Influencer III
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- Rex
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My Bernese fits in my teardrop. She gets half and lets me have the other half.
Adventuring With Your Dog/s
- Thread starter GLOCKer
- Start date
We have extensive experience from Alaska to California, the majority of which was with two 65lbs+ German Shepherds. I wouldn't leave home without the dogs. We are in a similar sized truck (GMC Canyon) with an RTT, and have been adventuring with our dogs in our RTT since our first tent which we got about 10 years ago.
1) We have a "Dog Box" I built into the backseat. I have not yet added the dividers, but the idea is I took 2/3ds of my rear bench seat out and covered that space into a space for the dogs. This keeps them away from the 1/3 that remains where our little person sits. This means long road trips with plenty of room for both pups in a climate controlled, comfortable environment. I recommend not putting them in the box of the truck -- what feels like a small bump for you might be a huge one for your dogs, especially if they are behind the rear wheel, and that increases risk of injury. Even a soft-tissue injury can cause lots of problems for your pup down the road a piece.
2) When we are hanging out around camp, we have tie-outs for the dogs that we can affix to a nearby tree, but usually they get clipped to a recovery point on our vehicle. We transfer the blankets from the dog box to the ground so they have a spot that is consistently "theirs".
3) At night, they join us in the RTT. There are a few ways we use to get them up there. The easiest way to get them up there is on the hood, onto the roof, and in through the side. To facilitate this I stuck grip tape to the hood of my Jeep. If you want something less permanent, a grippy blanket works, but we found permanently sticking the grip tape was a lot easier. We're working on that over the winter on our Canyon to replicate the ease of getting into the tent that way. For the last few trips, we have resorted to lifting the dogs up but that's pretty easy -- an abundance of treats in my wife's hands who is in the tent, and one at a time I just pick up the dogs. When I get close to the tent door, they tend to hop up with front legs and then I just push the bag legs to help them get in. It's really quite simple. Exiting the RTT is the exact same, just in reverse. Again, a couple of handfuls of treats and some intentional time spent getting in and out, and most dogs will be able to work with you to do this safely. The hood-roof-tent method is way easier though.
GIF of Dog Exiting:
View attachment 185364
1) We have a "Dog Box" I built into the backseat. I have not yet added the dividers, but the idea is I took 2/3ds of my rear bench seat out and covered that space into a space for the dogs. This keeps them away from the 1/3 that remains where our little person sits. This means long road trips with plenty of room for both pups in a climate controlled, comfortable environment. I recommend not putting them in the box of the truck -- what feels like a small bump for you might be a huge one for your dogs, especially if they are behind the rear wheel, and that increases risk of injury. Even a soft-tissue injury can cause lots of problems for your pup down the road a piece.
2) When we are hanging out around camp, we have tie-outs for the dogs that we can affix to a nearby tree, but usually they get clipped to a recovery point on our vehicle. We transfer the blankets from the dog box to the ground so they have a spot that is consistently "theirs".
3) At night, they join us in the RTT. There are a few ways we use to get them up there. The easiest way to get them up there is on the hood, onto the roof, and in through the side. To facilitate this I stuck grip tape to the hood of my Jeep. If you want something less permanent, a grippy blanket works, but we found permanently sticking the grip tape was a lot easier. We're working on that over the winter on our Canyon to replicate the ease of getting into the tent that way. For the last few trips, we have resorted to lifting the dogs up but that's pretty easy -- an abundance of treats in my wife's hands who is in the tent, and one at a time I just pick up the dogs. When I get close to the tent door, they tend to hop up with front legs and then I just push the bag legs to help them get in. It's really quite simple. Exiting the RTT is the exact same, just in reverse. Again, a couple of handfuls of treats and some intentional time spent getting in and out, and most dogs will be able to work with you to do this safely. The hood-roof-tent method is way easier though.
GIF of Dog Exiting:
View attachment 185364
I'm actually thinking about starting off slow, with my younger dog, and just having him sleep in the RTT with me. At first, it will be just me, no wife. So I'll have room! But you gave me an idea about attaching a loop to my 80/20 rack and snapping a long lead to that for while I'm just chilling at the camp site!
I've seen some pretty over the top (is it really over the top if your best friend gets to camp with you) ramps over the hoods and windshields of trucks to get man's best friend into the RTT. But this is PERFECT! I may try this with my pup!!!!
Advocate I
You can see the red lead line to the yellow lab and the grey metal line to the Black GSD mix. Here they are wrapped around rocks, but often its one of the wheels, the roof rack, whatever...
I'll also echo the having more blankets and maybe an "outside" dog bed. Remember those cheap costco beds in the 2500? We still have them and they go on the ground in camp so the pups have a place to lay.
Enthusiast III
Another option is a skyline trolly. You can sting it between two trees, a tree and your rig, two rigs, anything like that. Keeps the cable off the ground a bit more, less chance of getting wrapped around camp chairs or tables, while still keeping the dog secure. We camped with an untrained border collie and it was a lifesaver. Lots of options for keeping pups safe while in camp.
With our Jeep, we used a few of these from Lowe’s; this is the easy “try before you really commit” option because you can remove them with a bit of heat and some solvents.
On our Canyon, we are planning to use spray on bed liner. This will work as glare reduction as well as provide grip. However the only way to fix this is a total stripping of the hood.
A third option is we are exploring vehicle wraps to see if we can find any that would give the grip texture and protect the paint from puppy claws. I don’t need to wrap the whole car, just a large decal for the hood. This reduces glare but will be less permanent than the bed liner option.
Autism Family Travels
Rank IV
Enthusiast III
I am sure that you can attach a lead on your truck somewhere. He would be fine as long as he's in eye shot of you. Our Mekia is starting to settle in to her new home, and we are figuring out a way for her to camp with us too. For a lead you can use a good quality line and a hitch pin in your hitch to attach it to.
For tie outs, we've found that using carbiners is the easiest solution:
www.rei.com
Typical "pet" stuff uses tiny leash clips, and they can be a nuisance to operate if your hands are cold and wet. They also get gummed up with dirt and mud and we've found occasions where they have been rendered inoperable. For a while, we used D-Rings and similar types of fasteners -- why not, we already had them for recovery -- except that too proved to be a bit fiddly when tying out the dog and way overbuilt for the application. Instead we've moved to carbiners -- they are secure, quick and easy to attach/detach, and can be operated with a gloved or bare hand just as easily. They also typically have enough room in them to hook on to lots of stuff on your rig -- shackle mounts as I already mentioned, running boards, bumper hoops, roof rack supports, etc. and also have the flexibility of hooking onto trees, rocks, lampposts, etc. too.
Black Diamond RockLock Screwgate Carabiner | REI Co-op
Ideal for belaying, rappelling or anchors, the hot-forged Black Diamond RockLock screwgate carabiner features a redesigned spine for better handling and a larger rope-bearing surface for durability.
www.rei.com
Typical "pet" stuff uses tiny leash clips, and they can be a nuisance to operate if your hands are cold and wet. They also get gummed up with dirt and mud and we've found occasions where they have been rendered inoperable. For a while, we used D-Rings and similar types of fasteners -- why not, we already had them for recovery -- except that too proved to be a bit fiddly when tying out the dog and way overbuilt for the application. Instead we've moved to carbiners -- they are secure, quick and easy to attach/detach, and can be operated with a gloved or bare hand just as easily. They also typically have enough room in them to hook on to lots of stuff on your rig -- shackle mounts as I already mentioned, running boards, bumper hoops, roof rack supports, etc. and also have the flexibility of hooking onto trees, rocks, lampposts, etc. too.
Another good one here: Kurgo Heavy Duty Swivel Seatbelt Dog Tether.For tie outs, we've found that using carbiners is the easiest solution:
Black Diamond RockLock Screwgate Carabiner | REI Co-op
Ideal for belaying, rappelling or anchors, the hot-forged Black Diamond RockLock screwgate carabiner features a redesigned spine for better handling and a larger rope-bearing surface for durability.
Typical "pet" stuff uses tiny leash clips, and they can be a nuisance to operate if your hands are cold and wet. They also get gummed up with dirt and mud and we've found occasions where they have been rendered inoperable. For a while, we used D-Rings and similar types of fasteners -- why not, we already had them for recovery -- except that too proved to be a bit fiddly when tying out the dog and way overbuilt for the application. Instead we've moved to carbiners -- they are secure, quick and easy to attach/detach, and can be operated with a gloved or bare hand just as easily. They also typically have enough room in them to hook on to lots of stuff on your rig -- shackle mounts as I already mentioned, running boards, bumper hoops, roof rack supports, etc. and also have the flexibility of hooking onto trees, rocks, lampposts, etc. too.
Swivel Seat Belt Dog Tether
Swivel Seat Belt Dog Tether. Perfect for dogs who never sit still! $29.95. Not crash tested. Intended to prevent distracted driving. Secure your dog on every trip in every vehicle with this heavy-duty seat belt tether. Working in conjunction with the Tru-Fit Smart Harness , this tether offers...
^^^ that's great to connect to the Kurgo Tru Fit harness and hook them to the seatbelt. The swivel feature really helps to keep the seatbelt and or tether from getting all twisted and short or tight. I'm sure the tether could be cut off and replaced with whatever cord or cable you like if you want to use it as a tie out
I think I shouldn't have any issues clipping my dog to the D-ring on my tow hitch with a larger carbineer.
I've wrapped his leash through the hitch D ring or the tow hooks, and then back through it's own loop and to his harness, but obviously only for short term. Long term he can chew through the leash, and I dont like leaving him connected to the truck except when I'm loading or unloading it, as I dont ever want to maybe somehow possibly get distracted enough to hop in the truck and get moving before realizing that he's trying his best to keep up.
So I've used the cable around a tree if I need to keep it shorter, or around some pole and doubled back on itself to keep the cable at half length. Or as I mentioned, the spiral anchor. Unless hes in the back seat, and weve gone over that.
So I've used the cable around a tree if I need to keep it shorter, or around some pole and doubled back on itself to keep the cable at half length. Or as I mentioned, the spiral anchor. Unless hes in the back seat, and weve gone over that.
Autism Family Travels
Rank IV
Enthusiast III
Autism Family Travels
Rank IV
Enthusiast III
Autism Family Travels
Rank IV
Enthusiast III
Anyone have any tips on leash training an "adult" dog not to pull? I know she's a husky and thats what they do but I would love to have her not pull while we walk on leash. In our fenced in garden she's fine, will walk next to me etc, take her out of the garden area and into our driveway area and she pulls like a train, even with a short leash beside me.
Yes. With my Beagle, the key was teaching 'heel' first. Then, whenever he starts getting ahead of you too much, stop and call 'heel.' To train for heel, keep a treat wedged in the web between your index and thumb. Show the dog you have it. Call heel and bring it in a wide arc down to the outside seam of your pants on your LEFT side. Be consistent otherwise the dog will be all over the place. You both will know what to expect and where the dog will end up. Obviously give the treat from that final 'seam of the pants' spot every time she does it.
Other option is, when they start to pull, you call 'no pull!' And either dead stop, or turn around and walk (tugging the leash, of course) in the exact opposite direction.
Do either one 50x per day, every day for a month.
For me, the 'no pull' and reverse direction trick worked on the sidewalk, but wasn't easy to train on mountain trails, so I stuck with heel. Now when we are on the down slope of a mountain trail, if he gets ahead of me and starts pulling, I call heel and he is very good at getting behind my left leg.
Autism Family Travels
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Thanks for the tips. I will try that. She's such a good dog and easy to train. She didn't even know what a toy was. Never knew how to sit, stay, play ball NOTHING. She just existed. Now, we have her playing ball consistantly bringing the ball back to our hand and letting it go, sitting, stay around 50% of the time, and in the back garden she's perfect on the leash.
Advocate I
I agree 100% with @ThundahBeagle
We are actually training our new lab who came to us with none. I've learned that its about keeping focus and rewarding the dog for good work. You can keep focus with a toy, treat, e-collar, whatever works. From there do the SAME THING over and over again (50x a day) and make sure they are doing exactly that thing you want them to do (focus, heel, sit, whatever) so they understand when you say a command they do XYZ, not just X, Y and if they feel like it.. maybe Z... good luck as you have a husky.
Heeling is a problem we have with the Baloo (the lab) but he knows that when you say heel to move to beside you... but he wanders off shortly after. These days I'll say heel and take off running, or take baby steps, or turn around. This both makes sure his focus is on me, and that he is doing the command. Once he is by my side I reward him with praise and maybe some play time.
Another option:
Our older dog has been leash aggressive to other dogs his entire life and we use a K9 bridle so we don't feel like we are strangling him while on leash. Its also MUCH easier to get his attention by giving it a quick pull and that moves his head enough. From there I have his attention again and I make him sit and calm him down. Off leash he is great... *shrugs*
Autism Family Travels
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I would never think of having Mekia off leash. She would be gone in a FLASH! She's been taking really good to training. So I think I can do it. More repetiton is needed. I cant go very far either since she's not vaccinated.
