Va. St parks and pet fee

I would be upset to know that my dogs barked when we were gone. I meet the neighbors in front and/or behind the night before. Tell them we will be gone for the day. Leave emergency number on my camper and request they call us if they hear any barking. And I mean it...I want to know. Take my word for it, people with barking dogs know they have barking dogs and could care less. If I were king for the day, there would be a note on their door telling them to pack up when they return or provide proof the dogs were not left alone. Your campground - your rules.

I see the tide has turned. Earlier post that proclaimed dogs do not cost the CG extra money. Have changed to the CG needs to implement more rules with a stricter more frequent enforcement policy.
That all sounds good on paper, however as WRVPO stated he's not running a prison camp. More rules,more enforcement equate to more cost more fees.
Before long he'll have to add per day pet fees to cover the additional cost of pets. ;)

WRVPO....the trees were "girdled" and no employee say anything that was tethered to the trees? I'm no rocket scientist, but I would imagine it would take a lot of time for something to be tethered to a tree to the point of killing it. Perhaps a don't tie things to the trees in the rules and when or if your employees do a routine check around the park, that they will see things tied to the trees. Warn the camper. If it continues, then by all means kick them out. That is, if they are not packing up to leave then as it is.

Rangers and other employees (hosts) ride around at the state parks I have been to. If they see something against the rules, they will stop and let the camper know. Failure to obey the rules results in you leaving. Private parks should be no different. I would imagine that you have someone riding around and checking on things.

PamfromVA wrote:
We camp in VA state parks alot. The problem is VA has reduced their park staff so much that they do not have time to take care of complaints about dogs or anything else. They are too busy taking care of cutting the grass, trail maintenance, and the ranger led programs that they are leaving the camp hosts in charge. The camp hosts are busy cleaning bathrooms and fire pits so the sites are ready for the next user. We ALWAYS see someone who lets their dog run free and everytime we go for a hike we run across someone who is hiking with their dog off leash. A couple of months ago we had a dog hang out at our site for a couple of hours each day and the owners were not concerned since "their dog liked us more than them". Point is - there is no consequences to noncompliance of the rules. The dog fee is just added revenue for the state. And Westernrvparkowner - shame on you for not enforcing your rules and making the camping experience at your park better for all. As a dog owner, I know I get a little frustrated when I see these owners not following the same rules I am with my dogs.

I am not running a prison. I don't nanny check every guest, every minute. I don't know who or what or when dogs were tethered to the trees, I just know the trees were girdled and they died. It was obvious from the damage it was a chain or something very similar (much wider cut than a rope or cable would make). As for enforcing barking rules, first we have to know there is an offense. We don't have microphones throughout the park probing for noise violations. You have a dog, apparently, so you tell me, when should you be kicked out for a barking dog? First bark? 10th? 100th? I don't have an answer. I've posted before, the normal routine is we get a dog complaint, owner is not there, owner returns, we tell owner about complaint, owner apologizes profusely, swears it will never happen again. Then owner leaves dog next day, dog barks, owner returns late at night, we see that they are leaving next morning anyway, so we avoid messy eviction and wave goodbye in the AM. Do you have a better plan that would really work? We can't do anything until and unless the owner is there. Then our options are really kick out or believe what they say. But if you have a better plan, I am more than willing to listen.

I understand what you are saying WRVPO. .... But we are also talking about a private rv park vs a state run campground with rangers and staff riding around. I highly doubt they are sodding. I haven't seen a state park yet with a dog run. As others have stated, I've never seen staff having to go around and pick up poop at any park or campground I've ever been too. I do find the poop bags that are available as a nice gesture.

I guess I come from the school of just include it in the price. Make it one price. Perhaps they could split the difference and raise their price up $2-3 per site, if costs is the true factor. I know there are some that will say that they don't want to pay higher for someone else to bring a dog. I could easily say the same thing about operating a bath house. I don't want to pay extra to offset the cost of running a bath house. I don't want to use the bath house, so why should I pay for it? Charge me $5 less per day.

I am not saying that there are no costs with allowing pets but after talking with the local state park maintenance & rangers it appears they are against the fees as they are rarely full & the money this year instead of upgrading or maintaining the park campground (over $500,000) went to building a horse facility / parking with water & electric hookups, & a horse barn that is under used as well.......... & yes the park employees have to shovel the horse poop.............(Dogs don't make near the mess LOL) I wish we could camp there much bigger sites than in the campground....... but we still would go to the cheaper private campgrounds

If you have other campers leaving because of dog barking and trees damaged by chains (that doesn't happen in a short period of time) then kick those people out. I would love the spend my time at a campground who has a reputation for enforcing their pet rules.

PamfromVA wrote:
We camp in VA state parks alot. The problem is VA has reduced their park staff so much that they do not have time to take care of complaints about dogs or anything else. They are too busy taking care of cutting the grass, trail maintenance, and the ranger led programs that they are leaving the camp hosts in charge. The camp hosts are busy cleaning bathrooms and fire pits so the sites are ready for the next user. We ALWAYS see someone who lets their dog run free and every time we go for a hike we run across someone who is hiking with their dog off leash. A couple of months ago we had a dog hang out at our site for a couple of hours each day and the owners were not concerned since "their dog liked us more than them". Point is - there is no consequences to noncompliance of the rules. The dog fee is just added revenue for the state. And Westernrvparkowner - shame on you for not enforcing your rules and making the camping experience at your park better for all. As a dog owner, I know I get a little frustrated when I see these owners not following the same rules I am with my dogs.

WRVPO can defend himself, however I did not get the impression he did not enforce the rules. If pet owners tie pets to trees the damage to the tree may have already been done before the CG is aware of the problem.
Nevertheless if he truly wants to enforce the rules than he needs a person dedicated to enforcing pet issues. Bottom line there would be more pet related cost added to his operation.
I am always enlightened by WRVPO view from the other side.

We camp in VA state parks alot. The problem is VA has reduced their park staff so much that they do not have time to take care of complaints about dogs or anything else. They are too busy taking care of cutting the grass, trail maintenance, and the ranger led programs that they are leaving the camp hosts in charge. The camp hosts are busy cleaning bathrooms and fire pits so the sites are ready for the next user. We ALWAYS see someone who lets their dog run free and everytime we go for a hike we run across someone who is hiking with their dog off leash. A couple of months ago we had a dog hang out at our site for a couple of hours each day and the owners were not concerned since "their dog liked us more than them". Point is - there is no consequences to noncompliance of the rules. The dog fee is just added revenue for the state. And Westernrvparkowner - shame on you for not enforcing your rules and making the camping experience at your park better for all. As a dog owner, I know I get a little frustrated when I see these owners not following the same rules I am with my dogs.

westernrvparkowner wrote:

wbwood wrote:
He also mentioned "associated costs with pets", but did not state what the associated costs were.

We re-sod the dog parks every three years to keep up with the urine killed grass. I have had to patch holes dug in sites by bored, tethered dogs. I can remember three times people had tethered their dogs to the water lines and the dog yanked hard enough to break the upright. Over the years we have had several guests leave early because they were disturbed by their neighbor's dogs and just didn't want to take the chance that even if management spoke to them, that the dogs would actually be kept quiet. Our insurance would be cheaper if we didn't allow dogs. Our doggie pot bag costs run a couple of hundred dollars a year. Right now I am having to replace three trees at several hundred dollars a tree because they got girdled by a careless pet owner tethering their poor dog with a chain. And now the next few hundred people using those sites won't be shaded by a 20 foot tall tree, they will, instead, be bask in the hot sun, because the 8 foot tall replacement trees won't provide much shade for 10 years.
Finally, handling dog complaints and problems takes time and time equals money. Yes, those employees handling those issues would be paid regardless, but they would much rather be earning their pay helping people enjoy their stay, not listening to complaints and dealing with the offenders. To say having dogs in a park is costless, is just plain inaccurate.

I always find your post to be eyeopening, it gives a prespective that I did not have prior to reading. Thanks for you imput!