# Dogs Doing Damage?



## sia (Jul 7, 2007)

Hey everyone. I am new and have only posted on towing so far. I wanted to ask those of you who have large dogs. How are they in the camper? I was worried about the couch? or the hard wood floors being scratch? I have my 100 pound monster of a dog. I know he will be loving life. We went from a very old small pop w/ no air up to our outback. Plus he really is an inside dog. He is very lazy. He doesn't want to be outside much with us. 
Thanks so much, sia


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## wolfwood (Sep 19, 2005)

sia said:


> Hey everyone. I am new and have only posted on towing so far. I wanted to ask those of you who have large dogs. How are they in the camper? I was worried about the couch? or the hard wood floors being scratch? I have my 100 pound monster of a dog. I know he will be loving life. We went from a very old small pop w/ no air up to our outback. Plus he really is an inside dog. He is very lazy. He doesn't want to be outside much with us.
> Thanks so much, sia


Hi sia. I have 2 relatively small dogs but we have several members who have dogs ranging from large to "loveseat" and I'm sure they'll jump in here eventually. Much will depend on how your 4-legged behaves - in general. Does he throw himself at doors when visitors come calling? If so, you'll probably want to install a door grate. Does he enjoy the furniture at home? If so, you may want to carry a "dog blanket" to toss over the couch, dinette, or bed at night. Our dogs are well behaved and (clearly) right at home in the Outback....but we have made a few mods (just in case







). Of course, one of the next mods _will _ be to replace the blinds on the Queen slide....the one's Tadger made spaghetti of during one of his Chipmunk Chases!!


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## Doxie-Doglover-Too (Jan 25, 2007)

you're Outback is really a doghouse on wheels, we are simply allowed to camp in them with the dogs and provide the tow vehicle and dog food and treats. Where does a 100 lb dog sleep? he'll need a bunk of his own!


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## okgwarden (Apr 27, 2005)

sia said:


> Hey everyone. I am new and have only posted on towing so far. I wanted to ask those of you who have large dogs. How are they in the camper? I was worried about the couch? or the hard wood floors being scratch? I have my 100 pound monster of a dog. I know he will be loving life. We went from a very old small pop w/ no air up to our outback. Plus he really is an inside dog. He is very lazy. He doesn't want to be outside much with us.
> Thanks so much, sia


Our 100 pound Labrador didn't cause any problems at all in our Outback. But, if your dog gets lonesome when you are out for a while and has a tendency to want to peer out the windows when someone comes around, you might consider getting a large airline crate to keep him in while you are out. That way you save having your miniblinds torn up. Robert Fleenor


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## sia (Jul 7, 2007)

Wow thanks I didnt even think abou that. At home my bedroom blinds are really bad for him looking ou the windows. My livingroom windows do not have blinds but he is always at that window too. 
He is a really good dog. (military trained). Ha ha. Yeah right I baby him. He is a big baby. He is also very protective of my children. SO he watches 24hrs a day. My husband got him for me, so while he was on tour I wouldn't be scared to be home alone with the kids. It worked.


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## wolfwood (Sep 19, 2005)

okgwarden said:


> .....you might consider getting a large airline crate to keep him in while you are out. That way you save having your miniblinds torn up. Robert Fleenor


...or try a collapsable, portable, light-weight kennel such as this
Travel Kennel

...and don't forget the extra shade space for your 4-legged 
Sun Shade


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## LarryTheOutback (Jun 15, 2005)

No problems with our lab spending time in the trailer while we are gone from the campsite.

She does like to get up on the queen bed, though. This is so she can look out the window and wait for our return. To accomodate this, we do not keep the supplied bedspread on the bed (flimsy) and we leave the curtain(s) open so she can look out.

So far she has not damaged the blinds. Darn. We were hoping for an excuse to replace them.

Ed


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## summergames84 (Mar 6, 2004)

Welcome, sia! We have 2 smooths collies, and the big boy weighs in at a svelt 107.







The "normal" sized boy is 58. So, we have 165 lbs of dog with us in the Outback. The big boy is lazy, and sleeps and bothers nothing. The baby (15months) is crated when we are away. They each have beds to sleep in the living area of the Outback, and as Doxie said, it is a canine apartment on wheels that we share with them. So, it can be done and done quite nicely. After all, the dogs are the reason we bought the Outback!


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## hatcityhosehauler (Feb 13, 2004)

My two labs total 180 lbs of dog, and they love our 26RS. Tucker will curl up under the dinette table, and thinks of it as his crate. Duke will just lounge about on the floor in front of the counter. When we are not at the campsite, they make themselves at home, and Duke likes the queen slide, or one of the lower bunks up front.

The floors are vinyl, so no worry there, and the upholstery is fairly sturdy. We have an add-a-room for our awning, and they actually love to lay out under the awning during the day so they can watch the world go by.

Tim


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## hurricaneplumber (Apr 12, 2004)

One thing to also consider, when we had our rally in Niagara Falls last summer, it was hot outside like today and everyone was running their AC, half of our camping section lost power due to blown main circuit breaker. Good thing Greg GGGator and I were sipping a cold brew in the shade while everyone else was away so that we could diagnose and reset the system and keep Duke and Tucker from losing too much weight. If we weren't there I believe a few dogs would have been very unhappy in a few hours time.

My dogs like the vinyl floor when the AC is on and when it is off they like to be higher up and by an open window for the breeze.


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## mollyp (Aug 10, 2005)

Hi Sia, We have a 70 lb Springer Spaniel and an 8 lb Cavalier. When we first started camping, our Springer was quite high strung and she destroyed a couple of sets of mini blinds. From then on we crated her when we were away from the camper until we knew we could trust her for the one or two hours we would be gone. Now she gets free run of the camper and makes herself at home on either the queen bed, so she can look out the window, under the dining table or occasionally on the couch, and the little one gets crated and will continue to be until we know we can trust her. As Wolfie suggested, we did put the door grate on the inside of the screen door to keep her from ruining the screen but no worries with the vinyl floor or the upholstery. They have held up well.

We've found that there's something about camping that just makes the dogs want to be outside.

I'm sure your dog will be fine. He just has to find his place and get used to something new.

If you do leave the dog in the camper when you go out, just make sure you slide the plastic screen door slide over so that the deadbolt is not exposed on the inside. We left the screen door slide open once when we went out and the dog got excited and jumped against the door when we got back, locked the deadbolt and locked us out of the camper. We had to break in through the rear window.


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## justinsnow0 (Feb 5, 2007)

Same story with my dogs. We put a sheet over the bed to protect the comforter and a sheet on the sofa to protect that. You may also consider either a carpet runner or magnetic covers for the floor vents. It is HORRIBLE when you turn the heat on and you blow dog hair all over the place. They make closable ones too but there is still a gap between the top and the closed part so unless you remember to vacuum it before you turn it on you will still get dog hair.

Also in our 21rs, we made the area under the bunk into a large dog crate. We put dowm a carpet and got an extra tall dog gate to block it off. Granted they almost never sleep in there but it's still there if we need it.


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## smithfries (Apr 27, 2007)

sia said:


> Hey everyone. I am new and have only posted on towing so far. I wanted to ask those of you who have large dogs. How are they in the camper? I was worried about the couch? or the hard wood floors being scratch?


Hi Sia,

I have two dogs that come with me, in fact I got the TT for the dog events. I put a blanket on the couch and I crate both dogs when I am not in the TT with them. I left them once for a few moments and they were up on the table looking out the window! I imagine they could do a number on the blinds if left for any amount of time. Other than dirt which sweeps right up (love that there is no carpeting in the TT), they have not done any damage to the TT.

Elizabeth


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## ROO-ING (Jun 24, 2006)

We have a 23Krs and an 50lb high energy Aussie. When the boy sees the Outback infront of the house he goes wild. He wants to go camping. He can jump into the back of the truck with the tail gate 1/2 open and runs straight for his dog crate.

We only use the dog crate for traveling. Once we are at the camp site we pull out his doggie bed from in the crate and place on the floor in the toy hauling part of the Roo. He stays there until we get back. One trick we learned to keep he calm.... Run him and I mean run him before you put him in the Outback. Play fetch until he can't play fetch no more. Once that it done I put him to bed with a bowl of water... I am usually not gone for long. After playing fetch for so long I am ready for a nap..

Roo 
aka Donna


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## Zymurgist (Apr 2, 2007)

Hi Sia,

We have a 50 pound English Setter. At home he's very energetic, but like me when we are camping he pretty much snoozes the day away. Cosmo is not allowed on furniture at home or in the trailer, and if we are going out we crate him. If we are going somewhere that we know we will be away from the campground a lot over several days then he is either boarded or taken care of at a neighbors house.

In general I've found that Cosmo is a whole lot easier to handle when we are camping, and a lot of fun to have along.

Door panels are a good idea, we need to get those, not only for the dog but for our almost 1 year old. The other thing is we have one of the collapsible crates, when folded it fits nicely on end between the dinette and the sofa in our TT.

One thing we did do is go camping a couple of times without the dog, just to get our feet wet and to learn the setup and take down with a minimum of distractions.

Hope that helps a little.
Carl


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## okgwarden (Apr 27, 2005)

wolfwood said:


> .....you might consider getting a large airline crate to keep him in while you are out. That way you save having your miniblinds torn up. Robert Fleenor


...or try a collapsable, portable, light-weight kennel such as this
Travel Kennel

...and don't forget the extra shade space for your 4-legged 
Sun Shade
[/quote]
The collapsable, portable, light-weight kennel is a grand idea, unless your dog wants out of that kennel really bad, especially when he hears you come driving up! Like we experienced at Santa Fe! After he clawed his way through the kennel, he THEN took the miniblinds apart! Nothing like an exuberant 1 yr. old Lab pup! Robert


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## Chabbie1 (Dec 3, 2006)

We have a 7 month old yellow lab and she goes camping with us. We take along her fold up wire crate for her to sleep in at night, since she sleeps in it at home as well. She is about 45lbs now and her crate fits perfectly on the floor between the dinette. She loves it, but we have never left her in there while we have gone away. Usually one of us will stay behind with her. (Not sure how much noise she will make once we leave) 
After our first trips with her she kept jumping up on our camp chairs and laying down there. So, we decided to make her a dog cot! My son and I made it out of PVC pipe and heavy duty canvas from the fabric store. After cutting the pvc and putting it together the canvas was sewn together with heavy duty thread and put it together. Now, we not only use it when we go camping, but it is in our family room for her. It is easy to hose off and clean. She loves it because she is off the ground and it is cooler for her as well.
We like it because now we have our camp chairs back, well almost.
I will post pictures of them soon!


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## LarryTheOutback (Jun 15, 2005)

okgwarden said:


> The collapsable, portable, light-weight kennel is a grand idea, unless your dog wants out of that kennel really bad


The nylon portable kennel might have that problem, but the hard-shell fold-up ones don't ---








... and folded... http://www.dencities.com/denmall/pets/dog_...tic_folded1.jpg

Ours (different brand than pictured) fit right in the hallway by the fridge. Luckily Clara is old enough now that we can leave it home.

Ed


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## never2la8 (Mar 8, 2004)

I wanted to add my 2 cents worth here. I actually purchased my 25rss almost 4 years ago for the purpose of taking it to stay in at dog shows. I got tired of the hotel/motel rat race with 3 energetic 45 lb Standard Schnauzers. We are now competing in agility and will soon trial in herding, so I do a lot of dry camping. The easy care of this trailer is wonderful for dogs. They have yet to cause any damage to the couch or floors. The only two issues have been the screen doors which I put door guards on the lower half and they have bent the 'famous' mini blinds while trying to see outside. I do put them in wire crates (which can be folded) if I am leaving them alone for any length of time. The one other thing is that they have managed to turn on the gas on the stove twice, while I assume counter surfing when I left them alone. I am now very careful about that and put child proof controls over the knobs.

I agree, my Outback provides great accomdations for my dogs. Take a look at the back of it!!

http://debbiez.smugmug.com/gallery/3133024

Debbie and The Three Amigos


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## wolfwood (Sep 19, 2005)

never2la8 said:


> I wanted to add my 2 cents worth here. I actually purchased my 25rss almost 4 years ago for the purpose of taking it to stay in at dog shows. I got tired of the hotel/motel rat race with 3 energetic 45 lb Standard Schnauzers. We are now competing in agility and will soon trial in herding, so I do a lot of dry camping. The easy care of this trailer is wonderful for dogs. ........
> 
> Debbie and The Three Amigos


YAHOO!!!! Another competitive dog person!!! That makes 8 or 9 of us, I believe (and maybe others who just haven't stepped out of the shadows yet)







I wonder what the most popular camper brand is among competitive dog folk ? I know which one the Wolfwood boys like best! 








This was AFTER Seeker (on the pillow) earned his 1st High in Trial and BEFORE big brother Tadger decided the back blinds needed redesign.....


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## never2la8 (Mar 8, 2004)

wolfwood said:


> I wanted to
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Those sleeping positions look very familar!! LOL! At our trials, I really see a wide variety of brands and types!

Debbie


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## microspouse (Apr 11, 2007)

After our first trips with her she kept jumping up on our camp chairs and laying down there. So, we decided to make her a dog cot! My son and I made it out of PVC pipe and heavy duty canvas from the fabric store. After cutting the pvc and putting it together the canvas was sewn together with heavy duty thread and put it together. Now, we not only use it when we go camping, but it is in our family room for her. It is easy to hose off and clean. She loves it because she is off the ground and it is cooler for her as well.
We like it because now we have our camp chairs back, well almost.
I will post pictures of them soon!
[/quote]

Here is a link with instructions on making the PVC dog cots. Don't know how to do the clicky thing (I will figure it out eventually







) - so I hope it works!

http://www.wiretheskiesblue.com/dogbed/instructions.htm

Kris


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## Paul and Amy (Jul 8, 2007)

summergames84 said:


> Welcome, sia! We have 2 smooths collies, and the big boy weighs in at a svelt 107.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That is too funny, that is why we bought our Outback because of our 3 labs (2 100pounders and 1 60pounder) and also because we enjoyed camping when younger. It will allow us more freedom with them since we all enjoy hiking and hotels don't like dogs all the time......


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## sia (Jul 7, 2007)

Oh my, those are the most beautiful dogs... I want one of those. My dog happens to be a mutt. I dont' know what he is. He is black with brown brindle, he looks like a lab/shepherd mix. Others tell me he looks like a rottie but I don't see it... He scares everyone because he is so big and his bark is sooo loud. But he is a big baby. He is very protective of the children. He won't let anyone near my daughter. But that is why my husband got him. He is a really good dog... I love him. But I wouldn't mind one of those pretty dogs.. Maybe someday.


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

During the day (when we are in the trailer) Zul, our Yellow Lab, lays on his dog bed in front of the couch. At night we move the dog bed into the bunk house, so he can sleep in the same area as our boys. Works great.


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## tripphammer (Oct 3, 2006)

Tekla (Norwegian for 'Glory of God"), my 55 pound, three year old (on the 25 of this month) Yellow Lab has her choice at night... the wire crate or a sleeping pad. Usually she choses the crate. I do leave her in the crate when I leave for a few hours, but I leave her there for no more than 4 hours before someone lets her out to do her business. She doesn't seem to ever mind this except when I take "her" ATV for a ride without her. Ya, see, she seems to think that the 4-wheeler is hers and she just let's me drive it.









Take Care,
Tripp


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