'pet friendly' campgrounds

[carlnkathy]

My wife and I just bought a TrailManor 2619. We are planning to use it to tour areas of the country we have not seen over the next few years. We have two dogs which we will be taking along. They are very well behaved creatures, but we notice that very few campgrounds actually advertise themselves as 'pet friendly'. My question is this: If a campground does not advertise itself as pet friendly, does that mean that pets are not welcome there?
Generally speaking, will a campground turn away a camper who pulls in late in the afternoon with pets on board? I would be interested in any learning any experiences people have had.
Thanks.

Mostly campground don't mind you having dogs but they do expect you to be good owners. Keep them quite, on a leash and clean up after them. Most have hefty fines for those who don't cleanup after them. If you have winers/barkers it is best not to take them otherwish mostly no problem.

There are lots of folks who travel with pets.

We took our dog (a English Springer Spaniel) camping with us a number of years. I never encountered a campground that didn't allow pets but did not advertise the fact, and we were never asked to leave. However we finally stopped taking our dog when it was obviously stressful for her. We would do activities during the day, and the trailer (a pop-up in those days) was enough different that she behaved in a more aggressive manner toward others. She also barked a lot when camping, something she didn't do at home. This was a dog that was obedience trained, very sweet, and extremely well behaved at home. I still miss having her on walks each morning.

I would recommend you check out the campgrounds rules before you check-in, but you'll be fine at the vast majority of campgrounds. The vast majority require that you keep the dogs on-leash and relatively quiet. Of course, I'm also assuming you'll clean up after them. Those are the things that drive other campers nuts.

Pam

We travel with 3 large dogs (and a cat), and after being disappointed more than once by campgrounds that advertise "pets welcome," I have made it a habit to call ahead to any campground to verify their pet policies. I have found campgrounds where the "pet area" is a tiny patch of rocky hillside, a narrow strip of tall weeds along a barbed-wire fence, and a muddy wedge of boggy grass along a stream! I always call & ask how large the pet exercise area is, what type of surface it has, if there is more than one area, etc. No more unhappy surprises for my dogs & me!

We have three small dogs, their totsl wight is about 40 pounds. we have never had a problem traveling with our trailer. They are fairly quiet most of the time. We did stay at one park that required that you not leave your pets in the trailer when you went out. This was not good for the dogs as the weather was quite warm. I did get a Citronella Anti-bark collar for the terrier. It helps. The two smaller dogs are not as loud.

Concerning "pet friendly" campgrounds (and motels), I have always found the website "petswelcome.com" very useful. It list campgrounds by state and nearby city that allow pets. I stayed at a beach resort motel in California last summer that I located with the website which had a "doggy welcome" package when we checked in. It had dog treats, a towel to dry off the dog after a run in the ocean surf, a special mat for the dog to lie on, etc. We called ahead to confirm everything before we went, to make sure that policies hadn't changed.

We have used the website a lot during the last several years for motels of the more mundane type while we travel. The information on the site seems to be reliable. There is also another website "Dogfriendly.com" which I don't have that much experience with. I presume that it has useful information, however.

Best Wishes,
WyomingRockHound

Originally Posted by borgman

Concerning "pet friendly" campgrounds (and motels), I have always found the website "petswelcome.com" very useful.

There is also another website "Dogfriendly.com" which I don't have that much experience with. I presume that it has useful information, however.

Best Wishes,
WyomingRockHound

I just checked out both sites above and found that dogfriendly.com had much more in the way of camping selections for the central coast of CA than petswelcome.com did. I don't know if what I saw was typical for the whole country or not.

[carlnkathy]

Thanks to all for the feedback. We have discovered that lots of people camp with their pets. On our initial trip to a state park in Kentucky, we met several campers who regularly take their dogs along. Also, our dogs really enjoyed it. So, we are looking forward to many more trips.