Puppy and caravanning advice
We are getting a cavalier king charles spaniel- has any one got one? Not had one before. We have been caravaners for 3 years and love it. We go as a family with our 2 kids. Can anyone give advice on how to caravan with a dog? We're going to crate train the dog and plan for it to sleep in the van with us (on the floor). Do you let the dog sleep in the awning in a crate? How long do you leave it? Do they get too hot in the awning? Where are the best dig friendly beaches in Cornwall and Devon?
Lots to ask any inputs or experiences gratefully read- thanks
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I can only help with the last line of your question with regard to Cornwall.
If you look up the Cornwall Beach Guide on line it gives you a photograph and description of every beach and tells you the ones where dogs are allowed all year round. The problem is that many of those beaches are remote and have no life guard cover to keep you and your children safe. So your homework is to go through the list and find beaches which are in both groups - dogs allowed with life guard cover as well.
Some do exist - our own favourite is Trebarwith Strand. .
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Good advice from Euro there. It’s difficult to advise you about the beaches as, with many, it depends on the time of year whether restrictions are in place or not.
Personally, I wouldn’t leave a dog alone in either a cvan or awning for anything longer than a few minutes. Like a car, both get hot and dogs get distressed. They then bark which annoys others and we read the complaints on here. The club asks that you don't leave dogs unattended. Part of the commitment of dog ownership is sharing your life and outings with your pet.
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Good luck with your new puppy. I personally would never leave a dog alone in the awning at night especially in the winter. I think your dog would love to be with you in your caravan, the crate would soon become a place he recognises as his/her bed or a 'get away from it all' place. We take two large dogs with us and they sleep in the Motorhome with us their snoring is worse then OH's but we all survive.
My advice is take plenty of dog towels for the wet weather, covers for the seats of your caravan if you are going to let him 'sofa surf', and remember how hot the caravan can get in summer so never leave the dog in the van. There are lots of anti dog/owner people on this site so always make sure you don't give them anything to complain about re barking and not clearing up after them. A little tip if your puppy isn't a good traveller re sickness a ginger biscuit can often help. Enjoy your lovely new addition.0 -
I had two pups new to the caravan last year. They joined the one older dog I already had. The pups slept in a crate between the front sofas whilst the older dog slept on the settee. This was the arrangement until the pups got past the chewing stage and now they all snuggle up together on the settee. I use a single bed fitted waterproof sheet and then throws on both sofas. This keeps everything nice and clean. Throws wash and dry quickly.
i never leave the dogs in the van. For one, the pups get distressed and howl and also I don't want to give them any chance to cause damage whilst they're unattended. If we can't go together then we don't go!
Please don't leave your dog in the awning, I would be worried about it getting stolen apart from any disturbance it may cause.
Enjoy your new addition!
Gill
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There's a fantastic dog friendly beach called Porth Kidney Sands in St Ives Bay. Has LG cover in school holidays, easy 10 minute walk either down River if tide out (DO NOT GO INTO RIVER!) or 15 minutes over dunes. Fabulous location, usually quiet even in August, while the locusts are either at Carbis Bay or Gwithian! Very doggy, everyone friendly. Been visiting for 30 years or so!
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We have one of those! She's really lovely, but a very 'needy' dog. Best of luck with the crate idea but we gave that up - it became stressful. Stick with it if you can. We gave in and she now sleeps at the bottom of our bed, I'm ashamed to stay. Fortunately, even now she's 6 years old, she is quite small for the breed. Occasionally she will go on her own bed in the bedroom at home, but more often than not she ends up on our bed. We've just stopped the fight.
A friend of ours suggested we used the shower for her bed in the caravan - that failed.With regard to dog friendly beaches in Cornwall, we find the South East coast, near the Roseland area is the best for dogs: Carne beach, Carthays beach, Porthluney, Portholland etc. Our favourite is Carne beach (for some reason not on the list of Brue's link) - some narrow roads to get to it, but worth the effort IMHO.
As you are a new dog owner, you may be interested in the 'Doggie Pubs' phone app, and the 'Dog Friendly' app. Do let us know how you get on and post some photos if you can.
David
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Thank you all for responses. We will of course be responsible, clean up after dog not let it make a noise and disturb others. The awning question of leaving it in a crate, was more for the 30 minutes when you shower or pop to the super market- obviously if it's not hot. Now I'm worried about someone stealing it! I've been on sites and heard a dog wine all day as it was left in a caravan, I'd never dream of doing that. We've got throws on all sofas, as we have children (age 8 well behaved). I'm hoping our dreams of taking the dog with us will work. Some places, pubs restaurants, super markets, beaches, kids day trips to zoos for example might not permit dogs. We've considered the trips we made in the past and what we did to see where a dog would be unwelcome and I can think of some beaches, like st Ives and days out like longleat safari park. Other beaches like Weymouth,padstowe have dog areas, walking in New forrest and lots of other sites would all still work for us as a family. I'd only want a dog if we can give it what it needs and a happy life. Perhaps I'm over thinking it.
Lots to consider.
I love the pic of your cavalier. We understand they don't like being left alone- for how long? I'm hopeful with crate training at home we'll be able to leave the dog for a couple of hours. When we travel in the caravan maybe we can't leave it for 30 minutes - which isn't impossible but might take some working out.
The replies really help, as a parent I'm very aware that some users of this forum are not keen on children and some not keen on dogs. Considering both might make us unpopular on sites... but if we don't follow the rules and are polite I think we should be fine.
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Good luck with you plans, we spent years holidaying with three children and a dog. We have not found it a drawback and things have much improved in the "dogs are welcome" places. We have never used a crate and I think many who do just use it as a dog bed when the dogs mature, a familiar place for the dog to have an undisturbed snooze. Don't worry about those who don't like dogs, you are on a section where people do and you'll find many like minded people on sites. Make sure your children know the "rules" if they want to walk the dog, you'll find you are amongst a fraternity of dog owners and don't be put off by adverse comments on here, we've never had any problems. Work on the theory that your dog will be with you and plan around this rather than think about leaving it in the van.
An alternative is maybe find a friend or dog sitter when you go away and leave your dog with them? Lots of people offer dog care services now, a good alternative to kennels.
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Don't have a CKC, but do have a minature wire-haired Dachshund.
There's some really good advice been given previously by our fellow campers. One thing you will definitely need to do is allow more time on CMC sites!! On every occasion we took our puppy out on site, even getting to the dog walk, simply took ages! Why? Because 90% of members want to talk to your puppy! We've never encountered so many folks who stopped us to chat and ask about the puppy, just remarkable! I'm convinced if we'd have been on site during school holidays, we would still be there!
To answer your questions: We used a crate for sleeping and had no problems; Don't think you're allowed to ever leave your pet in the caravan unattended; Ditto to the awning; Check out the websites/links given above for beaches.
Hope you, your family and puppy enjoy CMC sites as much as we do
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Our puppy is at home with us poppy, 10 week old cavalier king charles spaniel. We are crate training, which is working but she's,whining at night (she's only small she'll get used to it). We have to winter store our van (a real pain but no all year round storage within hours distance of us). So poppy will be 5 months old when she's on the van for first outing. Hopefully she'll be toilet trained. She,won't be able to do very long walks. She'll s sleep in van with us, we'll take crate for her to rest in the day (without kids,bugging her), but won't leave her on her own.
Where shall we go, we usually go new forrest or Dorset in Easter, as its not too far from London but lovely walking and pubs. Anyone with t h good dog and kids,site suggestions 2 hours from London? The bonkers,booking day starts Wednesday.... so need to get Easter booking sorted.
Ill load up photo - when I can figure out how to do that! I'm not a technical wizard....
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poppy the cavalier who will join our family caravanning.
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