I regularly camp with a 60# pit bull. The advice you've gotten is spot on. Start training your dog now, socialize the snot out of him. Train him to sit at doors and wait for you to tell him he can go through (this gives you that second you might need to grab him someday). It takes time and work, but I can tell you my meatball of a dog is very polite at campgrounds. He knows that he only goes for walks when I have the leash. He does not bark his fool head off.
I also make sure he stays contained on my campsite. He has a crate, and a tie-out. And I make it my business to keep track of him at all times when I take him camping.
