Dogs in 5th wheel towing
I have seen several posts about pets traveling inside the trailers and immediately see countless "never do that", or "animal cruelty" type responses. I would like to explain our situation, our intentions, and ask if anyone has a reasonable alternative to our plan. Please, don't just say its unsafe or cruel without reading my post in its entirety and explaining why your feel it's unsafe or cruel.
We travel the nation both for pleasure and business. We have clients around the country that we need to visit on occasion and demonstrate products. We also love traveling as a family, and often make at least one cross country trip per year and smaller trips every month.
We have a crew cab F-550 and a 5th wheel trailer. We have a special needs child with an English Mastiff service dog that is larger than the average adult man at 260 lbs. There is a reason the dog is a mastiff. I really don't care to discuss my son's medical needs, as that's not the point of this discussion.
We used to travel as a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 kids) plus the dog in the cab of the truck. It was tight and difficult at times, but we managed. Now, we are having another baby. It's simply not possible to fit a car seat, 2 adults, 2 kids, and a 260lb dog in the cab.
The dog cannot ride in the bed of the truck. Not possible, not remotely safe. There's no place to put a kennel large enough in the bed without the trailer hitting it, and without a kennel he could get his head caught between the trailer and bed if we turn or hit a dip.
We cannot transition to a motorhome or bumper pull trailer; it's not an option. This is a custom built trailer made for our business, which is 40' long and weighs nearly 20k loaded. No bumper pull trailer could work, and a motorhome custom built to our needs would be completely cost prohibitive.
Our only options: Dog travels inside trailer, or we can no longer travel as a family.
Here's what we have done to make this reasonable:
1. We have air ride suspension on both the truck and the kingpin. The ride in the rear of the trailer is still very bumpy, but the front (over the bed) is nearly as smooth as the ride in the 2-ton tow vehicle. Yes, I've tested it myself.
2. We have converted the front bedroom to a bunkhouse for the kids and dog. The dog has his own 8' x 4' kennel with a bed.
3. I removed the electric input from the rear and relocated it to the front. It can now be connected to a generator mounted in the truck bed, and the trailer A/C can be run while towing. The trailer is temperature controlled while in tow.
4. We have a camera wired with sound mounted in the front bedroom. We can see and hear the dog at all times while traveling.
5. We always stop every few hours and we would let the dog out each time. He is also never left unattended in the trailer; he goes everywhere with us including sightseeing, restaurants, shopping, etc.
I understand that the cab of a truck is safer if we were in a collision; however, there were a wreck, structurally a 5th wheel is the same as a motorhome (this trailer is stronger than average aluminum and steel framing with aluminum walls). How would it be less safe? 5th wheels almost never become detached unless the vehicle rolls, in which case it doesn't matter where he's riding. It's bad.
We cannot afford to transition to a semi with a huge sleeper. We've considered having the frame stretched on the truck and adding a sleeper, but that would cost a small fortune and make accessing most campgrounds impossible (imagine backing a 40' trailer with a 26' long truck into a campsite).
Is there something we haven't considered? Ideas, Thoughts, Alternatives?
We travel the nation both for pleasure and business. We have clients around the country that we need to visit on occasion and demonstrate products. We also love traveling as a family, and often make at least one cross country trip per year and smaller trips every month.
We have a crew cab F-550 and a 5th wheel trailer. We have a special needs child with an English Mastiff service dog that is larger than the average adult man at 260 lbs. There is a reason the dog is a mastiff. I really don't care to discuss my son's medical needs, as that's not the point of this discussion.
We used to travel as a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 kids) plus the dog in the cab of the truck. It was tight and difficult at times, but we managed. Now, we are having another baby. It's simply not possible to fit a car seat, 2 adults, 2 kids, and a 260lb dog in the cab.
The dog cannot ride in the bed of the truck. Not possible, not remotely safe. There's no place to put a kennel large enough in the bed without the trailer hitting it, and without a kennel he could get his head caught between the trailer and bed if we turn or hit a dip.
We cannot transition to a motorhome or bumper pull trailer; it's not an option. This is a custom built trailer made for our business, which is 40' long and weighs nearly 20k loaded. No bumper pull trailer could work, and a motorhome custom built to our needs would be completely cost prohibitive.
Our only options: Dog travels inside trailer, or we can no longer travel as a family.
Here's what we have done to make this reasonable:
1. We have air ride suspension on both the truck and the kingpin. The ride in the rear of the trailer is still very bumpy, but the front (over the bed) is nearly as smooth as the ride in the 2-ton tow vehicle. Yes, I've tested it myself.
2. We have converted the front bedroom to a bunkhouse for the kids and dog. The dog has his own 8' x 4' kennel with a bed.
3. I removed the electric input from the rear and relocated it to the front. It can now be connected to a generator mounted in the truck bed, and the trailer A/C can be run while towing. The trailer is temperature controlled while in tow.
4. We have a camera wired with sound mounted in the front bedroom. We can see and hear the dog at all times while traveling.
5. We always stop every few hours and we would let the dog out each time. He is also never left unattended in the trailer; he goes everywhere with us including sightseeing, restaurants, shopping, etc.
I understand that the cab of a truck is safer if we were in a collision; however, there were a wreck, structurally a 5th wheel is the same as a motorhome (this trailer is stronger than average aluminum and steel framing with aluminum walls). How would it be less safe? 5th wheels almost never become detached unless the vehicle rolls, in which case it doesn't matter where he's riding. It's bad.
We cannot afford to transition to a semi with a huge sleeper. We've considered having the frame stretched on the truck and adding a sleeper, but that would cost a small fortune and make accessing most campgrounds impossible (imagine backing a 40' trailer with a 26' long truck into a campsite).
Is there something we haven't considered? Ideas, Thoughts, Alternatives?
