Solo travel with a dog - some worries...

JC2001

JC2001

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I'm new to this
I’m soon to head off on a full time tour with just my (large) dog and I’m suddenly aware that there will be times when I need to leave the dog alone, E.g. food shopping. So can I ask for some advice.

What do others do, tether outside when appropriate weather, get a surround windbreak and corral the dog or lock inside the van for dogs safety/protection... Maybe all of the above subject to circumstances?

with advance thanks

john
 
I would say keep in the van. I would have all the roof vents open and when its warm, shop either early in the morning or late in the evening.
 
Ok. That makes sense. Many thanks.
 
Jimbohorlicks said:
Leave a big bowl of water inside and one outside, the latter as a warning to potential perpetrators that you have a big dog inside. (y)
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That's clever and wise! Many thanks :giggle:
 
My only concession to security when I leave the van with my dogs inside is to lock the doors. Otherwise everything necessary to maintain a temperature we're happy with when we're inside is left for the dogs (windows, etc, open in hot weather or heating on in cold weather). We now have a camera inside we can access from anywhere to make sure they're OK. (Camera as a result of a post by eddievanbitz )

My dogs are neither large nor fierce but they are very noisy if approached when in their van 😁.
 
I travel with a Border Collie. I’d say never leave your dog tethered outside if you are not around. If another dog was to have a go at them they’d be unable to get away. Mine is always left locked in the van with the alarm on - but the internal sensors switched off, obviously.
 
Thanks. I think that’s the consensus of opinion here. I’ll adopt that protocol for when she needs to be left alone which won’t be often as she comes with me everywhere whenever she can.
 
Often you have no choice than to leave the dog in the van. You can't leave it out in the supermarket car park and most camp sites won't like it. We leave our Cocker in the van with enough windows open, plenty of water and of course the odd biscuit :rolleyes: He is fine like that for several hours including on ferries. Just remember to turn off the internal alarm sensors ;)

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Never leave a tethered dog unattended. Even leads that have swivels at both ends can become severely tangled. So many tethered dogs have had a horrible death that way.

I have a single perfectly round scar in my left wrist from a large canine tooth while trying to cut the leather collar off a chained up German Shepherd that had become so entangled he could only just move his head and was getting very little air. I wore one leather guantlet and wrapped the other around that trying to keep the frantic teeth busy while I cut the collar with my right, but he found away though and left a perfect hole, his other canine went through the face and into the workings of a Casio G Shock watch. It was all for nothing, the dog was put to sleep the next day. In the dogs struggle (before i arrived) the chain had severely damaged his airway.
 
Wow Jim. That's a shocking, sad and scary story. That's a story I won't forget easily... thankfully.
 
tonyidle said:
My only concession to security when I leave the van with my dogs inside is to lock the doors. Otherwise everything necessary to maintain a temperature we're happy with when we're inside is left for the dogs (windows, etc, open in hot weather or heating on in cold weather). We now have a camera inside we can access from anywhere to make sure they're OK. (Camera as a result of a post by eddievanbitz )

My dogs are neither large nor fierce but they are very noisy if approached when in their van 😁.
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That's helpful, thanks. Sounds like I may need a camera too... What was eddievanbitz advice?
 
Same as everyone above - locked inside with no internal alarm and roof vents opened. Always keep a close eye on them when tethered outside especially as Jerry keeps trying to garrotte
his brother when another dog dares to walk past his van.

If going to be hot then only leave them early or late in the day.

The only issue we have is that one of them is a real Mummy’s boy and gets hysterical when we get back and climbs all over the furniture when we go out (has a bad back so vet says not to let him:rolleyes:) so we don’t do it very often now but it is easier as two of us.

We used to have a camera to keep an eye on them but Jerry ate/chewed it when taking a selfie when we were out one day

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Kerry my greyhound is crate trained - always goes in there at home when I leave the house.
I think she views my MoHo as a larger crate... so is happy to be left in there.

It's not the same as leaving them in a car - much larger space, much less glass.
 
Langtoftlad said:
Kerry my greyhound is crate trained - always goes in there at home when I leave the house.
I think she views my MoHo as a larger crate... so is happy to be left in there.

It's not the same as leaving them in a car - much larger space, much less glass.
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Ah yes - sometimes depending on the weather I draw the blinds before going out
 
Bear in mind that in most European countries you cannot take it on public transport unless it is carried, Ours loves to sit in the driving seat and be photographed * Driving!*
 
And for your benefit a notice each side of your van stating the animal inside has sufficient cooling/ventilation and water and requires no intervention.
In the local speak and especially English, because of the
 
JC2001 said:
That's helpful, thanks. Sounds like I may need a camera too... What was eddievanbitz advice?
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It wasn't so much advice as his response to a similar thread a while ago. He mentioned that he could keep an eye on his dog when away from the van using a camera. I PM'ed him for the make because I'd had similar thoughts & wanted one that someone else had found to be OK. I now use the same one. I'll let you know what it is shortly.

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Thank you!
 
I'd never leave ours tied up outisde so we had to leave ours in the MH while food shopping. It was only our 2nd trip and she deicded to sit on the front seat while we are gone. It was warm outside but nice and cool in the van with water bowl and skylights open, parked in as much shade as we could find. Nipped back to check on her and found someone had already called the police, Can't really blame them as our dog pants a lot so looked worse than it was. She was absolutely fine but don't fancy coming back to a smashed window. Waited for OH to come out and passed the police as drove out of the car park. Never heard anything.

Now have a dog gate to stop her getting in the front. Think as long as they don't sit in full view in the sun for short errands its fine

But like the idea of closing the blinds or putting a sign up. People mean well and I'd do the same if I saw one in a car.
 
We always leave our dog in the motorhome when we need to. She's absolutely fine! We leave a fresh bowl of water and two 12volt fans running. We close all the blinds and leave a hatch open. We've left her when it's been 30c outside and when we've returned she's been cooler than us. I really wouldn't bother with the expense of a camera. Leave your dog for very short periods, just to get them used to it, and see how it goes.
 
Nixdorfer said:
But like the idea of closing the blinds or putting a sign up. People mean well and I'd do the same if I saw one in a car.
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I always close the blinds, a) for Kerry's benefit & b) to stop well meaning but ill informed people looking in... for that reason, I'd never leave a note.

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Lots of good advice, but just one thought that I haven’t seen mentioned already........

Does your dog bark (incessantly) when left alone. Even if she doesn’t normally,she might in strange surroundings............and your neighbours on site may be heartily dis-chuffed by that.
 
That’s a good point. Thanks.

Actually she’s very quiet unless somehow approaches the garden (or tent). As we’re new to this I can’t say how she’ll be when alone in the van. But I’ll ensure I have a number of test runs so I can intervene if she gets distressed or starts barking.
 
Podney said:
Does your dog bark (incessantly) when left alone. Even if she doesn’t normally,she might in strange surroundings..
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That’s the thing though, if inside the Moho it’s not unfamiliar surroundings 😊
 
Rosemary1 said:
We used to have a camera to keep an eye on them but Jerry ate/chewed it when taking a selfie when we were out one day
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:giggle: ... what was the picture like?
 
The ONLY issue with closing the blinds is do NOT close them all, leave one or two on the non-sunny side open if you can, the reason for this is that we got our van broken into once whilst we went for a potter round Pisa this is despite us having 3 dogs inside. What we'd done was to close all the blinds so the dogs didn't get disturbed by anyone passing by but the 'burglars' couldn't see in so didn't know there were any dogs inside until they opened one of side windows (broke the catches) and all hell must have broken loose! It was extremely annoying however we didn't lose anything but it meant for the remainder of the holiday we had to strap the window closed so it was a nuisance every time we wanted to use it (the cost of the replacement handles was less than £10).

We were more fortunate than the next camper along though who had also been broken into in the same way but with no 'occupants' I'm assuming the burglars got some of their contents.

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