MF views on leaving your dog / dogs in your motorhome. (2 Viewers)

Daisie

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Jul 23, 2014
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As a dog owner and motor homer I am surprised when chatting how many people leave there dog/dogs in the motorhome when they go out and away from the campsite. We only ever left our dogs in the motorhome when on site , either sitting at another motorhome or if there was some sort of entertainment on site and this was usually in the evening.
 

Vic

Aug 1, 2010
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The only time we leave ours is when parked at supermarket car parks while we are shopping. In this situation, the more noise he makes the better.
 

Jim

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Jul 19, 2007
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It depends on the dog I suppose. Some dogs hate being alone, others aren't bothered and you can easily leave them alone for an hour or so. Problem is some can't be sure what the dog does when they are not there and if they bark that can be a real nuisance on a site. If you know they don't make a nuisance of themselves then I don't think leaving them for an hour or two is a real problem.

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Shrimp

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May 27, 2015
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I don't see the problem with leaving a dog for an hour or so, maybe not two hours, as long as the dog is ok. A motorhome has a lot more air circulation-leave the roof open-so will feel cooler.
If a dog is known to bark when left that could be a problem for others and the dog.
Ours gets left when we shop and we have left her when going out for a meal where she's not welcome but she's ok with it. We live in our van so I suppose it's slightly different as she is always at home!

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DBK

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Jan 9, 2013
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We left nine month old Charlie on his own while we went for a pizza at the camp restaurant a couple weeks ago. No serious harm done but "All the Aires France" is now called " ll he Air a ce" :)

OI000193~4.jpg
 

Ven

Aug 15, 2008
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When you full time you have to leave them sometimes, and occasionally you want to go somewhere together that is impractical with a dog just as you would in a house. Indeed we went in to Weymouth today for a couple of hours or so. We are pretty sure Misty sleeps while we are out (we hear her jump down & her bed is warm) and the first question I asked our nearest neighbour on returning today was did she bark at all? Apparently she did not.

Common sense dictates if there's any chance of the van getting too hot or you are in a location where you do not feel 100% then we would not even consider leaving her.

90% of the time she comes with us which is a lot easier when we are in France/ Spain/ Portugal.
 
D

Deleted member 29692

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The MH is no different to being at home. Ours are fine being left, they've each got their own favourite spot and just sleep.

We'll leave them for 2 or 3 hours if we're going out for a drink or to eat, usually at night after they've been out with us all day. I wouldn't leave them shut in the van in the heat of the day though, especially abroad, whether we were around or not.

Rarely ever stay on campsites though and never ever use them in the UK so don't know what the rules are for those.

On aires, or other parking places, I don't mind if they do bark when people walk past. It makes the van even less attractive to break in to.

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Feb 9, 2008
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Leave my dog in the van regularly, he's a good alarm, if he wakes up. Usually find him curled up on the passenger seat especially if it's catching the sun.
 

Janine

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Aug 22, 2007
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I've always left my dogs in the 'van. With plenty of water, blinds closed against the possibility of sunshine (!) and a comfy sofa to lie on, they've always been fine.

The new pup, Buzz, did get bored and totally destroy a box of tissues - it looked like a snowstorm had hit when we opened the door :LOL:
 
Aug 6, 2013
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One of mine is too lazy to bark when someone is near the van so he sounds the horn - in fact he does a little dance on it. Most passers-by find this amusing so they stop to watch. Which makes him worse. Last time this happened our neighbour came over to see me as I returned to the van and said 'Your dog has burned out the horn. Thank God!' And he had. I blame Fiat for allowing use of the horn with the ignition Off.

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Mar 23, 2012
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We worried it might get too hot at first but even in summer in France if you park the least glazed side of the motorhome to the sun (in our case the rear) and open the vents its fine. I do get worried some do gooder will see him in the motorhome and break in.
 

Allanm

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Jun 30, 2013
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On warm days, we leave ours in the van with the generator running the air conditioner. Haven't had any complaints about the dogs barking, so they must be fine....
 

Welsh girl

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We used to leave Susie in the van sometimes but never when it was too hot.
It was her home so she felt comfortable. I once used a camera to record what she did. She just went to sleep between waiting at the window for us.
Kids I wouldn't leave alone.that's different.
 

sdc77

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Jan 28, 2013
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No issues leaving the dog for a hour or two. He loves the van and would live in it if he could.
He is aggressive to anyone he doesn't know (including border force at the tunnel ) trying to get in the van but other than that he just sleeps.
We have a new doggy family member now though so they won't be getting left on their own for a while yet
 

Minxy

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It depends on where you are and how your dog reacts to being let I suppose.

Some sites don't allow you to leave your dog in your van left on site if you want to go off site for a while due to the nuisance it can cause others if it barks etc which I can appreciate. We don't us sites so that's not an issue for us.

We do leave our dogs in our PVC for a couple of hours if necessary, eg if we want to go into somewhere that doesn't allow dogs such as caves, houses etc, and they just settle down on the seats and snooze most of the time. We do try to get some shade for the van if we can and leave roof vents open and put a cut down silver sun shade on them as its surprising just how much sun/heat they can let in, we also put a silver sun shade on the windscreen to keep the heat out and close other blinds depending on the sun's direction (I do have silver sun shades to fit them too if needs be), we leave out water and ensure they've all had a piddle first so they are comfortable rather than having crossed legs!

The only time we don't leave them is if it is very, very hot as even with vents etc open any MH can get warm if it doesn't have a habitation air conditioning unit. Never had a problem except for when we got 41 degrees in France once when we were all melting, it didn't make any difference whether we we in the van our outside!
 
Mar 23, 2012
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Most people wouldn't leave their children so why would they leave their dog(s)?
Because he isn't human and a lot of places don't let dogs in. I suspect most people also wouldn't expect the doctor to recommend putting their children down if they were seriously injured.

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Jim

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Jul 19, 2007
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Most people wouldn't leave their children so why would they leave their dog(s)?

Because once a dog is a couple of years old they are 'young adults' and might be better behaved :) Who wouldn't leave a 16 year old at home? ...Ah well now I think about it, not me if I can help it ;)
 
Jun 30, 2010
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Read on another Forum, it cost the poster who left his Dog, (the post didn't say what breed of Dog) a new steering wheel and gear knob, the dog chewed them
 
Apr 27, 2008
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Ours stay in the mh when we go supermarket shopping. Whens its really hot as it is now, appropriate use of reflective blinds on the sunny side, open roof vents and fans they are a good deal cooler than they would be outside. The interior starts off cooler as the aircon will have been on while driving. Today where we are the outside temperature was 34C inside rose from 26C to 28C. They have water of course but usually just sleep.
 
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Dave K

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Mar 24, 2015
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I tried several times leaving the kids in a layby:whistle2:, but some bast**d always brought 'em back home:doh:

You should've taken their tags off the collars :D

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