Camping with your dog

bionic.laura

This weekend we went off camping with the dog. It was his first time going in a tent and I thought I'd share some of what we did.

We put the tent up in the garden so he got to go in and check it out before we went.

He's used to the car so that was ok but we took lots of breaks along the way and gave him water every time we stopped. We use a harness and some climbing kit to attach him to the seat belt so that if there was a sudden stop or a crash he wouldn't go flying or anything.

We brought his usual bed along and this helped as he knew it was his place to rest. We also brought his favourite toy.

He's not fully trained to come back to us yet but we practiced it this weekend. The place we camped had a walled in area for tents so he was allowed to roam in that bit.
It was funny because he worked out how to take off his harness and when he did he didn't run away. It was like he was telling us 'if you leave me off the lead I won't run away'.

It was really hot so we made sure he had water all the time. When we were out walking we stopped in shade to help him and us cool off. We used a portable dog bowl.

We also discovered he loves ice cubes! He chews them like a bone and I presume they help cool him down too. Win.

He behaved very well in the tent and just went to sleep on his doggie bed. He did try jumping in on the tent in the morning after we left him out though.

We tried to bring him swimming in the sea and that didn't work out too well. He was scared of the waves. We pulled him after us on the lead and he swam a bit but he really wasn't happy so we had to leave him back to dry land. Any tips on how to turn a land lover dog into a water dog?

Here he is at the Giant's Causeway.