Are you ready to take your pup out for a camping trip? Is it the first time, or maybe just first in a little while? If so, this article is for you. I’ve been camping with my pooch since the exact day I got her (I saw her and others get dumped by a breeder while I was camping), and it’s a time we both enjoy together. This article will answer several of the basic questions I had when I first began camping with my pup, and cover a few different obstacles I’ve come across along the way.
How to Take Your Dog Camping?
The most important thing to remember when taking your dog camping for the first time is to relax. Your dog will sense your anxiety or calming presence when in an unfamiliar location. If they sense your nerves heightened and on your guard, they will experience the same emotions.
So how do you get your nerves and anxiety to lay low on yours and your pooch’s camping trip? A little bit (and I mean little) of preparation goes a long way to making you and your dog’s trip ten times more fun. Here we’ll break down some simple planning steps.
Before You Take Your Dog Camping
Before you take your pup camping for the first time, there are a few things you’ll want to get done first. The very first thing is to make sure your dog’s Name Tag on its collar is up to date and readable. There’s always a chance your pup gets lost, and you’ll want to know that your name and number is legible with your dog wherever it goes.
Another must-do is to attend to its medication. There is the opportunity for plenty of bugs to creep and crawl on your pup over the next few days, you’ll want to make sure your dog is protected when that happens!
Make sure your dog is up to date on its heart worm medication. The wrong mosquito biting your dog at the wrong time can be enough to give your dog heart worms and severely shorten its life.
If you don’t have any heart worm medication, all you need to do is call your veterinarian and request a prescription for it, your veterinarian likely can fulfill the prescription as well. They may ask you to go ahead and make a check up appointment for your dog if it’s been a while, or if it is a new veterinarian..
Another medication to make sure is prepared is Flea and Tick medication. The great outdoors is a great place for your dog to catch either, but with some cheap and simple flea and tick meds from a grocery store, Walmart, or Amazon, once the flea or tick will be immediately poisoned once they bite your dog!
The flea and tick will still live a short while, but will die and fall off on their own in a matter of time, leaving your dog feeling great and healthy, itch -free!
Lastly, don’t forget to pack any other medication your dog might be on!
What to Pack to Take Your Dog Camping
The best way to approach this is to divide up the different categories of your dog’s needs, just like you might your own when packing for yourself. The basic categories are: Shelter/Security, Food & Water, Bedding, & Play.
Shelter & Security for Your Dog While Camping
A dog kennel isn’t necessary to bring camping. But, what can be considered shelter/security are leashes/harnesses. Bring your basic 6ft leash as that’s what most Campground and State and National Parks want to see, but you can also bring a longer one for when in secluded areas. I use a 20ft one similar to the one linked below, but I got mine at a Dollar General.
I mostly use my extra long leash and tie down when I’m able to camp a good ways away from others and my dog can be given a little extra room to wander while still tied to a tree or picnic table at the campsite.
Dog Food & Water While Camping
With dog food, you’ll want to bring an extra day or two more of food than you think you’ll need, just as a precaution. You’ll also want to bring a long term snack or two to occupy your dog if they get stressed out in a new environment. If you need to leave your dog tethered at your campsite while you run the restroom, you’ll want to leave a bone behind to calm them if they’re likely to bark or get nervous.
For their bowls, you can bring a hard non-fragile one with you like a traditional tin or metal bowl, or you can do as I do and bring a collapsible food bowl. Mine is a small and cheap one and I love it because it can attach to the leash on a carabiner or fit in just about any of my pockets.
Collapsible/foldable products are the best kind of camping or traveling products in my opinion.
In regards to water, contrary to popular belief, your dog can catch the same viruses, bacteria, and parasites found in fresh lake or river water that humans can. The most common dangers in fresh water are parasites such as giardia, and chemical runoff.
The most effective way to treat lake and river water is to bring the water to a rapid boil for 1 min when at sea level, it can take a longer boil when at higher elevations.
Chlorine and Iodine tablets can be effective at killing bacteria and viruses, but boiling will kill both and common parasites. For more info, check out the chart from the CDC below and click the link to their page on backwater water treatment.
Dog Bedding & Sleeping While Camping
When I tent camp, I typically bring my dog’s smallest bed in the tent with me so she can camp on that. If you’re using an air mattress, you need to be cautious of your dog pooping the mattress with their nails, always have at least a sheet or blanket firmly on your air mattress if your dog is going to be in the tent with you.
If it’s cold out, remember that one of the ways our bodies lose body heat quickly is through direct contact with something cold, such as the cold ground. If you’re camping with your dog in the cold, you’ll want to bring along a large tarp, fold it over on top of itself several times, and place it under your dog’s bed for some added insulation. If it doesn’t seem like enough, take out all the car mats in your car and place them under their bed too!
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hypothermia/symptoms-causes/syc-20352682
For any “bedding” my dog needs outside of the tent, I just place the large trunk car mat out into the campsite for her to lay on, instead of the dirt or gravel. Anything you can give a hardcore clean to will work here as well, like an extra tarp, rug, or a large thin blanket. Think of something you can throw in the washing machine later, or spray down with a hose.
Play – What to Do With Your Dog When Camping?
The best things here are small things that won’t take up much space. A tennis ball, bones, frisbees, etc. Make sure the items are tough, that can be hosed down or thrown in a washing machine or dishwasher later if need be. What they’ll likely most enjoy are walks around the campground. You dog will immediately want to scope out its new area and take in all the new scents of wildlife, other people, different foods, and other pets. Remember, your dogs sense of smell is their primary sense, similar to our sense of vision. Preventing them from being able to smell their surroundings is the equivalent to blindfolding your best friend and taking them somewhere they’ve never been!
Dog Campground Rules
Camp rules related to dogs are always pretty simple and straightforward. They are typically required to be leashed at all times. Sometimes the leash is expected to be a 6ft leash. They are expected to be “under control” at all times, and they shouldn’t be left unattended. Lastly, you’re always expected to pick up after your own dog at the campground.
When you pull into a campground, there will be an outdoor bulletin board at the very beginning with “How To”s and Campground Rules, there you will see any and all rules related to you and your pets. Some campgrounds will put them in each site as well.
Conclusion
That’s about all you need to know before you take your dog camping for the first time. If you want to really play it cautious, camp somewhere close to home the first time so if things go awry, you can always escape back home by the end of the night.
Happy camping!
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