Dog lovers enjoy bringing their dogs along when RVing. It’s fun to hike and explore together with your favorite furry friend. Just remember to keep your dog safe while RVing. Here are some safety tips that many dog owners may not know or regularly practice.
Buckle up!
Our vet recommends keeping your pet crated while you’re traveling. He says a kennel offers more protection than a seat-buckled dog harness, especially if an accident should happen. Not everyone agrees. Ask your vet for a recommendation he feels is best for your dog’s size, temperament, and age.
Always secure food
It can happen in an instant. You go inside your RV to grab the condiments and when you return to the picnic table, you see your dog licking his chops. He’s consumed all of your hamburgers and hot dogs! If he’d gotten to that chocolate pie, things could have been worse. Much worse. Always secure your food—all food—in a place where your dog cannot get to it.
Set the brake!
Get in the habit of always setting your RV’s parking brakes when you leave your rig. Curious dogs may inadvertently bump the gear shift off “park,” and all kinds of bad things may happen. Look at this video and see for yourself.
Be mindful of temperatures
You dress appropriately for the weather. Make sure you pack the right gear for your dog, too. In hot temperatures, your dog may require booties like these to protect her feet from hot pavement or a cooling vest and battery-powered fan for their kennel to lower her temperature. In cold weather, you’ll want to pack a jacket or blanket for your pooch. Never leave your dog alone inside your RV during extreme temperatures. It’s better to plan something you both can do together.
Note your spot
Along with vaccination records, a current photo of your dog, and any medications she needs, take this extra precaution: Note your campsite number on your dog’s collar. No one plans for their dog to run off, but if your campsite is noted on your dog’s collar, it just may help someone find you. Friends of ours use a permanent marker on a separate tag affixed to their dog’s collar. (A dry-erase marker easily removes the site number when they move to a new campground and record the new site number.)
Can you add other tips to keep your pooch safe while RVing? Please do so in the comments.
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Seems like dog safety comes up often, and I keep commenting. I can’t fit a crate in the vehicle, so I use a harness and seat belt. Since he rides in the back seat, I put in a barrier so heavy things in the back hopefully could not crush him in case of an accident and flying objects. I also don’t get in a hurry and take back roads when possible. My dog goes where I go. I found a good rechargeable fan for warm weather, so he and I stay comfortable without a/c. If it is way too hot, we just don’t go.
The number one safety tip for keeping your dogs safe when camping is to keep your dog leashed when they are outside your RV. Leash rules exist for your animals protection as well as to protect other dogs. Please do not assume that your dog is “safe” off leash outside your RV when there are numerous distractions such as other dogs walking by, children playing in the street and squirrels or stray balls that could encourage them to dart into the road where they might be struck by a passing car or golf cart. Worse still, an unleashed dog presents a danger to other dogs, if a fight breaks out, that could cause injury to the dogs or their humans who might try to break up the fight.
Thank you~ We always keep our dog leashed & close to us. Wish everyone else would too. We have been camping where there are bald eagles flying about and people have a toy dog running around loose. Also have been walking our girl in leash required campgrounds & have gotten attacked.
Always carry plenty of water for your dog, we use a bottle with a bowl attached to it with bottles for refill. Our dog is too big for a crate, but she is harnessed & belted with a full backseat hammock. Also consider rattlesnake aversion training. You might not have rattlesnakes where you are from, but they could be where you are going.
You should get a pet monitor, we keep one in the rv that tell us when there is a power loss or if the temp gets past 80 or goes below 40. This alert will tell us to get back to the camper the a/c ‘s are not working if it gets to 80 or the heat is not working if it gets to 40. We use the waggle. It give us peace of mind that our fur babies are comfortably and safe.
Just in case my 9 pound Shiz Tsu gets out of the camper, i put a duct tape tag (blaze orange) on his harness with his name, my name and phone number, my site number and dates of being at the campground. It actually came in handy once when he busted through the screen door (which I now keep closed) and went looking for me.
I added an Apple air tag to the other items on our dogs collar
Thank you, Gail, for the excellent advice.