If your anything like myself and your a dog lover, you certainly would like to take your dog along to your camping adventures either for the company or just even to enjoy your time with the family if your all camping together. There are a number of concerns about your pet though and them being cold can be an issue, so you will need to know how to keep them warm.
So you wonder how to keep your dog warm while camping?
- Test Out The Tent
- Keeping Your Dog On It’s leash
- Bringing Along The Right Dog Gear
- Looking Into A First Aid Kit For Your Dog
- Packing For Your Dog
- Research For Dog Friendly Campsites
- Train Your Dog For Camp Friendly Adventures
- How To Keep Your Dog Warm
- Dog Sleeping Bag
- Sleep Next To You
- Wollen Blanket
- Food
- Dog Clothing
- Dog Wetness
- Homebase For Your Pet
It is only natural to keep your dog warm as you would like to be warm at night, so your dog would aswell. In this article, I have researched upon what you would need to do to be able to take your dog camping with you and how to keep your dog warm while you both enjoy your time together.
Taking Your Dog Camping
If you’re taking your dog camping for the first time, there are a number of things to go through before you get packing and take off for your trip only to arrive and find out that your dog is actually not a dog camper at all. There are little preparations you can carry out before you head out on your journey.
Test out the tent
The best way to find out if your dog will actually sleep in the tent is to test it out before you leave for your camping trip. It would be ideal to pitch your tent in the back garden and see how your dog would behave with it being there and slowly get your dog to sit in it. It may take a while before your dog gets used to the tent. It is suggested to leave your tent out for at least a week, you can easily train your dog to sleep in the tent simply by placing his/her favorite treats.
It will usually take about a week before your dog gets used to the idea of sleeping in a tent, spend some nights with your dog in the tent in the back garden let it get used to the noises around the environment, such as the birds, the wind howling at night. Eventually, your dog will get used to the temperatures dropping at night so you will be able to handle the cold so long as you wrap your dog up correctly.
Keeping your dog on its leash
Taking your dog to a campsite you would normally need to keep your dog on their leash whenever you are walking around the site. This needs to be taken seriously as you would not want to upset other campers trying to enjoy their time camping. Whenever you’re at the site just keep the dog tied up where ever you are relaxing.
Simple etiquette when your taking your dog for a walk to go to the toilet would be good aswell, always keep and carrying a doggy bag with you so that you clean up behind your dog. Just keep your dog on the leash around the campsite at all times unless you go for a hike then once your free from the campsite you can easily let your pet off the leash.
Bringing along the right dog gear
Most pet owners that take their dog camping with them tend to bring along different dog gear, they tend to vary from a complete doggy backpack which they carry on their dogs, aswell as using a dog jacket to keep the warm and even a dog blanket that’s thick enough for the dog so they can not feel the cold from the ground.
Looking into a first aid kit for your dog
Health and safety for yourself are important just as it is for your pet dog aswell, you can get a first aid kit for your pet from most camping companies that provide for dogs. It would be better if you do a vet check-up before you head out with your dog just to be on the safe side to make sure that nothing will happen while your out camping.
Packing For Your Dog
Before you set out you will need to pack for yourself aswell as for your dog, the best thing would be to have a checklist for your dog, make sure that you have all the necessary equipment for him/her. Thier dog bowl is packed along with the right amount of food that they would need for the trip.
The other item to pack which would work good is a Carabiners, this acts as a leash that gets attached to your rack sack while your go hiking or walk around and even extends as you both walk together.
Research For Dog-Friendly Campsites
There are campsites that are dog-friendly you would need to carry out some research on what sites are near to you, alot of the campsites have dog-friendly hiking trails aswell as campsites where dogs can enjoy themselves with other dogs and yourself of families.
Train your dog for camp friendly adventures
Before you head out for your camping trip I would highly suggest that you at least train your dog especially to your commands, when I say this I mean by simple commands such as the following
- Leave It
- Stay
- Come Here
- Laydown
- Come Here
These do sound like basic commands but they will certainly help with your dog, due to the environment, and the nature and curiosity of animals they will search out for another wildlife if they happen to notice them. The last thing you would want is to run into a bear and your dog is running up to the bear and barking away, or even a skunk and being sprayed by one hell you might not even be able to stand the smell.
The biggest one would be LEAVE IT, as it might see a wildlife and want to approach it but if you train your pet dog to command to ‘LEAVE IT’ you will save yourself alot of trouble further down the road. the command ‘LAYDOWN’ would work well for trying to duck some logs or trees you might come across.
How To Keep Your Dog Warm
Just like us while we’re camping we like to keep warm during the night especially and our dogs are no different so how do we go about keeping them warm well, follow the below suggestions and it will work for you.
Dog Sleeping Bag
These days there are many different dog sleeping bags on the market, it would be a good idea to view and see what is available. Dog sleeping bags are very similar to what we use as humans, the main difference is the materials are alot more rough and rugged so that the nails of the dogs can not tear the materials but it certainly keeps your pets warm at night.
Sleep Next To You
If sometimes your dog might get cold at night using their own sleeping bag you can always let them sleeping right next to you in your sleeping bag so long as you do have space in the bag, this would work so well because the heat off your dog would keep you warm aswell keep them warm, you can always place a woollen blanket on top to create more insulation for your pet.
Wollen Blanket
A woolen blanket would work well for the night incase your dog does get cold, the woolen blanket works well only because the thickness of the blanket keep the cold air trapped outside of the blanket and traps the heat from your pet dog within the blanket.
Food
As we know just like us food helps us produce heat the dog works the same way, if you keep feeding your dog some food it will help keep your dog heated up so it doesn’t go cold. This natural fuel for your dog would work wonders to keep your dog warm at night.
Dog Clothing
You’ve seen it all most people tend to dress their pets up but there is some dog clothing that is ideal for camping. There are much clothing available for cold nights even winter days and nights. The main thing is that the clothing provides the necessary heat that your dog needs.
Dog Wetness
It is quite easy for your dog to jump into the river if they do you would need to dry off your dog as soon as possible and let him/her sit by the fireside of the camp to warm your dog up and keep your pet warm. Just try and keep your dog as dry as much as you can it will certainly help.
Homebase For Your Pet
In order for your dog to stay warm especially at night, it would be better to let your dog sleep inside your tent with you, and to keep the dog bed or dogs sleeping bag off the ground, just so that they don’t lose any heat loss. Make sure that the sleeping bag has a woolen blanket to keep the dog warm and have it’s necessary toys to keep them occupied.