more you can check my blog link and see the types of spots we go to.

As for other things make sure you bring all the doggies medical records (we keep em in a folder). That way if anything happens on the road you can take them to the vet.

And enjoy!! Travelling w pets is the best! Nina

[gklehner]

Love the comment on being the pack leader. Our lab was an older pup and we really had to work at establishing leadership! St. Bernards are such wonderful friends, well done on keeping them with you on your travels.

[gklehner]

Hadn't thought about the vet records, really important while on the road.
How do the cats like travel? With the two dogs we also have two cats that will be using the cab over sleeper as their travel home. One is a true cat's cat, the other thinks she's a dog. Any hints on feline travel??

[Senior Chief]

Cats are all different, I think. One boy we had some years ago was so freaked out by the car/MH he needed to be tranquilized for his first trip; the vet recommended 2 days full strength (made him sleep) 1/2 dose for 2 days, 1/4 dose 2 days, and his anxiety was completely gone after 4 or 5 days. Trips thereafter were all ok by him.

My biggest issue currently is the litter box; our cat is on a very wet diet to guard against kidney problems in later life and she's ultra picky about clean litter. So... we're attempting to teach Kitty to use the people toilet via one of those training kits- so far so good but its a messy process.

[WheelingIt]

Our cats definitely took longer to adjust than doggie, but they're both travel pros now. A couple of things we did with them:

1/ introduce the MH slowly. We camped several times close to home so that kitties got used to the place before it moved. Also first couple of trips we moved we only did very short drives.

2/ Help them relax. I used Feliway sprayed around the home and Rescue Remedy rubbed on the ears everytime we travelled.

3/ Always know where they are. If you have slides, always secure kitty before moving them. I heard one horror story of a cat crushed so I'm very particular about this one.

4/ Exercise and play. Bring toys, playstuff. Also I highly recommend leash training. That way kitty can go outside in camp. We walk the cats everyday and they love it. We have a great harness (HDW cat walking harness...you can google it) that we trained em on. It took a few month but they walk like champs now and hang out with us when we're outside in camp.

5/ Find a good spot for the litter. We're still figuring this one out! We have it in the shower which works ok but is not stellar. Some people manage to build really neat hiding areas under cabinets and such. We'll get there one day!

Loong I know (sorry), but hope it's helpful.

Nina

[frankdamp]

We have two Labs - see our signature. We've had Cocoa since she was 7 months old and she went RVing in our old Class C and just loved it. Now she's a senior citizen and we got a basement model Class A, she has a hard time getting in and out. She has developed some kind of muscular atrophy in her back legs, maybe as a function of her Addison's disease. We're going to make a rear-end harness so we can lift her in and out.

Bailey is a rescue dog from our local Humasne Society. He was 5+ when we got him and will be 8 in July. He loves travelling and exploring new places. We keep him on a short harness clipped to the seat belt of the barrel chair behind the front passenger seat when we're on the road. He can get to the cupholder on the doghouse and spends a lot of time looking out front to see where we're going.

We're not sure how long Cocoa will be with us. She'll be 14 in October and most Labs don't make it much past 10. She's had Addison's disease since about 12 months old and needs a shot every 25 days. Originally the shots were about $60 a time. Now they're around $120.

We keep our trips to a length that gets us home for her next shot. We have admiinistered the shots ourselves and the vet will set up a couple of disposable syringes we can take for a longer trip, but we haven't tried that yet. Three weeks at 150 to 200 miles between CGs covers a fair amount of territory.

Our next trip will probably be Eastern WA, into Idaho, down into eastern Oregon, acrss the Cascades through Klamath Falls and back up I-5.

Unfortunately, my little escapade on our last trip, where I almost fell backwards from the driver's door onto the concrete, has re-surfaced as a slipped disc in my lumbar spine, so I might be having back surgery in April instead of starting the RV season. Bummer!

[H. Miller]

Quote:

Originally Posted by frankdamp We're going to make a rear-end harness so we can lift her in and out.

Rather than "fighting" a harness, we used a bath towel under the stomach area - - lots easier and easily washable

[stepside454]

Yep we used a towel to help Mondo get ip when her rear gear started to fail her.
Also, when we weren't sure if our dog was going to bark or not while being away, we gave our cell # to our neighbor to call us if he gets noisy.

[Dixieray53]

Welcome to the forum. We RV with our two dogs and would like to point out a few instances at recent campgrounds involving us having dogs and other campers that leave their dogs outside when inside either tied up our in a pen. At one park the people across the way from us kept their large dog tied outside and everytime we stepped outside to walk ours it would run and bark at us (it also barked everytime someone walked by)...very annoying for us. At another park one camper across from us had theirs in a pen when they were inside and once again barked everytime we or anyone else stepped out of their RV. Unless your dogs totally ignore other dogs and people when left unattended...me as a camper with dogs or one without dogs that gets barked at when walking by would appreciate you keeping them with you so we can enjoy my camping experience also.

Tracy

[TXiceman]

Our two dogs and parrot all get excited when we start packing for a trip.

Ken