We're off camping for a week later in the year and taking the dogs with us.
First time we've taken them when in a tent.
They're fairly well behaved, but do have tendency on occasion to get excited and chase squirrels etc.
Any hints/tips - mainly thinking of the night when sleeping. Should we keep leads on and clip them to the camp bed?
Thanks in advance.
Picture of the furry idiots just because.....
(1) Don't camp in a thunderstorm
(2) Don't expect to get a good night's sleep
(3) Get puncture-proof mattresses
(4) Get a long lead
(5) Enjoy!
In my experience a dog will not want to go out into a dark, cold night, but rather insist on getting deeper into your sleeping bag in order to extract maximum body heat from you.
Second the puncture-proof mat advice.
Do you have a big enough garden that you could set up your tent and do a test run? Thereby giving yourself an easy bailout option if problems arise...
In my experience a dog will not want to go out into a dark, cold night, but rather insist on getting deeper into your sleeping bag in order to extract maximum body heat from you.
The only time we went camping with our dog I woke up to find his head on my pillow, nose millimetres away from mine.
Do you have a big enough garden that you could set up your tent and do a test run?
I'd say this is a good idea. Whenever I've put up a tent in our garden for checking or drying, out dog won't go inside it, even with me in and the door open. Something about it freaks him out. The first night of your holiday would be an awkward time for you to discover your dogs feel the same!
To maintain marital happiness, ensure that clothing and shoes are kept away from said dogs overnight, othger wise you may find out in the mornign that the reason they were quiet was because they were nesting in/on/with said items and that you suddenly owe your wife a new pair of jeans and a flip-flop.
Make sure you have a bigger tent than you think.
Other than that the dog is fine with camping, brit he likes to sleep between us in his bed. He absolutely is not allowed to share ours, he does appreciate a blanket over him though
Any hints/tips - mainly thinking of the night when sleeping. Should we keep leads on and clip them to the camp bed?
Only time we've done it our dog slept in his cage. This was a 6 man Montana tent though so space for that.
But only you know your dogs - it could be great - it could be like camping with a screaming baby and you keep up the whole site all night!!
And how will they cope chained outside the tent. They won't be allowed to roam free.
The only time we went camping with our dog I woke up to find his head on my pillow, nose millimetres away from mine.
the only time we went camping with the dog I woke up to find myself off the matress, crumpled into the corner of the tent, with the dog starfished across my matress
You can get a dog sleeping bag. Fairly small and light. They do keep him warm, but the main benefit is not having a wet dog trying to climb into yours.
Also, car-camping or backpacking? Very different!
A ground anchor each for during the day. The one time you stop concentrating someone somewhere is going to lose a breakfast!
Whenever I've put up a tent in our garden for checking or drying, out dog won't go inside it, even with me in and the door open
Our is the complete opposite, as soon as you start getting a tent out she wants to get inside it. Pain in the arse.
We've been taking ours camping since she was about 6 months old, dog and kids! We put one of those screw in pegs in the ground and clip a rope to that and then to her harness, so she has more space to wander around but not wander off the pitch. Obviously we never quite get it in the right position that she can't get tangled up in chairs or herself...
She wanted to get out in the morning once and ripped the inner fly sheet on the door scratching at it. Our fault really though as we should have noticed earlier.
Ours sleeps with us in the bed in our van now though. I'm pretty much over tents.
Thanks all.
It's car camping, and we have a large 6 man/family tent.
Ground anchors for the day is a good shout.
Garden is sufficient for a trial run, will wait until the weather improves lol
My Dad usually looks after them when we go camping, but he's inherited my MIL's dog now that she's gone into a care home.
They generally get on but not sure how they (or my Dad!) would cope for a week together.
Car camping- dogs in the car as a bail out option. Ground anchor screw tying as above to avoid wandering off.
For the love of god, keep them on a f*(&ing lead in the f(*&ing campsite, and keep the lead attached to something. Dog owner, dog lover and dog camper here, and it does my f&*(ing nut when dogs are legging around the site, it's really not hard.
Assuming it's a sewn in groundsheet you should be ok to have them off the lead in the tent (at night). But then only you know your dog. We make sure to do the zips so they meet high up and can't be nudged open by the nose of a dog who has decided a midnight wander sounds like fun.
Our spaniel happily sleeps in/amongst us and normally on whichever air mat she can find space on and force a childs legs out of the way. The problem we have is as soon as I stir on a morning she's straight up and wagging her tail against ever surface possible and bouncing around while I try and get some form of dressed as quickly as possible to get her out and not wake everyone else up!
With the ground anchor - if it's a single long lead/tether you will spend all week untangling it from chair legs, table legs, picking everything up that gets knocked over. We use 2 anchors with a line between them and then clip a shorter lead on to that so she can move up and down it without wiping out everyone and everything around her.
I have taken our dog away for loads of trips in our van. She starts off on her bed but inevitably on ours, it would be an issue if she was small dog but she's a 29kg Goldendoodle that's 80% leg.
An anchor of some description is a must. Either a pigtail or a loop of material that can go through your car alloy.
Take a bed so they have their own "place" even when outside.
Lots of extra fleece blankets and towels are very useful if you dog loves a bog/lake/river.
For the love of god, keep them on a f*(&ing lead in the f(*&ing campsite, and keep the lead attached to something. Dog owner, dog lover and dog camper here, and it does my f&*(ing nut when dogs are legging around the site, it's really not hard.
Thanks, they generally stay on leads most of the time anyway.
Are you 100% sure they’re dogs and not dingoes?
Number one priority should be dont spoil it for the other campers - they dont want dogs around. So keep on a lead at all times.
Don't camp in a mountain corrie (The Cobbler) where there is an echo and your dog spends an hour barking at itself. Who said poodles were intelligent?
The echo is brilliant.
Totally agree with keeping them on a lead unless in the tent, ****ing hate having other dogs come wandering by.
I have a lead with a friction stop on it that is long enough for mountain walks but also works great for camping. Normally strap it to a ground stake or a picnic bench if there is one
Oh! Worth looking to see if you can find a campsite that has specific pitches/fields for dogs rather than being put in with the general population.
or a picnic bench if there is one
I've seen a medium size dog take a picnic bench for drag...which was very very funny.
Don't forget to take enough camp chairs for everyone
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Thanks all - appreciated.
Will get something like this to tether them to:
I use one of those. Perfectly fine for small dogs.
A big dog will rip it straight out of the ground!
If you have a local Go Outdoors, take them there first. You can walk around the tents and take them inside them. It will get them familiar with being in a tent first
Yeah our dog hated the tent when it was windy, really spooked him. Otherwise he was happy.
If it's wet. A dog coat is good as it'll keep them dryer. Wet dogs in your tent is a bit gash for everyone.
Proper nice bed for the dog, otherwise he'll have yours thanks. Plenty of space to stretch out. Ours preferred the back of the tent away from the door
Nice food for him on camping trips, keep him keen!
Blimey, I must be lucky with mine. 2-3 spaniels curl up in my 3 man tent, and gently snore.... usually they're pretty whacked and happy to sleep. It's easy and bliss!
In my experience a dog will not want to go out into a dark, cold night, but rather insist on getting deeper into your sleeping bag in order to extract maximum body heat from you.
Second the puncture-proof mat advice.
I my experience the dog realises pretty shapish that if they go to bed 10 minutes before you they can get your sleeping bag, acrape it into a nest and fall fas asleep leaving you with dog bed for a pillow and a ratty old blanket.
Thanks all - appreciated.
Will get something like this to tether them to:
I'm going to give you some caution on these. When our previous complete-angel black lab was a pup (probably about 6 months old at the time, 1st time he'd camped - though we'd camped many times with his predacessor) we had exactly one of these steel cable + ground screws. Now here's the horror / scary bit. Mrs and daughter went to explore the site. I stayed at the tent. When they came back , he saw them 100 yards away, and excitedly got up and ran to meet them. With the 10 yards of steel cable he was able to get up a good speed - to then of course reach its end, and be violently stopped instantly, by the neck. It could have killed him. By sheer good luck the grassy ground was soft enough for the screw to bend and partly pull out. But it could have been a horror show. NEVER used it again. It scared the shite out of me as to what could have happened.
We got a Ruffwear elasticated waist belt / lead for running with him, that's about 3 or 4 yards long, and subsequently use that clipped to the bottom of a chair or something else. And a harness rather than just the collar on the dawgie. It's got a lot more give / decelerates gradually.
https://ruffwear.co.uk/products/roamer-bungee-dog-leash
We've camped with our dogs (1 dog at any point in time) for probably 25 years. Maybe close to 30.
I agree about getting a puncture resistant bed /mats. All 3 dogs we've had wanted to do nothing more than join us in bed and trample over the Thermarests. (The more modern inflatable down-filled mats wouldn't last 5 seconds !). We put other sheets / blankets wrapped around the thermarests to protect from the claws.
For sleeping, we were usually in a family tent with separate sleeping parts to living. We bought a couple of Decathlon or Vango tent carpets or picnic blankets to protect the ground sheet from claws, which generally make it both nicer for the dawgie (not as cold at night) and quieter when they move around. We'd take his regular high-sided soft bed for him to sleep in - one less unusual/ new thing for him to get used to. And it can be cold down at floor level in the living area in a big family tent.
His bed would be in the living area but close to me - so he was only a couple of feet away from my head, just separated by the fabric divider. We'd clip his lead to a folded-down chair so there was some resistance if he decided to go walk-about at 3am. Zip the entry/exit up to the top if you can, or try to use a carabiner of something to close the zipper fully if its ends are at the bottom. All 3 of our dogs would otherwise shove their head out through the bottom gap and prise any zippered flap open to go explore at 5am ! Dogs naturally wake up and turn around a few times in the night.
As others say he would also want to be in my face (and in my sleeping baf If I'd have let him) by the morning.
The other thing I always found is that they'd settle far better when tired! Stating the obvious really. The 1st night, if we'd travelled all day and they'd not had a proper couple of hours walk minimum, they'd not settle. A couple of 5-6 hour walks and time playing in a river, lake or sea always worked the best for a peaceful night !
We've always had Labradors - if you dawgie is small, it may be easier to have them in with you in the sleeping area.
Hope that's of help and doesn't put you off. I loved all our camping holidays with our dog. I'd have been a right miserable ****er if I was on holiday without my boy being with us. Looking forward our first tenting trip before Easter this year.
The ultimate dog tent is a vintage force 10.
The neoprene groundsheet just laughs at Lolas paws.
In theory she gets the bell end all to herself but she attempts to steal it at every opportunity. She adores that tent.
The biggest issue is actually cooking for us its a nightmare.
Second the camp chairs for everyone...
Bert was from Finland and as a breed they live outdoors all year round so he was happiest camping and sleeping in his own little tent!
Wow no danger Lola would be up for that.
Nice spot though! Where is it?
Wow no danger Lola would be up for that.
Nice spot though! Where is it?
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZCXmjMLgoDqKRXns6?g_st=ic
Llechrwd campsite, lovely little campsite near Porthmadoc, been many times.
Why be sorry? 🤣
Wow no danger Lola would be up for that.
Nice spot though! Where is it?
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZCXmjMLgoDqKRXns6?g_st=ic
Llechrwd campsite, lovely little campsite near Porthmadoc, been many times.
Cheers, there are fewer and fewer site like that. Just a lush green space... For tents.
Wow no danger Lola would be up for that.
Nice spot though! Where is it?
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZCXmjMLgoDqKRXns6?g_st=ic
Llechrwd campsite, lovely little campsite near Porthmadoc, been many times.
Cheers, there are fewer and fewer site like that. Just a lush green space... For tents.
there’s an upper section that has EHU for caravans/campers with painted rocks for your pitch, a nice wildflower meadow through the gate that they mow a few pitches into and a lower field without pitches for tents.
Couple of shower rooms, washing up room with microwave/freezer etc, good toilets with handbasins.
Run by a nice mother and daughter team with Charlie the Beagle.
Its actually one of the reasons we are selling our caravan this season - most other sites have been disappointing with their regimented pitches, people who spend all weekend mobile jet washing their caravan and then sitting inside watching tv all weekend.
This site is slightly less ‘polished’ with interesting outdoorsy people staying there.
