WiFi Monitors for interior of camper

How about taking the pets with you as frankly its annoying to others camped around you when you leave your barking animals in the RV while you're gone? I have yet to visit a park or campground where they do not have a rule against leaving pets "unattended".

We have been between two people at a state park as I type this, who both received citations today for leaving the dogs behind. The gent across the road evidently called in the rangers. He beat me to it, as after two days of it we had enough also, and I was about to make a visit to the camp hosts or find the ranger myself.

Camping ettiquette is a hard thing to find in 2019.

I suspect that using remote monitoring is "attending" them... provided, that you can get back to them in a few minutes, if needed to stop them from barking.

If you have two smart phones, another idea is to use one of the "Baby Monitor" apps. This allows you to set one phone up as the camera, and then the other phone becomes the monitor. It can work over WiFi or over your cell phone data plan.

Actually, my purpose for finding this thread is that I am seeking a very low-cost way to add a back-up camera to my vehicle and camper. There are some very low cost WiFi cameras, that can do P2P (Peer to Peer) communication where your camera will send its video to your smart phone, without using the internet. Prices start as cheap as $25 for the Wyze Cam HD. However, this has to be done through your own router. In other words, the camera must connect to your WiFi router, and your smart phone also connects to your WiFi router.

Note that these devices generally require internet access to pair the camera to the phone. But, once that initial pairing is done, they should be able to communicate without the internet at all. At least that is what I have learned from a store clerk.

I have seen WiFi dongles, to add WiFi to your laptop, that call themselves "USB WiFi Routers"... but I am not certain the word "router" in this case means that it can be used to make the WiFi camera talk to the smart phone. I was hoping that one of these very cheap (i.e. $15) devices can be added to my vehicle to facilitate communication with these cameras.

Note that I would just plug the WiFi adapter into a USB power block. So, they would not normally be connected to a computer. Perhaps an alternative is to purchase a cheap WiFi range extender. Some of these use the word "router" in them as well.

Do any of you know if this idea will work? Or perhaps have the hardware to be able to try it out?

-Joe

If you have two smartphones there is an awesome app that works without needing a wifi connection. It’s actually two apps one gets loaded on the phone being used as the camera and the other to the phone used to monitor. It works fantastic it has two way sound and a great picture.

I think some of the concern about barking while you are gone may have to do with where you are camping. We have, as rarely as possible, camped where the neighbors were so close that a barking dog would be a real nuisance. I hesitate to even call that camping, more like parking lot squatting. But sometimes it is the only option, and I too would hesitate to leave my dog alone in that situation. She would probably hear the neighbors simply talking in a normal voice, and that might well cause a problem. So I wouldn't do that. I'm sure she would bark at those noises that she couldn't see.

This season we camped for a week in the Sierra, and this particular campground has a lot of deer wandering around the grounds. These deer were even a bit aggressive toward dogs as we walked around the grounds with her on a leash. After a couple of days, she figured out that the sound of browsing outside the camper was those deer feeding all night. We lost a bit of sleep from the dog barking for a few nights. Kinda funny now, not so funny at the wee hours.

Like most things, the situation is important and there isn't one single answer.

While we are traveling in the RV, it is our home. We take a least one trip a year of a month or more. When in our sticks and bricks home, we leave the dog alone in the house when we need to. When we are in our RV home, we leave the dog alone in the RV when we need to. The dog considers the RV his home just as much as the sticks and bricks house. We minimize the time the dog is alone in both homes since we like being with him and he likes being with us. He is well trained and easy to be around. We have the RV so when we travel, we can bring our home with us.

I leave my dogs for an hour or so with no worries; but we have a white vehicle and tend to camp in the spring or fall. They LOVE our van - it's their "home". When visiting family, at mealtime, I'll retire the dogs to the van for a little nap time, where they happily sleep. ALL of my dogs have been good campers - they understand that nothing needs to be protected until someone is standing on the doorstep. And I consider them protectors - what thief wants to mess with a barking-dog RV when there are other quieter choices about?

Lantley wrote:

bpounds wrote:
I find it hard to believe that no one here leaves their dog alone for a couple of hours. What do you do at home? Take the dog everywhere with you? Our camper is our home when we are camping. Dog is happy to live in the camper. She prefers to not be alone, but that's true at home as well, and dog has to learn that sometimes she is expected to behave without our being there to monitor.

It takes training. Easy to find out how to do it and there are many books and videos. Basically just start out with very short periods, with you right outside the door to monitor, and to take action if bad behavior begins. Soon your dog won't know if you are really gone, or just outside the door. Also soon you will know if you have a lonely barker or not. Oddly, our dogs have always seemed to be on their very best behavior when we are gone. Nothing chewed up. Pretty sure that when we leave, nap time begins.

If we want to go to dinner, much better to leave Mandolin in the camper than in the truck. I'm careful to turn off ignition sources like the water heater when we leave. But that's just smart practice regardless.

I don't feel the need for a monitor, and where we camp it would be unusual to have a cell signal anyway. I wouldn't expect weather to change so drastically in 2 hours that it would be a surprise. Just take some time for training, in the camper, in strange campgrounds, and you should be fine. And common sense would say, don't leave fido alone in a strange campground the very first moment you arrive.

I agree with the above. I'm not sure what all the fuss is about?
I take my dog camping and have no need to monitor what's going on. The dog is content alone in the trailer for hours. He stays home for hours as well. I can go all day without worry.
Sure the A/C could fail , but the dog is not going to instantly or automatically perish without A/C.
For the most part we are not gone that long, but on occasion we can be gone all day. We have not had any issues in 10+ years with 2 different dogs.
I love my dog but I do not worry about him while I'm gone.
I am always concerned about the dog however I seldom worry about the dog. YMMV
In the end I guess it comes down to your comfort level and the dogs training and comfort level.

X3. Our dog is well trained, and has it's place in our family. Sometimes that place is alone in the camper while we are canoeing or engaged in an activity the dog cannot participate in. She's content in her place as she's well trained - by me, and also well loved.

To the OP - check Amazon for Blink Cameras.

bpounds wrote:
I find it hard to believe that no one here leaves their dog alone for a couple of hours. What do you do at home? Take the dog everywhere with you? Our camper is our home when we are camping. Dog is happy to live in the camper. She prefers to not be alone, but that's true at home as well, and dog has to learn that sometimes she is expected to behave without our being there to monitor.

It takes training. Easy to find out how to do it and there are many books and videos. Basically just start out with very short periods, with you right outside the door to monitor, and to take action if bad behavior begins. Soon your dog won't know if you are really gone, or just outside the door. Also soon you will know if you have a lonely barker or not. Oddly, our dogs have always seemed to be on their very best behavior when we are gone. Nothing chewed up. Pretty sure that when we leave, nap time begins.

If we want to go to dinner, much better to leave Mandolin in the camper than in the truck. I'm careful to turn off ignition sources like the water heater when we leave. But that's just smart practice regardless.

I don't feel the need for a monitor, and where we camp it would be unusual to have a cell signal anyway. I wouldn't expect weather to change so drastically in 2 hours that it would be a surprise. Just take some time for training, in the camper, in strange campgrounds, and you should be fine. And common sense would say, don't leave fido alone in a strange campground the very first moment you arrive.

I agree with the above. I'm not sure what all the fuss is about?
I take my dog camping and have no need to monitor what's going on. The dog is content alone in the trailer for hours. He stays home for hours as well. I can go all day without worry.
Sure the A/C could fail , but the dog is not going to instantly or automatically perish without A/C.
For the most part we are not gone that long, but on occasion we can be gone all day. We have not had any issues in 10+ years with 2 different dogs.
I love my dog but I do not worry about him while I'm gone.
I am always concerned about the dog however I seldom worry about the dog. YMMV
In the end I guess it comes down to your comfort level and the dogs training and comfort level.

We decide each time we go camping if we are taking the dogs or not. When it's not, they are either left at home with friends/relative stopping by numerous times daily to let them out and feed them, or we take them to my mother's house and she keeps them for us. They are very well behaved and she knows them well and them her. She has a fenced in yard so it is no trouble for her.

About 90% of the time, we take them with us. My dogs get excited the minute they see me carry a clothes basket to the camper because they know what that means. When we go camping, we generally don't all leave the area we are camping in at the same time. If we do, it's to take a hike, walk to a lake to go fishing for the day, go canoeing or boating, etc. All activities we take the dogs on. If there is something that they can not participate in, I generally stay behind with the dogs. I like solitude as much as anyone and reading a good book or hanging in a lawn chair tending the fire with so soft music playing, enjoying a brown pop with my 2 faithful companions is never a bad day.

This was something we thought of and discussed prior to becoming pet owners. I've never regretted having them and never been tempted to leave them alone even though they would do fine if I did. They behave at home and would only bark in the camper if someone knocked on the door or was in the campsite and it would be a brief 2-3 woofs and they quit. I know because I have tested this numerous times without leaving, knocking on the door and then just sitting outside.

On more than one occasion I have watched as people put their dog in the camper and leave for a couple of hours. Sometimes the dog is fine, other times they bark the entire time. When the owner returns and hears the barking, they will assume Fido is just excited to see them. I've also seen dogs left tied outside while the owners were absent, and they go nuts every time a human, another dog, or a squirrel walks by.

My dogs have always stayed home.