Why so many dogs?

[troutslayer]

We love dogs but do not have one any more. It seems wherever I go most RVers have a dog or several dogs. I was just wondering what it is about RVers and dogs. Why do you have a dog (or dogs)? Isn't it a hassle to take care of them in such a small space? An inquiring mind

[norty1]

We have camped with 3 different dogs. Have so far outlived 2 of them. If properly trained, they are an asset to life.
I could not have one that was not a camper dog.

[Jagiven]

We have one dog right now. She is great, I work with her all the time. Very protective of our home and especially of our campsite. I think she actually likes camping more than the rest of us. When we camp (SP primarily) she gets almost nonstop walks and runs. We can leave her for extended periods of time and she never makes a mess or causes trouble. She is extremely well trained and very loyal. It is very rare that she barks.

Personally, I would rather camp with a dog than try go to a hotel with or without her.

What I do not like is when people have dogs and they do not treat them with the proper respect and give them the appropriate training. We where in Teklanika Alaska and there was a camper that had two dogs tied up all day, and they were all entangled no water, no food or anything, barking all day. We untangled and gave them water. Around dinner time the owner showed up and we had a little chat with them.

[Rob_Fla]

We have a small dog that has traveled with us for years, before we started fulltime RVing with my work we stayed in hotels about 300 nights a year and our dog stayed in the hotels with us and was never a problem.

He never made a mess in the hotel rooms or barked, he rode elevators in hotels all the time, people we amazed at how well behaved he was.

Now that we are fulltime working RVers, our dog travels with us and loves it much better than the hotels.

I do see campers all the time with several larger breed dogs, I saw one with 3 Great Danes, that would not be for us.

[Flyrotor]

Dogs can be a lot of work, I love taking my dogs camping, and our two dogs we have now are quite easy to take camping with us, they do not bother other campers and do not bark

In the past I had two dogs that were difficult, they stayed home more often than they were allowed to go with us

[Paulx213]

I've always had a dog around the house so naturally he goes camping with us. For years we traveled with a Lab/ Newfie cross and tent camped in the basic parks and backwoods. Dogs live for this.

Now with the big trailer and modern parks our current dog has to stay tied up which is a shame but he still loves to go.

[Gunnar]

We have two dogs. They go everywhere with us. They love all the attention they get while camping. We camp, they camp.

[norty1]

Where we goes, Elle goes.

[renman]

Our dogs are what got us into RVing in the first place. We'll never forget the time we were getting ready to leave on our first trip. The girls moped around the house until my wife asked if they were ready to go. It was all tailwags and "smiles" from there on. We wouldn't be able to enjoy ourselves without having the whole family together.

[Ladywendolyn]

People who camp are more relaxed about life. People who have more than one dog have to be more relaxed about life.. The go together.

[clubhouse]

One of the major reasons we camp is for the dogs. Really got tired of putting my dogs in a kennel every time we got away for the weekend, now they come with us.

[clutch]

Abby goes where we go. She is a great 'door bell' when people walk up to the trailer.

[Threebutchers]

Some interesting facts from the Humane Society from 2012-2013...

Dogs
83.3 million—Number of owned dogs
47 percent—Percentage of households that own at least one dog
70 percent—Percentage of owners with one dog
20 percent—Percentage of owners with two dogs
10 percent—Percentage of owners with three or more dogs
1.47—Average number of owned dogs per household
20 percent—Percentage of owned dogs who were adopted from animal shelters
$231—Average annual amount spent by dog owners on routine veterinary visits
83 percent—Percentage of owned dogs who are spayed or neutered
Even—Proportion of male to female owned dogs

Cats
95.6 million—Number of owned cats
46 percent—Percentage of owners with one cat
31 percent—Percentage of owners with two cats
24 percent—Percentage of owners with three or more cats
2.11—Average number of owned cats per household
26 percent—Percentage of owned cats who were adopted from an animal shelter
$193—Average annual amount spent by cat owners on routine veterinary visits
91 percent—Percentage of owned cats who are spayed or neutered
73 percent vs. 62 percent—The difference in number of owned female cats and owned male cats, respectively

[mcfarmall]

Camping is my vacation from our dog. He's a well behaved dog, I just don't want the hassle of having him around when we camp. My in-laws live next door so they can watch and play with him while we are gone...just works out good for everyone.

[Threebutchers]

Cats rule....

[Cruzinfools]

And dogs drool LOL

[Threebutchers]

Originally Posted by Cruzinfools

And dogs drool LOL

You said it brother! I think Moe would agree....

[Camper_bob]

Our 55lb wondermutt literally will not let us leave without him any more. Last time while I was hooking up the trailer and making preparations, he hopped up in the truck and literally would not get out. So I rolled down the windows and let him sit in there a while until we were finally ready to go.

And we wouldn't want to leave him anyway. We had him long before we had a trailer, and since he's such a good dog, training him for the camper has been very easy. His only difficulty is that he's getting old, and arthritis is kicking in on his hips, so he has a little difficulty with the stairs in the morning.

Yeah, sometimes he's underfoot and in the way, but he's that way at home anyway, and we hate boarding him (and he hates being boarded) so we took his needs into consideration when we bought our trailer. Now I couldn't imagine NOT taking him with us, it would be like leaving a child at home...

[troutslayer]

Walking "Bob" the cat at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, UT last Spring

[Threebutchers]

Originally Posted by troutslayer

Walking "Bob" the cat at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, UT last Spring
Attachment 10963

Awesome, Skip.....I'll bet he didn't bark once [ATTACH][/ATTACH]