Taking you dogs with you

Now I have another question. One of the reasons for wanting a RV was to be able to explore the US and take our pets with us.

So I was on line looking at the "pet friendly" RV parks, and see that all of them post a message stating "No pets are to be left in the RV unattended." Well, this might really put a cramp in being able to do any real sight seeing, explore the city, go to an attraction, eat out at a restaurant, etc., etc.

For example: I want to be able to go to Santa Fe, New Mexico, cause I want my son to see the town, go to the museums, visit the art stores, etc. I doubt I would be able to go into these places with our dogs. So what do you do if you can't leave them in the RV for a day out?

I guess we never read the fine print. We just got back from a 12,524 mile trip. And we left the Cat in the RV (Elkmont) every day as we went out looking at stuff. We never left her over night. Just on Day trips.

Find a place to leave the dogs, or don't bring them. I would love to have my pets with us on camping trips. It just doesn't work for us, so we leave them home.

I have traveled with our Beagle for about 10 weeks total. We frequently leave her alone, always with water in case the power fails and there is no AC. We usually leave the end windows open for emergency air.
I do usually ask the office to call if there is a power outage but have never encountered one to date.
Some suggestions is to always look for a shaded site if possible and stay away from areas that are not dog friendly.
If your dog is a barker this can change the whole equation as it may bother your neighbors. As always, take a bag and pick it up.

There would be no one home or relative to leave them with, and I am talking extended trips of 30-60 days. Also, our one dog is a little "over attached" I guess, and refuses to eat when we have tried twice before to board him for a two week period.
When we got back, he was skin and bone and losing his hair. A real problem child, but we love him.

I usually bring my two dogs with me. I always leave them alone leaving the AC on and at least a window open just in case of a power outage. My experience have been that if they are quiet and don't get bother (bark) by the noises of the campground they are not a problem. So if your dogs can be quiet most of the time when left alone for periods of time I don't see a problem.

[ThePair]

Ditto here. We leave our dog when we go out and about, AC running and a window cracked open. He'll bark if he knows we're outside, but he's quiet when he knows we've gone. Not been an issue.

Like you, we purchased the TM so that he could come with us on vacations. It's worked out great for us, so far. I think the rule is there so that the park has recourse if you have a very noisy dog that you leave alone and it begins to disturb the neighbors. But if the pup is quiet, then (a) who will know, and (b) I find it very unlikely that you'd get in trouble for it. They simply won't even know he's in there, right?

Well I do have to "fess up". He does bark when we leave the house, but stops the minute we are out of sight. (Live in an attached house and spoke with my neighbor about it) So I guess the duration is a couple of minutes, so people would know he's in there.

Actually I recently read some stuff on line from dog trainers explaining how to stop that. We are working on it now.
But I also worry about the barks when people walk by.

When we first traveled with him in the car cross country and
stayed primarily in Motel 6 and the other pet friendly motels,
the first few nights were murder in the morning, as when people got up early in the morning and started rolling past our door with their suit cases or talking, he would bark at them, and of course wake us up way before we wanted to get up. But that subsided after a few nights and he got familiar with the noises, so I assume that is what will happen with the RV experience the first few times. He is now a seasoned motel traveler, we just need to change sleeping quarters a bit. He is not a barker by any means, just the normal "what's that sound" kind of bark and "don't leave me bark". We had our first success last night when my son left the house. No bark, just a few little whines. We will continue to work on it.

How does that shoe fit any of your pets?

[Bill]

Modhatter -

That sounds like us. Our dog, a cockapoo, never barks - except when someone is coming to the door. We had a single sad experience in a campground in Benson, AZ, when someone approached the TM when we were not there, and knocked on the door. She barked. Someone complained. The campground owner came out and banged long and loud on the side of the TM, yelling "Shut up! Be quiet!" - in Korean!

Needless to say, we haven't gone back to that campground - and both we, and the Korean owner, are happy with that arrangement.

Point is, though, that I'm not sure any dog is totally bark-proof under the right circumstances. And the campground owner has a legitimate interest in keeping the campground quiet. So we are very careful about leaving our dog in the TM, and take her with us whenever we can.

Bill

Check the laws for each state you camp in.

As I recall, California has a law regarding pets in cars. Not sure bout trailers.

It would not be unknown for the temperature inside a car or truck to reach 120F. Water would not be adequate.

It was 105F in Sacramento last week. Not sure how much hotter it is inside a truck or trailer.

The all-time record in downtown Los Angeles was broken on September 27, 2010 when the temperature reached 113*F.

Infants have died because people left their child in a car unattended.

Alaska is probably less restrictive than California. But that is a guess.