Does anyone RV with their dog(s)?

[smt]

We are considering getting an RV (in the 27-30 ft range), and would want to take our 2 girls with us on trips.  They are well adjusted, well mannered, and enjoy adventures.  We came across a woman not too long ago walking 3 greyhounds at the beach, and when we struck up a chat with her, she told us that she was staying at a nearby RV park, and that she has no issues with traveling with her dogs.  I'd love to hear from others about the pleasures and pains of bringing your grey's along on long RV trips, even cross country trips.  We are just beginning the process of trying to decide if this is an investment we ultimately want to make, but the dogs are a big consideration.  What do we need to be thinking about?  The biggest concern that I have is that they could bolt out of the door bc there is so much in and out, so having some kind of way of securing again that nightmare would be top of list.  

Bring on your comments:)

[Houndtime]

We actually bought a trailer to travel to greyhound events with our dogs.  We also vacationed with the dogs and later on parked it in a vacation campground at the Jersey Shore for 3 years.  We had two greys when we bought the trailer and later on had three.  So we did camp with 5 different greyhounds and they were fine with it.  We had a large x-pen that we set up out side the trailer.  It is good way to travel with your pets.  No hotel/motel and you have all your own belongings.  We had two sets of everything.  Some beds, bowls, toys, etc. for home and some for the trailer.  You need to purchase bottled water as most campground water is well water and I won't drink it, so I won't give it to our dogs either.  We would purchase groceries of fresh items when we arrived at the camping spot.  All the towns have a supermarket which is less expensive than the campground store.  Good luck and I think you will have fun.

[zimsmom]

I have tent camped with Maya and had no issues.  Then switched to a pop up camper & again no issues.  She was 11-13 1/2 during this time with some mobility issues so a little less worry that she could get away.    Hoping to adopt again so an expen is going to be a must have. 

[LoveMyGrey+2]

We traveled with our greyhound and our Doberman across the US from Florida, our home, to California and back for about 3 months. It was wonderful. We stayed as much as possible at National Parks and interesting small campgrounds. They loved being with us. I always prefer to have our dogs with us.

[kudzu]

My dog goes with us when we travel. She isn’t a fan of riding in the car but does love the camper. When switching from the little Aliner to the new, little toy hauler, she made the switched with no problems. She loves strolling through the campground, schmoozing with her adoring public. 
We’ve traveled & camped with numerous dogs using tents, trailers or just the van. It’s more work than going without pets but the pros outweigh the cons. We do have to ensure we have electricity to run the AC in Summer. That changes the sites/campgrounds we can stay in.
Greyhounds have been easy to travel & camp with, on the whole. 

[zimsmom]

On 5/19/2021 at 12:47 AM, kudzu said:

She loves strolling through the campground, schmoozing with her adoring public.

 

I love this 

[dmswartzfager]

I actually fulltime travel with currently two hounds in a 37' fifth wheel trailer. We sold our house and got rid of almost everything we owned two years ago and have been on the road ever since. Before that, we had a pop-up camper for 12 years, and before that, we were tent camping, both with either 3 or 4 greyhounds. All 13 hounds over the years have been good travelers.

I dunno if I'm allowed to post this, but our facebook page is Traveling with a HitchHiker (https://www.facebook.com/TravelsWithAHitchHiker)

[cleptogrey]

we have tent camped and now have a honda odyssey set up as a camper. our cooking is still outside, the odyssey is basically a dry tent like situation. dogs will do what ever you do- anyway my dog just follow. it's paw/dirt management for us that is always a challenge.

national parks only allow dogs in campsites, no trails. currently the national parks are exploding from visitors. state campgrounds vary from state to state/park to park. 

bureau of land management has free camping. some sites have porta potties, non have hookups. but the larger RVs are parked there (5 day max) and self sufficient. in texas staying overnight at rest areas is permitted since the state does not want tired drivers on the road. 

private campgrounds will have everything you need, we find what ever when we travel. there are blogs by "boondockers" with listings/guides/tips. 

all of this is an adventure. for us the challenge is the heat- cold weather is fine with us and the dogs. but 90+ degrees, high humidity and bugs are always a challenge. 18 degrees and wind are much easier (except in the morning) than 100! the cicadas will provide more than enough white noise if you travel to the midwest. i remember  a rest stop on rt 70, Illinois, Indiana where the noise was deafening.

ALWAYS HAVE A HARD COPY OF YOUR RABIES CERTIFICATES on hand or on your phone. tags alone are not enough in some states(VT was very picky)

[smt]

I love all these replies.  And am very encouraged that so many have been able to successfully camp/RV with their pups.  We are going to be in the market for a Class A Mini (ideally 27-29 feet) once the market for RV's (hopefully) bottoms out and will be flooded with all the folks who bought them up over the past year on a pandemic lark and decide they don't want them any longer.  That gives us plenty of time to do a deep dive into the ins and outs of RVing with dogs.  As stated in my OP, my main concern is that they will get loose out of the door, but I am confident there is a way to accommodate for this.  We are super conscientious with the dogs at home, so I know it will be in over drive on the road, no pun intended.  The other worry I have (which falls into the category of "catastrophizing") is that we will leave them in the RV (hooked up to electricity, and with the air on), but that something will happen and they will be trapped in a hot box.  There will be situations in which we will not be able to take them with us, like on long hikes, or kayaking, etc.  I know thousands of people do this every day and I have not read horror stories of pets baking in RV's bc the power went out.  But that is a fear . . .

Cant wait to check out the fb page listed in thread.  Wish someone would do a Youtube or full blog series on RVing with their GH's.  

[PattyE]

We were full-timers for 5.5 years.  We started out with two greyhounds, but Scout died in our 3rd year.  Before we went full-time, we camped quite a bit.  All of our greys have loved it.  We did have some issues with some parks not allowing large dogs, so that was probably our biggest problem.  

Our last RV had a generator that would kick on if the power went out, so that was nice.   We have just started camping in a van with our greyhound.  We purchased a pet cam for the van so that we can check on him when we are not there.  We have it positioned so that we can see the thermometer that we placed on the wall.  We are headed out next week for two weeks and then we are going for a long trip from August - October.  It is a 20' van, so it is really tiny.  Jaxson did great on a test run last week.

My advice is to always go out of the RV first.  We would walk down the steps backwards and they would follow.  I have seen many dogs run down the steps with their person behind them.  It is dangerous for all.  I met a lady whose Golden had run down the steps first and fell through the steps.  He ended up loosing that leg.  I am not trying to scare you, but just inform you.  If you go down first, you can control their speed.  Oh and our girl Scout, she never would go up the steps without us lifting her butt to the first step.  

[dmswartzfager]

5 hours ago, smt said:

Cant wait to check out the fb page listed in thread.  Wish someone would do a Youtube or full blog series on RVing with their GH's.  

Thank you; I saw that you followed the page this morning. I just finished posting what we do for safety on that page.

[Jester]

We have had our travel trailer for 5 years.  Our greyhound, Sider, took right to it but June Bug HATES IT.  The floor moves, there are lots of noises outside in the campground, the AC might eat her blah blah blah.  Sider has now passed away and I took June with me on a 4 month jaunt this winter following sunshine.  She finally learned how to settle and was perfectly fine while I was in the trailer with her, but she had tons of anxiety if I walked out without her.  She would stand in the window watching me at the picnic table whining and panting.  If I brought her out with me and put her in the pen, she would fuss to go back inside.  It was a difficult 4 months.  I finally had to put her on anxiety herbs to take the edge off.  Luckily, I was able to find pet sitters in the campgrounds I visited so she could go stay with others when I would leave for the day.

Bottom line, will depend on the dog.