RVing with Pets
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RVing with dogs can be great fun. And our dog Teddy loves to camp. He loves all the extra walks and all the extra time with Wayne. But even when we’re not leaving the house, he still wants to hang out in the RV. He always jumps in (for some odd reason, he won’t use the bottom step) and promptly smells everything. Then, like clockwork, he gets up on the dash to look out the window. He’s a small dog, so my theory is he likes to feel tall when he’s up there.
So anyway, next year when we hit the road he’s coming too. You’re probably thinking, of course, you’d take your dog but in reality, he isn’t technically our dog. Teddy started out his life as our youngest daughter’s dog but he quickly adopted Wayne as his best buddy. He would not be happy if Wayne left him behind.
And since he’s coming along we need to make plans for him too.
The plan, for now, is to spend our first winter in the Yuma and Quartzite area. My dad snowbirds on some land he bought in Yuma so we figured we’d hang out with him for a while. I don’t actually know if he has any kind of hookups there (note to Cristine, call your dad) so I’m preparing in case of boondocking. With that in mind, I worry about leaving Teddy in the RV without air conditioning.
One of my biggest fears is something happening to him while he’s left alone.
A friends dog nearly died when their AC went out while they were away. I’ve been reading a lot about safely RVing with dogs and this fan looks like a great way to keep the RV at a reasonable temperature automatically. It’s thermostatically controlled so if the RV starts to heat up it’ll turn on. If we leave a big window open it should draw in plenty of air and circulate it through the area. And with a bit of automation, like this temperature monitor, we’ll be able to monitor the temp from our phones just to make sure.
Another safeguard we use is this sign. We stick it in the window if we leave him alone. I am perfectly fine with someone breaking in to save him. But hopefully, it never comes to that.
To keep him safe outside, we have a rope tether we keep pretty short and baby gates. We try to never leave him outside alone but sometimes you have to run inside for a minute and you know, wild places have wild animals. We have seen too many lost pet signs to take that chance. Not to mention we’re used to wild animals in our neighborhood at home. We live next to a big regional park so we’ve seen it all. Everything from the raccoon family that would sit at our back door and watch TV to skunks (Teddy has been sprayed twice and Wayne once) but the more worrisome critters like coyotes and mountain lions come around to. At home, he has a very elaborate dog park of his very own, but we can’t take that with us. And yes he is quite spoiled and we’re more than a little nuts.
One thing we do need to work on with this guy is his barking problem.
You see, Teddy is a yapper. He barks at everything; people walking by, kids on bikes, other dogs, leaves… everything. He does this at home too so I’m not surprised but I’ve been brainstorming ways to get him to mellow out. Wayne won’t go for the bark collar thing so I’m considering some other options like, leave the radio on and close the blinds. I’m thinking a baby gate to keep him off the dash and maybe a nice long walk right before we go out and with any luck, he’ll sleep while we’re gone.
So must-haves for the dog, so far I have
Vaccination records
Dog first aid kit
His prescriptions
Leave a comment if you have any more suggestions
