Camping with dogs can be an awesome experience, the dog loves it, you love it, everyone loves it, right? Well, not necessarily. The dog can annoy other hikers by barking at them, jumping up on them. And this is the smaller problem. The dog can also get overwhelmed by all the smells, colors, and all the moving things in the wild. This is basically like an overload for the brain of the dog, and he might just run straight into the woods, leaving you wondering weather he will ever come back or not.
However all these problems can be prevented with a little training. Remember, you likely brought you dog to some kind of training, or taught him a few things yourself when it was little. He must have been a brat when he was little, but learned to behave nicely and be a good dog. The same can be achieved with a little training when it comes to hiking. This post will give you a few guidelines on how to train your dog for hiking and camping, but you can find more tips here, or on this website.
First of all, people should at least be sure that their dog is alright and behaves well during walks on the streets of the city. If the dog doesn’t bark at everyone, stops when you tell him to, and behaves as an all around good egg, you are set to take the next step in training your dog.
Now you should take him to a half-a-day long walk to a nearby forest. The aim of this trip is to make sure that your best friend will be able to handle the influx of new sounds, smells and visions when you arrive in the forest on the big occasion. Things to teach the dog can include all kinds of stuff based on how trained your dog is. The dog might be a novice little puppy in which case you will need to keep him on a leash to prevent him from wandering away. If the dog jumps out of the car, and runs off into the forest, you know that you are going to have a lot of work to do. You will need to teach him all kinds of lessons about how to stay put, how to not run off the first minute he sees something interesting.
This kind of running off is the biggest reason behind accidents that involve dogs in the wilderness. If the dog runs out onto the road, a car might hit him. If the dog crosses the path of a cross-country runner, the crash can be very painful for both parties involved.
The dog needs to be able to sleep in a tent with you if you are planning on spending a night or two in the wilderness. The best backpacking tents for this are the ones that have a vestibule. This way you can close the inner tent, but leave open the vestibule for the dog so that he doesn’t wake you up when he has business to take care of during the night.
The key to successful camping with dogs is to train the dog in advance. You need to take your time, and get the dog used to the new environment gradually. If you do this, you can save a lot of headache for yourself and the dog as well. All in all, camping with your dog can be a very rewarding experience, but only if your best friends knows how to behave.
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