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Gone with the dogs

It’s 8 p.m. and Nanook sits up and looks around as if his doggy watch timer has just beeped the signal for his evening treat. Winter, summer, long evenings or short days, Nanook does the same thing at 8 p.m. There is something in this dog that craves routine.  Taking him on the road has no effect on his 8 p.m.  snack alert.  To Nanook, an RV journey holds the same excitement as a d-r-i-v-e to the beach in the summer. He could happily travel from one coast to the other…so long as his one little evening routine is respected.

If you are an RV aficionado you likely have already worked out whatever arrangement is necessary for dealing with your furry household members when you travel.  If you haven’t, you might want to consider the joys of taking your Nanook with you.  Here are some hints for traveling with pets.  It might easier than you realized.

Only you know your pet well enough to know just how traumatizing or exciting it might be for him or her to be part of the RV experience.  However, assuming that Rover is willing to travel, some of the factors that you need to take into consideration are the lack of space, how well Rover is trained, how he behaves when you leave him alone, and temperature factors.

Nanook is a very big dog (a Malamute Husky who weighs 110 pounds).  He’s used to running out in the back 40.  Yet he loves to travel. The RV does not have a lot of room to roam but Nanook can pace from the kitchen area to the bedroom area and I toss an old sheet over the bed so he can hop up there if he wants to.  This special treat compensates a little for his confined quarters. Nevertheless traveling with a pet does call for you to make some concessions to the pet’s needs. I stop more frequently that I would if I were traveling alone but the point of life on the road is to enjoy it and if Nanook does not enjoy the trip, then my mission (an enjoyable time for all family members) has failed.  When I stop, I try to pick places where Nanook can run and run.  (There are some great spots in rural Minnesota!)

Nanook however is obedient enough to come when called and this is essential if you ever plan to let your pet run loose.  A friend of mine let her nervous cat out for a little snoop around one quiet evening in an off-season ski resort and spent two extra days trying to coax the kitty out from under an old shed.

The fact of the matter is that there are few places where pets can run free.  Not all RVers and campers are animal-lovers and not all pets are camper-lovers. The alternative is to make absolutely sure that, if Rover cannot run free, that you take him for a very very long walk every single day.

There will be times when you have to leave Rover alone in the RV and it is important that you know how he behaves when left alone. Leave a tape recorder running sometime when you are out. Maybe, like another friend of mine, you will discover that Rover barks non-stop when you leave him alone. If this is the case, you will have to come up with a strategy to get around this and it might be something as drastic as hiring a dog-sitter from among the other RVers or making an arrangement with another pet-RVer to swap sitting services.

Speaking of leaving your pet alone, be aware of the temperature inside your RV when you leave it – even for a few minutes.  You may have to leave a window open or a heater on, depending on the weather.

The bottom line is, traveling with a pet can be demanding but often the rewards are more than worth a few extra stops and other small concessions you might have to make.  Give it a try the first time on a short trip. Try a weekend outing to place where there is the potential for some wide open spaces......

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