Difficulties with Pets and RVing

I don't have a motor home, rather a trailer, and we have 2 dogs, not as big as a lab, but still, we now have 2.

Dogs travel in the cab of the truck. They go everywhere with us. They are never left in the truck or trailer by themselves. We are VERY selective where we go, what we do, and how we do it.

We choose restaurants with outside seating so the dogs can be with us. As we are NOT indoor people and older also, and do not like the "amusement park" experience when camping, our travels are always for quiet, solitude, campfires, walking trails, nature site seeing. The dogs go everywhere we do.

If we need to go into a grocery store, one of us stays in the vehicle, the other does the shopping. We've been doing it this way for a long-long time now.

Space in the camper? We took our dog and cat with us, when our kids were still little and we started in a tent, then a pop-up. Later our first 18 foot travel trailer. We adapted, the dog (whatever one we had at the time), adapted also. No problems at all.

We had problems with only one dog in all our years. He was a rescue and had a nasty disposition about him and bolted all the time. He bolted out the camper door on us many times and we'd have to go on a mad spree to get him back. He finally mellowed after 6 or 7 years of camping and eventually turned out to be a pretty good camping dog.

Just remember, if you travel with your dog, YOU have to think like the dog. All dogs want is to be with their mommies and daddies. That's ALL that matters to them. Their world are so small, YOU are their world. When you are away from them ... their world is in shambles! To them ... quite simply ... you are God! All they want is YOU. If you are there, they don't care about anything else. They will adapt to anything.

When we go anywhere. We board our dog. I find having a dog along a PITA.

Biggest problem I see is being able to give a Lab puppy enough exercise to keep him happy while on the road. How far are you able or willing to walk him every day? Also most National Parks do not allow pets on their trails or in their Visitor Centers and they cannot be left alone in vehicles. That eliminates a wide swath of the most scenic places in the country.

I think 95 percent of all RVers have pets and 75 percent of those have dogs. If there were serious, widespread problems, this would not be the case. I must admit that most people RVing with dogs have small dogs, but I have seen a few labs and Shepard mixes in my travels.

I all depends on what your pup does when you're away from the RV. Our Schnauzer went into a mild panic, running from front to back barking and trying to find us (we set up a tablet on record once). We started giving him a Kong filled with peanut butter, which delayed the above behavior by about 5 minutes. We just took him with us and left him in the car if weather permitted. EDIT: If you plan to rent a car to get around, most rental car companies have a policy about pets, ranging from prohibited to extra cleaning charges.

Space wise, I find most small dogs are happier somewhat confined. We have a lab mix that hated being confined. You need to experiment with yours to see what works best.

We vacationed for a few years in a 21' Class C with our 75 lb Shepard-Sharpei shelter rescue, and other than more frequently stepping over her to move around, I can't say having her along caused any more problems than it did later on when when we moved up to Class A's and full time RV living. More frequent "potty" stops while underway, walking her in less than pleasant weather, finding vets when needed, and not leaving her alone in the coach too long, etc, were really minor issues, and certainly expected ones. Her love and companionship more than made up for them, and we still miss her.