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Camping with a pup

3K views 22 replies 13 participants last post by  Wags 
#1 ·
Hey all, my husband and I are the outdoor type, and want to take our pup camping with us. What would you recommend bringing when going camping with a dog?
 
#5 · (Edited)
We plan on starting with car camping, but for memorial day it will be hiking out to a spot, but staying at one spot for the whole time. Eventually we'd like to try backpacking with him though.

I decided I might as well include a list of items we have:
-long line
-light up collar
-bowl
-honest kitchen food
-bandana (to soak and allow him to cool down)
-crate
-id tags
-small emergency kit I've put together
-treats
-long lasting chews


and some items we plan on adding in the near future
-tie out stake (for when we are busy and can't watch him
-foam/waterless shampoo
-extra absorbent towel (he loves to play in streams)
-we also plan on getting him microchipped
 
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#6 ·
Neat. All do-able, and so much fun!


For car camping, especially if he's never slept in a tent before, bring the crate if you have the space. Get him used to sleeping in a tent before you leave, set it up in the yard, use it for nap time.


Other necessities - lots of drinking water if you won't have predictable access, dog booties in case of paw injuries (get him accustomed to them before you go), paracord and carabiners so you can make your own lightweight tie-outs if needed. I've recently fallen in love with Wondercide spray (flea/tick/mosquito), seems to help repel the crawlies before they bite. An extra Pack-Towel to wipe off gross paws before entering the tent. A wide reflective blaze orange collar for hunting season, or if he'll be off-leash at all.


I usually pack calorie-dense snacks - hardboiled eggs, no-salt tins of sardines, no-salt pouches of tuna. Only bring stuff you know his stomach tolerates though, it's not a good time to experiment when you're sharing a tent.


Once you start hiking in/backpacking, there are some very good ideas and gear recommendations on the WhiteBlaze forum (it's geared at AT hikers, but the info can be applied to anyone). WhiteBlaze - Appalachian Trail In the mean time, get him accustomed to carrying an empty pack around your neighborhood. :)
 
#7 ·
We take him on hikes, where he carries an empty pack, just haven't been overnight camping before. We are planning on going for 1 night this weekend with him, and we will bring the crate just in case he hates the trailer. Even though I'm betting he'd rather be calm in a tent and be able to sleep with us, rather than be cranky and have to sleep in a crate. For drinking water, we have some bowls that pop out, and we've also taught him how to drink out of a camel-back. Just by squirting him in the face with it enough times, he now knows how to drink out of it. We'll bring a few gallons of extra water to keep in the car for while we're chilling around the campsite, but while we are out hiking, he is good with drinking out of those. For dog booties, I have bought some, he doesn't really like them, but will wear socks, so we were thinking of trying to use duck tape and socks to make booties for him to wear. We already use wondercide for around the house as well for whenever we go hiking. It seems to be very efficient, even though he hates it =(.

As for the snacks, we feed him raw, and he has a stomach of steel, he hasn't eaten sardines or tuna, but has eaten salmon, and eggs are some of his favorite treats.

Thank you for all your recommendations and also for the link you posted!
 
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#8 ·
Have an excellent trip! Take pictures!

Both of mine also hate the Wondercide bottle and act like I'm abusing them, sigh. We stuffed the crate into the tent with us on our first camping trip with the puppy, and then on her first "real" backpack trip I slept with her leash on and looped around my wrist, in case she woke up in the middle and tried to do something naughty or eat the tent. All was well, though. ;)
 
#9 ·
Thank you! I think we are going to try keeping him with the tent with us without the crate. It is only a 2-3 person tent, so I'm not sure there would be room for it in there and us. If it doesn't work out, one of us will sleep in the car with him.

And for wondercide, I've found it is much better if I push it all the way up against his skin and spray it there. I think it is the spray that scares him more than the actual substance.
 
#10 · (Edited)
I took my GSD Pasta a bunch of times camping before and she did well but the one thing she did not do well with was the tent. As long as I was in the tent with her she was fine but if I was in the tent without her or left her in the tent she would try to rip out of it to get to me! Would definitely do as others have said and see how your dog does with the tent. Bringing an old towel might be a good idea if your pup needs to dry off or gets dirty. I also love having a big 5 gal container of drinking water that have the small spicket on the bottom, makes giving the dogs water and washing things easier.
 
#11 ·
Talk to your vet for dosage for Benadryl, and have some along. We had a family member's dog that had a bad reaction to black flies. We were over 20 dirt miles from an ER vet. They suggested to always keep it handy. I think everyone else has covered what we take. Our dogs love to swim, so we take a few bath towels for them. Have fun!
 
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#12 ·
If in a tent I suggest little locks so he can't break out if he hears something or if a raccoon comes up against the tent. One time I took 4 dogs, my son and his friend, my female dog heard a raccoon and broke out and the rest of them followed. Pitch black and I couldn't see any of them. Thankfully by morning they were all back. The locks worked well and I fifnt suffer any more near heart attacks.
 
#15 ·
Now I got the urge to go camping. I might just take each dog individually for a couple nights. We could do some hiking, just relax and get some good bonding time in. I think they would each enjoy it.
 
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#16 ·
Look at that I found a spot 20 minutes away. I don't even need someone to let the other dogs out. I'm going right down the line starting with Misty.
 
#17 ·
I recently did a road trip with one of my pups, camping at a new spot each night. the only tip I have that hasn't been mentioned - I used furniture moving pads as a cheap bedding option. I cut it into quarters and stacked it which allows you to flip or trash any portion of it that gets super dirty or raggedy.
 
#18 ·
These are all great suggestions, thank you guys so much. We plan on taking him Saturday night - Sunday morning. We are going to leave here early on Saturday, it's about a 2 hour drive where we are going, and then set up camp and hike around most of the day, until he gets tired.

And yes, we are testing the 2-man tent we already have to see if maybe we need a 3 or 4 man tent haha.
 
#19 ·
Crazy that this came up! i was about to start this exact same thread! We are planning on going in 2 weeks for a weekend trip. WE hae a 3 person tent and are worried about the sleeping situation. Maybe we can do a trial run this weekend. My boy has a good off switch and settles nicely but has never slept in a bed with me always either crated or in his x-pen on his bed. I was hoping putting his bed in the tent and giving a place command will work.
 
#20 ·
Those of you that use the Wondercide do you find it leaves the dog coats greasy?

Bought spray that someone makes out of a homeopathic store and it works but it feels terrible when you pet them for a week after.

Have found that at the end of the day the dogs are so tired from hiking all day that when they go into the tent they are asleep in 2 seconds.

Also use the furniture pads and they work awesome. You can get them from Harbor Freight for around 6 bucks or cheaper when they are on sale.

Over the winter, took Minx to florida and camped in the tent for a week. She did awesome even when the armadillo's where directly outside of the tent door, having a party. Coming back from a shower almost stepped right on them.

We are off cabin camping in a few weeks for almost a week for a Geobash with both girls yikes.
 
#22 ·
Those of you that use the Wondercide do you find it leaves the dog coats greasy?

Bought spray that someone makes out of a homeopathic store and it works but it feels terrible when you pet them for a week after.
IMO it's a little bit oily to the touch right after you apply, but not terrible, and you can't tell by looking at their coat. The worse problem I had (that I learned quickly to avoid) is it makes hard floors VERY slick. I sprayed both dogs in the kitchen one morning making coffee before work, walked away, walked back to grab the coffee, and BOOM, landed hard on my butt. It makes the floor super slippery, especially if you're in socks going 90MPH. Spray it outdoors.


The ticks around here are awful, I started using the Wondercide in addition to seasonal vet prescribed topical. I've already picked one tick off of myself and another one off the dog this spring. Ugh.


does anyone know if wondercide is available in canada? we to our outdoors quite a bit and would come in handy for our guys.. Ive never heard if it before
I'd recommend ordering from Amazon, they sell a larger size than the upscale pet store, at least in my area. The bigger spray bottle also works better.
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RE: Tent size, we used to use a 2-person 4-season backpacking tent when it was my husband and I + one GSD. It was cozy, but we preferred the lighter weight. That tent has one vestibule (exterior "overhang" covered by the rain fly) where we stash our shoes and empty backpacks, etc.


Last winter we used our 3-person 4-season backpacking tent for ourselves + 2 GSDs on multiple trips. There wasn't any room to spare, but it worked out fine.... that tent has vestibules on both sides where we stash our stuff, or hang it from trees. Husband is 6', I'm 5-7", one 69lb adult GSD and one 40lb puppy GSD filled it.


I'm in the market for a slightly bigger one (ideally, 4-person, 3-season, lightweight) for summer use, but I haven't found one I like, yet....
 
#23 ·
It leaves his coat greasy for just a few minutes, maybe 30 until it kind of soaks in. We feed him raw, so his coat is already super shiny, so you can't really tell it's greasy though.

Yes, we ran into the slippery hardwood floors in the kitchen problem also. That's when I tried spraying it onto this skin, rather than his coat, pushing his coat back, putting the bottle against his skin, and spraying, and that has worked much better for us. He doesn't hate it as much and it doesn't leave slippery stuff all over our floors.

We have a Marmot limelight. So it is a pretty decent tent, but I bought it off Ebay used for cheap, but it is in good condition, with that being said, I saved so much money on it, I won't be super upset if it doesn't workout. My husband is 6'0", I'm 5'10" and our pup is about 50 lbs. We are also used to sharing a king bed haha... so we'll see how it goes. Even in our bed, our puppy is pretty good about calming down around the tent. And he is pretty fearless, at one of our puppy classes our instructor brought out a agility tunnel, and it took him a whole 10 seconds to decided he wasn't scared and he loved it. It doesn't take him long to overcome obstacles, with that being said, I'm going to have my husband set it up Friday while I'm at work, to 1) make sure Bruce is ok with it and 2) make sure there aren't any tears or rips from being moved cross-country.
 
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