The best thing you can do for any dog is crate train them. The crate becomes their place. Then if you do have to leave them in the RV you can put them in their crate with the door closed and water/food. They will feel safe and you don't have to worry about them damaging anything in the RV.
Some people say that their dog will just sleep on the bed or couch. But what if something outside your RV is happening? Kids running past and yelling. An emergency where the dog hears sirens could cause them to run around in the RV and possibly damage things.
Put your dogs bed in the crate with the door open and the dog will probably go in the crate. Feed the dog in the crate. Again it is a place they will want to be in.
We raised Siberians for over 30 years and always had 2 to 4 dogs at any time. Each dog had a crate available. Often you will go into the room and the dog will be sleeping in the crate, with the door open. Because that is their place, their home.
We have been camping with our new puppy this spring and summer (and our two other more-experienced camping dogs). It has meant truly limiting what we do, but we don't mind. Her home crate is too big to bring with us so in the beginning we blocked her in the bedroom. She is too big for that now, so she gets a nice walk before we go. And we pray.
We are never gone for very long and we always leave the A/C on for them. We put the blinds down, too, and make sure there are tons of chew toys everywhere and nothing else she can get into.
So far, only one accident all summer. We were gone too long. Now we know her limits.
We have also adapted where we camp so that we are on a lake site. That way, the kids have something to do and we can take the puppy with us, too. She had a blast on Lake Superior yesterday and I eect she will today, too!
Doggie daycare seems like a great option for you. Safe travels!
Forest River Sunseeker 3170 bunkhouse. We travel with two shih tzu, a leonberger and, oh, yeah, two teens and a 6-year-old.
Our previous pups were crate trained, but we got Sig when he was a little older, abused and terrified of everything. I tried gently to get him to go into the crate, but there was absolutely no way so we stored it. We don't really like leaving him in the motorhome after hearing stories of how pets left alone in units died when there was a fire. We have left him while we visited other campers and he didn't see us so we could see what his reaction was. We usually leave the front curtain closed and he gets up in front of the passenger seat, sticks his head up under the curtain and rests his chin on the dash just watching the world go buy. He doesn't realize we are watching him and we've never seen him see us or react to anything going on outside our unit. I do have the signs that I put on the windows that say "Save My Pet" and the picture of a dog. We did leave him at day care at PetSmart, I think it was, when we were in Florida last year while we took a niece and her two kids for a day at the beach. If possible, we take him in the car with us.
Darrell & Madonna
Furkid, GSD Sigfried
2001 Patriot Thunder by Beaver
Jeep Grand Cherokee
DABAT wrote: The answer may be obvious, but I need to ask. What do you folks do with your dog while sight seeing on vacation. I have had people say, leave him in the trailer for the day or leave him in the truck while sightseeing. He is a four month old lab. If we were plugged in all the time, the trailer wouldn't be so bad if we made our days out shorter, but without AC, I won't do it. I don't like leaving him in the truck for more than a few minutes at a time. What do you all do?
We always carry a dog crate with us. Depending on where we are staying will determine if our dogs are crated or able to run the camper while we are going. It is often to hot to leave them the truck when we have an air conditioned camper they will enjoy much more. As any dog owner knows you plan your day around your dogs,having to eat and go out to relieve themselves. If you don't want to do that then you need to board them. I always take special treats along that will keep them busy for quite a while while we are gone.
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