Community Forums

MrsChilerick · 05-18-2023, 08:21 AM

Our 3 year old large mixed breed dog is all of a sudden terrified of riding in the car or in the RV. A little background, we adopted these dogs as 8 week old puppies and immediately began RVing with them. Spending up to 4 months at a time traveling in the RV. We moved and didn’t RV for about 16 months, every thing was fine that next trip. Then 4 months later we took a short trip and she was a shaking mass of dog desperately trying to get under the drivers feet. I alway have them leashed, but trying to hold back 86 pounds of dog was quite the workout. Same with the car, riding in the car was fine until it wasn’t.

Anyway, we are crate training her and that’s going fine, but we took the crate to the coach with her yesterday and realized we don’t know where or how we can secure the crate in the coach. I don’t want to just sit it on the floor where it can slide, that might be even more scary. And up on the dinette bench it may tip.

We have a Fleetwood 36U when slides are in there is room on the floor in front of the sink, but I’m not sure what I would secure it to. We keep the dinette in the bed position for the dogs beds so it would fit there but maybe tip over while stopping.

I’m open to any suggestions. We leave for the summer in 2 weeks

Thanks in advance

cmccallum · 05-18-2023, 09:57 AM

Hi there,
It depends a lot on the floor surface you have. If it’s carpet on top of a subfloor, you could bolt the crate down with two or three holes into the subfloor. You could use a J-bolt with the bolt underneath, or a bracket that would go around the crate edge (these look like a sideways “P” from the side).

In our last RV, we bolted a crate to the wall and floor behind our passenger seat (where a recliner had been).

If you have tile, you might have to epoxy some sort of bracket to the floor.

Hope that helps
Mike

Tip10 · 05-18-2023, 11:19 AM

Not familiar with your layout but if it’s a typical dinette into bed configuration you might wrap a ratchet strap, or two, around the table portion before putting it in bed position then ratchet the crate down. Not necessarily a permanent or good solution but would keep the crate from sliding or tipping.

cmccallum · 05-18-2023, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrsChilerick

Our 3 year old large mixed breed dog is all of a sudden terrified of riding in the car or in the RV. A little background, we adopted these dogs as 8 week old puppies and immediately began RVing with them. Spending up to 4 months at a time traveling in the RV. We moved and didn’t RV for about 16 months, every thing was fine that next trip. Then 4 months later we took a short trip and she was a shaking mass of dog desperately trying to get under the drivers feet. I alway have them leashed, but trying to hold back 86 pounds of dog was quite the workout. Same with the car, riding in the car was fine until it wasn’t.

Anyway, we are crate training her and that’s going fine, but we took the crate to the coach with her yesterday and realized we don’t know where or how we can secure the crate in the coach. I don’t want to just sit it on the floor where it can slide, that might be even more scary. And up on the dinette bench it may tip.

We have a Fleetwood 36U when slides are in there is room on the floor in front of the sink, but I’m not sure what I would secure it to. We keep the dinette in the bed position for the dogs beds so it would fit there but maybe tip over while stopping.

I’m open to any suggestions. We leave for the summer in 2 weeks

Thanks in advance

I should have paid more attention to what you said! We have put three 350 or 36” deep crates in the dinette after removing the cushions and secured them to the plywood underneath. That’s another great option the previous poster mentioned.

Mike

Mark_K5LXP · 05-19-2023, 06:24 AM

I like the idea of securing the crate to the benches of the dinette. Our crate fits between the benches of the dinette with the door facing the aisle. It precludes the use of the table's end support leg so that stays up, and the table rests on top of the crate with a blanket as a cushion. But in that location they can't really see us or what's going on which might not work out while under way. Our monsters prefer to see what's going on and travel well, so they free range. With an 86lb dog inside of it, I don't think you'd see the crate tipping over with the limited G forces you see in an RV. But it's not hard to picture it sliding around on a tile or vinyl floor so that's the problem to solve. One idea is some kind of non skid mat to put under the crate, backed up with a tether to secure it if that were overcome. Wouldn't take a lot, maybe just a leash threaded through furniture feet and tied to the crate.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

MrsChilerick · 05-19-2023, 08:36 AM

Thanks for all of the info. The crate is too big to fit between the benches of the dinette, sadly. And it’s too big to permanently secure anywhere, it’s going to have to be for travel only. We may try the straps with it on top of the bed that the dinette opens to. (We don’t even keep the table in the coach, that dinette is useless) there are seat belts under there that may be useful, but to the point that she can’t see us from there, May be a different issue. Thanks again

PNWGirl · 06-06-2023, 03:56 PM

Is your sofa a jackknife? If so, pull it out and secure it there with ratchet straps.

I am curious as to how big your crate is that it can not fit between the sides of the bench seats.

MrsChilerick · 06-07-2023, 07:05 PM

We don’t have a sofa, we have theatre seating and a dinette with bench seating. The crate is 42x28x32. Our dogs are big dogs. We’ve settled on a short seat belt leash for them. Our terrified dog now has some serious drugs to calm her while we are underway and it seems to be working. The good news is that she seems to be adapting to the rv underway pretty quickly and we plan to reduce her dosage during the next leg of our very long trip.

PNWGirl · 06-08-2023, 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrsChilerick

We don’t have a sofa, we have theatre seating and a dinette with bench seating. The crate is 42x28x32. Our dogs are big dogs. We’ve settled on a short seat belt leash for them. Our terrified dog now has some serious drugs to calm her while we are underway and it seems to be working. The good news is that she seems to be adapting to the rv underway pretty quickly and we plan to reduce her dosage during the next leg of our very long trip.

If it is just for travel, you might want to consider a 36" crate. It gives them more of a sense of security and helps keep them from bouncing around so much during travel.

My 125 lb Alaskan Malamute had a lot of room to spare in a 42. My girls were in the range of your dogs and they were comfortable in a 36 and never went into the 42. My 110 lb boy also preferred the 36.

I hope that your dogs enjoy their travels!! Have a good one!