What do you do to keep your pet safe in your RV while you're away?

[sgthurow]

We're recently new owners of a 2014 Newmar Dutch Star. We've gone on a couple of shake down trips with our dogs but I haven't left them alone in the rig yet. I'm very concerned about safety and terrified of fires. What do you do when you leave your pets in your RV to maximize safety? Here's what I plan on doing when leaving my dogs alone: (please chime in if you have any additional safety tips or advise me if you think I'm doing something wrong).

1. I plan on turning off all breakers that aren't necessary to be on.. which are just the appliances right?

2. When I leave the dogs I plan on locking them in my bedroom with the shades down (just so they don't bark at others) and have a radio going .. they prefer soft rock lol.

3. I'll have a couple of cameras hooked up where I can log in from my phone and check on them (I have a verizion hotspot). I also have a large temperature gauge in the bedroom so I can view their temp as well.

2. I have the AGS set for the A/C to come on should the power at the campground go out and the temp in the RV get above 75.

My dogs are quite spoiled (as I'm sure many of yours are too). I just want to make sure I don't do anything stupid when I leave them alone in the RV and maximize their safety (and my comfort level.) I want to be able to have a good time when we're at different locations and site see some without the dogs. (Of course, I wouldn't leave them alone all day.. just for 2-3 hours after they've been exercised).

Thanks in advance for any input!

Stephanie

[Old-Biscuit]

What 'measures' do you take when you leave your 'house' ???




We FT-d for 7 yrs.
Our dog was 4 when we hit the road and almost 12 when we bought another S&B
When we couldn't take her with us we told her to 'watch' and off we went.
As she aged our time away became shorter in duration.


But we didn't do ANYTHING different then we had been doing when we had a S&B






The 'cameras' and the AGS--A/C are good ideas
No NEED to open ANY Circuit breakers (don't do that at S&B)


Only suggestion....turn water supply OFF

[Slo Mo]

I’d say you have it “ALL” covered [emoji23]

[sgthurow]

Hi Old-Biscuit -

In our S&B house I usually lock them up in our bedroom and have a camera on where I can check on them as needed. I never leave any appliances running and unplug things with lithium batteries being charged. I'm a little OCD with my dogs.. I know lol.

Glad to hear you treat your rig the same as you would as S&B house too. Makes me feel a lot better. Appreciate your response

[Chief Alen]

Crate.

That way if something does happen and your away first responders will feel safe entering the rv, good for the animals, good for the humans.

[hohenwald48]

I have a little yellow sign (got it at CW) I put on the door with my phone number and we just leave the door unlocked. I usually tell a neighbor so if anything happens they can open the door and let the dog out. That's about all we do.

I know a lot of folks feel the need to lock everything up when they leave but I don't lock the compartments ever and only lock the door if we take the dog with us. Been doing it that way for 20 years and no problems so far. Maybe I just park in different campgrounds than most or I'm just lucky.

[Jag73e]

Suggest you look at a Mar Cell alarm device. Alerts you by cell, text and/or email for high tempture and power outages. Inexpensive, reliable, and a must have for us. Much easier than continually monotering your camera arrangement. Also you can check in at any time for current temp reading.

[Rvlegaleagle]

Have 2 golden retrievers (logo from 2 years ago of the older one) who will be accompanying me when I get my coach.

They just LOVE going in the SUV now so I am hoping they will feel the same way in the coach.

Since they are part of the team I will have to adjust my RVing accordingly. Pretty much take them everywhere I go now unless its over 85 degrees outside. Dogs love to be with you no matter what extremely loyal People should be more like that...lol.

When I do leave them in the coach when it is hot outside (cold not so much) I plan on doing the AGS thing too for the AC. Not sure I would turn the breakers off though. I like the outside sign idea and advising neighbors (if there are any...lol).

I would also leave them access to the entire coach and not confine them. Have thought about the crate idea (they were originally raised as pups that way) and while it is soothing for them where to put 2 large creates? Plus they probably like looking out the windows

The tech inside camera stuff sounds nice if you have cell service and a "smart" phone but I have and prefer the freedom phone.

What I am concerned about is the potential harmful from wildlife in different parts of the county unfamiliar to me. Here on long island NY you only really need to be concerned about ticks and get them the Leptospirosis (raccoon) vaccine. In other places though there are bears, coyotes, snakes, alligators, scorpions. wolves and other critters. Maybe being in the coach is safer...lol.

[Deucenut]

We also have two golden retrievers. We crate them when we are not in the coach. When we are driving the coach they are also crated and the crates are fastened down just in case of an accident(I make the dinette into a bed and bungie cord the crates down to the bed). When I leave them, I turn off the water and make sure the AC is set to come on at 72. As long as the power doesn't go out in the campground, everything should be fine. So far, that has worked.

[twogypsies]

If you have met your friendly neighbor you might give him your phone #. Some people even let the park office know that you're leaving if it's a long period of time.

Also check the campground rules …. some don't allow pets being left alone. We've volunteered in public parks and know this to be a big issue.

Also, don't assume the dogs won't bark and when they do it constantly your neighbors won't appreciate it.

If at all possible, take them with you.

[PaulTNaples]

Our Labradoodles have the run of the coach. Although when checking the camera, we find them on the bed or the coach. We leave the tv going for a bit background noise. That way they don’t tend to hear noises and bark. [emoji106]
AGS is set to 75.

[WoodyS]

It sounds to me like you're doing everything right -- and then some.

We have two cats, but the concerns and potential problems are the same.

We too leave the coach's entry door unlocked most of the time (particularly when we're in a "good" RV park) so that if there is a fire or something bad happens, helpful people can open the door and let the cats out.

I like the idea of the sign with name and phone number left in the window.

We don't have one of the newer fancier models with automatic generator start/stop capability. But we're almost always in a park with AC power and leave the air-conditioner on and set at a comfortable level for the cats.

The only other thing I can think of that we have is a thermometer inside that transmits the interior temperature over WiFi so we can monitor the coach's temperature while we're gone. So if the power goes out and the interior heats up past our set-point, it alerts our phones.

We have the "TempStick" system. The thermometer/sensor/WiFi transmitter is battery powered so its not dependent on the coach batteries or RV park power.

[walkerhound]

I work FT at an office, so often leave my dog in the RV.

I am in the camp of having a sign on the door with my number and what breed of dog I have.

I struggle with the lock/no lock. I never use the deadbolt. The other lock is common enough that most likely someone has a key to get in.

I feel the reality is if a fire or smoke situation happened and I wasn't there, it would happen so fast that it would be over before anyone thought to or could help my girl. I do the sign mostly in case she is being obnoxious.

Having said that, I have a wireless monitor that I can check the temp of the rv, but requires me to look. Soon I will install some NEST detectors, so the smoke alarm will send to my phone and now I can program my generator to run to keep the AC or heat working if there is a power outage.

[96kpmjmm]

We do what most others do but a few other things. I have a U shape block wood that fits around air brake release knob ( keeps brake knob from being pushed in.
We had a custom dash cover made that covers whole dash plus drivers side controls. I have a panel that sits over steeling wheel, a pillow that sits over driver side and a pillow that goes between dash and steeling wheel. This keeps them safe and they get to look out window. We have a Golden retriever and a shih tzu.
Hope this helps

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