Traveling Companions and the RESTRICTIONS

[FrankNJulie]

We travel with 3 Pomeranians, and they are pretty well behaved. All dogs bark, all dogs poop, and even some will bite, when provoked. Ours do all but the biting thing... We carry a pen like enclosure. It is very neat, matches our rig, and we have done some renovations to make it comfortable for our dogs, and that fits our rv. We have made a short wall that goes along the underside of the basements, and the outside is 2 feet. We have been told at several parks that enclosures or fences are not allowed. We use this to keep from having to run 3 leads (that inevitably tangle upon hook up), but also to protect the ever running, peddling, and vocal children at play. We also clean up after them and our enclosure is not in any way going to destroy any grass or site. We have been told that the reason that some parks do not allow these enclosures is that people will leave the pets outside unattended. This is a no-no in any camp setting. I say that if these "people" do this, then that would be a reason for their immediate dismissal from the park. I personally don't think that is the reason, but if so, let us Good dog owners have our comforts of the road, and kick those non-animal lovers out of the park! I would love to get these parks to change their policies, and just pay more attention to the ones that are breaking the rules.

[AZPops]

toedtoes wrote:

lovemytt wrote:
Campgrounds also limit the number of people per site. Just an observation. We leave ours at the vet which limits the amount of time we get to camp due to costs. No easy answer when it comes to animal parenthood.

I agree. I have to travel occasionally for work and the dogs stay at a kennel during those trips. So, when I have time off, I want to be able to enjoy it with my dogs. The RV and dog-friendly campgrounds make that possible. I do everything I can to make sure the campgrounds I visit continue to be dog-friendly no matter the inconvenience to me.

Well said!

Pops

[raindove]

kcmoedoe wrote:

raindove wrote:
Here's our set up.

And after a week, the grass under that setup will be completely dead, eventually leading to a nice mud hole for the next campers to deal with. That is exactly why parks don't allow pens and such. It isn't always about the dogs, it what the setup does to the park. (see previous post about driving the anchors to hold another type of fence)

Good grief. On the ground is a patio mat - the same thing that a gazillion campers use. We camp at the beach, so it's sand with patchy grass. Our set up has never killed the grass or done any damage. If it did, I wouldn't use it. You can clearly see if grass has been killed when you move something. It might be different if it were used on a nice manicured lawn, but I've never used it in that type of environment.

I don't know why some people even bother camping. They complain about dogs, they complain about kids, they complain about generators running, they complain about noise, they complain about smoke, and on and on. It's called living. People don't go camping to sit inside their RV and be quiet all weekend. They go to enjoy the outdoors.

[toedtoes]

lovemytt wrote:
Campgrounds also limit the number of people per site. Just an observation. We leave ours at the vet which limits the amount of time we get to camp due to costs. No easy answer when it comes to animal parenthood.

I agree. I have to travel occasionally for work and the dogs stay at a kennel during those trips. So, when I have time off, I want to be able to enjoy it with my dogs. The RV and dog-friendly campgrounds make that possible. I do everything I can to make sure the campgrounds I visit continue to be dog-friendly no matter the inconvenience to me.

[Spleenstomper]

toedtoes wrote:
Spleenstomper - the photo isn't of the OP's setup.

Ah, I'm a mess today!!! Thanks.

[toedtoes]

Otterlynx wrote:
Personally I feel that someone who goes to the trouble of penning their dogs are very responsible and they are ensureing that their dogs leashes don't scrape up the ground or local flora and fauna. Much easier to ensure all is scooped because its in one spot and it allows the zoo to stay with the family.

I would agree with your comments if its in comparison to loose dogs, But in comparison to using a leash, I disagree. I don't think my dog leashes have ever scraped up the ground or local flora and fauna. I also find it very easy to ensure all is scooped because the dog is never more than 6 ft away from me. And with the dogs always within 6 feet of me, I'd say there's no problem keeping the zoo with me. I also always have a physical attachment to the dogs so I can easily and quickly move them away from a problem.

[lovemytt]

Campgrounds also limit the number of people per site. Just an observation. We leave ours at the vet which limits the amount of time we get to camp due to costs. No easy answer when it comes to animal parenthood.

[Otterlynx]

We always use a pen if we are staying more than a day in a Cg and haven't had an issue. We have two small dogs and they know that the pen is the spot to "go" which makes it easy for us to clean up. It keeps our dogs safe from other dogs that snap a leash and attack them. It allows them the freedom to wander within the pen while we sit in our chairs and relax. We also enclose our steps so our two cats can come in and out of the RV. The cats are leash trained but neither is fond of strangers so I prefer to have the leash on them and the door open so they can scoot inside when they need to. The pen stops them from going underneath the rv and slipping away after a squirrel.
Personally I feel that someone who goes to the trouble of penning their dogs are very responsible and they are ensureing that their dogs leashes don't scrape up the ground or local flora and fauna. Much easier to ensure all is scooped because its in one spot and it allows the zoo to stay with the family.
Any CG that says no to a pen we do follow their rules but we try to avoid those cgs.

[kcmoedoe]

raindove wrote:
Here's our set up.

And after a week, the grass under that setup will be completely dead, eventually leading to a nice mud hole for the next campers to deal with. That is exactly why parks don't allow pens and such. It isn't always about the dogs, it what the setup does to the park. (see previous post about driving the anchors to hold another type of fence)

[toedtoes]

Merrykalia - I can't even imagine actually building a fence at a campsite. Even if it was using the orange netting, planting post holes in the ground is nuts. I can't say I blame the park owners on this one.

[Merrykalia]

We were in a campground for spring break last year and on the last day we were in the campground, we had two women pull in beside of us. They had 3 dogs with them, but they were quiet and well behaved. The women set up their camper but then they pulled pieces of 6' long rebar out of their truck and began hammering them into the ground. After they got one side done, they began stringing the orange plastic fencing to the rebar. This went on for about 2 hours until........

.......they hit a water line and water went a'squirting about 10' into the air!!

They pulled that piece out of the ground and went on stringing up their fence.

When the camp hosts drove around and saw the big orange pen (approximately 20X20 that went right up to their door, they did a double take and when they saw the water standing on the ground, now about an inch deep throughout the entire enclose, they were flabbergasted.

They immediately went and got someone with some authority that came back with a tool to turn the water off to that site, they called the police and had the women packing up and out of there in about 30 minutes! The camp host said that they would be charging the women the cost of fixing the water line, which would include digging it up. It was a locality owned park, so I am sure that they meant business.

I checked into going back this year, but things just didn't work out for us. They had a new item on their website.....no pet enclosures. Tie-outs only and 6' in length maximum.

The women were very protective of their dogs and wanted to protect them and us, but it sure created mass mayhem in the campground that afternoon.

[raindove]

toedtoes wrote:
Spleenstomper - the photo isn't of the OP's setup.

Sorry. Didn't mean to confuse the issue - no that's not the OP setup. We do have friends who made a short fencing thing that folds up. They put that along the side of the MH to keep dogs from escaping under the MH. Then they have two ex-pens that they set up and clip them together in the middle.

What their set up looks like is they have their entire patio area enclosed with fencing. I saw them do this at a dog show, where everyone has ex-pens. They can also use their ex-pens and set up similar to our set up.

Options are limited only by the imagination.

I looked but can't find any photos of our friend's set up, with the guard along the bottom of the RV. Sorry. It really is nice though, the way they do it. They set their chairs up, and the dogs can be right there with them.

[toedtoes]

Spleenstomper - the photo isn't of the OP's setup.

[Spleenstomper]

I like the set up. For some reason, I imagined it as you had fenced off under the class A so that the dogs could have the entire space shaded and for them to run around. Huuuummm. Maybe that could be a good product to create?

I like dog cots too-2 my big ones love their cots!

[toedtoes]

Bird Freak - I agree. And that's why I think these parks make the rule "no pens" - because too many people leave their dogs outside while they sit in the air conditioned RV. It's easier to ban them all than to patrol for offenders. And they make up reasons for the rule so it doesn't sound like "we don't want to patrol for offenders so we don't let anyone do it" so they don't have to listen to people argue that THEY would never do that.

[Bird_Freak]

First let me say I love dogs but I hardly ever go to a cg where there are no pens outside with unattended pets. Biggest thing I hate at a cg are little yappers in their pens barking at anything that moves. I try to stay far far away from them.