Travel with Pets

[DaveandLeann]

Thank you, I just looked at this park's website, it is beautiful. I had not heard of this park before...Our dogs would love this place!

[sande005]

I hate to tell people, but it is not like it is a secret. Just hard to get a spot during the busy season. But check out Gulf Shores Park near Mobile, AL. Many miles of paved walking trails, and a big off leash dog park on a lake, so the dogs can swim......

[DaveandLeann]

Noted: on the list, thanks!

[D2Reid]

We have been full timing with our 2 dogs for 7 years. There are rarely issues. Basic rules:

1. Keep your dog on a leash.
Our take, we do this for the most part, however our 13 year over weight health challenged Chihuahua who can't run, doesn't have any teeth, and can't be bothered by much of anything, when he and I go out for morning water I rarely put him on a leash. He also responds to voice commands, every time. We have seen good an bad in this area, we have worked for campgrounds. The rule is there so the management team has some option of giving bad people the boot. Most places are pretty tolerant in this area so long as there are no problems. Dogs biting kids is immediate expulsion.

2. Pick up after your pet.
Nobody likes dog ********, not even dogs. Just pick it up. I have observed a phenomenon that has me perplexed me to no end, I simply cannot comprehend the thinking behind this: When walking dog friendly trails they provide poop bags. It seems a custom for people to scoop the poop, tie the bag, and then leave it on the trail.

I am also that guy that will follow an unsupervised pooping dog while taking a video back to his happy home and then present the video to the management team. Mostly they don't do anything about it, but sometimes they do.

3. Don't leave your pet unattended.
Couple of reasons for this one, the more obvious is the cry baby, who moans, screams, yowls, barks and generally is very vocal about it's family having abandoned it. Most dogs will make a little bit of noise when first left, when they don't get their way the give it up, take a nap and wait for folks to get home. The rules are for the ones that don't give it up, and it's a means to assuage the angry guests next door who have been listening to this spoiled unruly pet while trying to enjoy the peace and quiet of nature. Test your pet, leave them, drive away, then sneak back to listen to them without letting them know you are anywhere near. The bad ones are pretty easy to spot.

The other part of this rule is dead pets. For some reason when the power fails and the temps are over a hundred pet owners get upset with the managers. Seems it's all the managers fault the power failed and pets got overheated and died. So management defense is to say if you had not left your pets unattended per the rules the pet would not have come to harm, they will not engage in a discussion of their responsibility to provide a good source of power, that is a whole other liability discussion.

4. Dogs not allowed on trails.
Dog feces can create a bacterial problem. I don't know the science behind this statement, but have seen in some watershed areas where dogs are absolutely forbidden and the little information plaques that I don't really read explain the bacteria problem.

A large number of dogs will impact other wildlife. Ok, I get it. When rangers see a poorly managed pet chase their favorite pet deer or elk they get really pissed off about it. Unfortunately our managers of public lands have developed an effective management policy, denial. If we don't let any dogs or humans in this area they don't have to do anything to manage it. It would be easy for me to say that our public land managers are just lazy, but the reality is their annual budgets have been cut and cut to the point where they do not have the man power nor the resources to effectively do public lands management. This is the end of my political posturing on this point, I could spend hours here.

National parks are the worst for allowing pets. However, they do allow them in the campground and mostly on the roads. Not ideal, but our dogs are with us when we visit National Parks. Several of the National Parks have kennels you can put your dog into. My wife hates these, her babies are in cages. I think they are ok, for the most part they are well run, clean. There is some separation anxiety involved, but it's usually worse for my wife than for the dogs.

Many state parks are the same way, just read the rules. If you decide to break these rules just understand that there can be consequences. It's kind of like exceeding the speed limit.

5. Rabies shots
There was a time when rabies was pretty bad. So rules were made. Rabies has nearly been eradicated, but the rules remain the same. Our beloved Mocha (RIP) at the age of 13 developed an allergy to rabies vaccinations, the last one she had nearly killed her. We traveled for another 2 years with her without a rabies vaccination certificate. We never got asked once for it.

It's much better to get the vaccination and have the paper.

6. Extra fee per pet.
I get it, there are lot of people that don't take care of their animals. That means management entities have to expend extra resources to pick up after them and repair damage. I pay the fee. Don't like it, but I am a guest. I also lie, I say I have 1 pet when in fact I have 2. My two dogs together weigh less than a large cat. I really hate paying Great Dane fees for a Chihuahua. Nobody has ever gotten in my face about, in fact, many have waved the fee when I tell them what type of pet I have.

7. Abandoning your pet. We have rescue dogs, that's pretty much their take on the situation when we travel without the RV that we live in and leave them behind, they are once again lost dogs, not a good place. We have boarded them, hired pet sitters, and abused relatives (our favorite). We have had situations come up where we had to fly immediately. Not only do we have the trauma of the event unfolding but now we are pressed to find someplace that our beloved pets will be comfortable. My wife and I have a big difference of opinion in this area, I want to put them someplace they will survive until we can return. She wants them to be cared for like she cares for them. It takes work, but there are solutions.

8. Vet care on the road, believe it or not, it's easier to get vet care than health care. We have been very fortunate in this area, we have managed to find good vets in our travels that understand our constraints and are will to work with us. On numerous occasions we have had to have the previous vet and the current vet consult, we gladly pay for this.

9. Service pets

Okay, this annoys the crap out of me. It's about respect. I have a deep respect for service animals that go through thousands of hours of training to be able to help a human survive. When someone puts a false vest on and takes an obviously untrained dog into a social environment without proper training I get pretty unhappy about it. That's all I am going to say here.


That's the dark side of traveling with a pet. The light side is the hundreds of miles we have spent hiking with our dogs in all kinds of conditions. Mostly off leash. We find that the more people that are around the more dog prejudice there is. We teach our dogs manners, we are careful not to let them be in a situation where someone who does not know dogs can misinterpret their actions, especially when children are involved. We are always guests on someone else's lands so respect their wishes when it comes to pet behavior. I get truly annoyed with people that don't understand that their dog is on someone else's property and they need to respect those people and not let their dog do unacceptable dog things on their property.

I have never had a single person complain about our dogs.

[DaveandLeann]

Thanks for taking the time to provide so much useful information!

[Ashleen]

Sometimes there are one or two trails on which leashed dogs are allowed. Never hurts to call ahead so you know. (We too miss things. When we are close to a city, we look for brew pubs with dog-friendly patios.)

[tmrut5]

Grand Canyon National Park is very dog friendly. You can walk them on the entire rim trail and the other trails within the park. The only spot that I know of, or can recall, that you cannot take them is on any of the trails that lead down into the canyon.

[Rapid1]

Excellent post D2. Most, if not all, pet issues are due to owners. I walk my dog every day at home, 3-5 miles, and I cannot believe how many times we get jammed by some unleashed dog, or have to dodge dog poop, even right on the sidewalk. Breed, or size or whatever does not matter, if the owner cannot be responsible with their pet, they ruin it for everyone. Murphy, our 12 year old pug, just passed away, but in his last years, he was blind and deaf and wouldn't get 10 feet away, but he was always leashed at our camps.

It's all on the human, not the dog...