Tammy and I refer to our dogs as puppies, even though they are nine and six years old. More often than not we just refer to them as the “Girls”. We love traveling with the puppies.
No one gets more excited about going camping than Hannah and Kendra. They can tell we are getting ready to camp the minute we start loading the travel trailer. There’s only so much we can load into the trailer when it is located in our backyard. Since the kitchen slide can’t be extended next to our shop, we are not able to load food. This doesn’t matter to the girls, they are happy to come in and out of the trailer as we load whatever we can.
The girls excitement level gets really ramped-up once we back out the trailer and load their food and toys. That’s the point they realize they are going camping.
We have been camping with dogs since 1993. First it was Shana, a white shepherd that would watch us load the trailer. As soon as her food bowl was taken to the trailer she would run and jump into our conversion van. Shana would sit blocking the open rear door of the van until we left. She was the ultimate camping dog, polite, never whined or complained; and loved hanging out with the family.
Shana would always run a couple of laps around the house when we returned from camping. Then as soon as she made two laps, she would jump back in the van as if to say “OK, let’s go”. She is the bar we measure all our dogs against. So far there has never been another “Shana” but our dogs are like children; We love them all the same and they each have some individual trait that makes them outstanding on their own.
When Shana turned seven we got a lab shepherd puppy that we named Kaela. Even though we adopted Kaela at around 12 weeks of age, she had had a rough existence up to that point. It took years for her to overcome some of her fears but she ended up being a wonderful dog that had a kind heart and a keen sense about new people. One of the things she loved was camping with her sister Shana. Now there were two camping puppies.
When Shana passed away Kaela sank into a big depression. We knew she was lonely, so we ended up getting another white shepherd puppy, named Hannah. We thought that if Shana was so great that any white shepherd would be just like her. Well, that’s not always the case. Hannah shares some of the same white shepherd traits as Shana; but she is going to turn 10 later this year and is just beginning to settle down a little. She is constantly in motion – a bundle of cuddly energy. One of our vets referred to her as the “White Tornado”.
Kaela and Hannah made some great camping trips together but the one I remember best was a trip to Disney’s Fort Wilderness in Orlando. They went to daycare every day at Disney and loved it, and the folks that worked there loved them. When we took them in the morning they would pull on the leash to get there, and at the end of the day they were spent. They’d come back to the trailer and crash for the night.
Before Kaela passed away we adopted a German Shepherd named Kendra. So then there were three.
Kendra loves camping as much as any of the other dogs. Hannah and Kendra have been on countless camping trips together. They absolutely love being a part of the adventure.
So what are a few things you can do to make camping with your “puppies” a little easier? Here are a few things we did:
We bought a Camco screen door grill to keep the girls from pushing their noses up against the screen. It probably wouldn’t take much for any dog to push through a travel trailer doors screen. This grill is inexpensive and installes in ten minutes. All you need is a drill and a screwdriver. This was well worth the money we paid for it. I highly recommend this grill to all dog owners.
A couple other things we do to make life easier with the girls is to baggy their food into individual meals. Doing this makes dinner time a lot faster since the food is pre-measured. It also gives a lot more flexibility in the storage of their food. Instead of trying to tote a big food bin around inside the trailer, we just put the baggies in a lower cabinet. While it’s a pain to bag all this food before the trip, it really makes things easier.
We also have a collapsible crate that we keep under our bed. Kendra likes the crate because she gets a treat for going inside. Hannah wants nothing to do with the crate. She will destroy a crate trying to get out of it. We have not crated Hannah in years but she will nap in it if the door is left open.
All of their other supplies (leashes, poop bags, collars) go in a small cabinet by the door; along with the paper work from their Vet saying that they are up to date on all vaccinations. This is because you never know when a trip might require you to board your puppies, or you may just need to take one to a vet while you are on the road – this has happened to us. We always have multiple copies of the dogs papers.
Their tie outs are kept in a Tupperware container in the outside storage area. We rarely use tie outs but if the need should arise they are handy.
As you can see we have made the dogs a big part of our camping experience. We would never go camping without them. After all, they are a part of our family!
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