Camping/kennel cover question

[RickB]

All:

How do you camp with your dogs? I am heading to my property to do some turkey hunting. Wife wants to go with and hang out in camp. Dog needs to come with. Dog is an inside dog. Temps are going down to about 40 degrees. Dog cannot be in tent with us (no room).

I could put the dog in cab of the truck.
I could put the dog in the bed of the truck.
I could purchase an uninsulated kennel cover.
I could purchase an insulated kennel cover.

How would you swing this?

Thanks

Rick

[RichK]

I'd make room in the tent, my GSP acts as a space heater.

If the above is not an option the cab of the truck should be fine.

[deseeker]

I'd make room in the tent, my GSP acts as a space heater.

If the above is not an option the cab of the truck should be fine.

If you put it inside the cab of the truck, make sure it is in a crate or he might have the interior of your truck for breakfast :roll: Awful hard to steer a truck with the steering wheel chewed off You might want to put a light blanket over the crate in the truck for keeping the pup warm.

[madmurph]

I was at a trial where overnight temps were in the 30's. I stayed in a farmhouse where dogs were not allowed inside. I kept the dogs (which were house dogs) in kennels in the cab of the truck. I threw blankets over top of the kennels and the dogs were fine. I can be a bit over protective of the dogs at time but people much more protective than me did the same without second thoughts.

[Brazosvalleyvizslas]

I bought a bigger tent so all of my space heaters could fit inside. I have no problem putting them in kennels at those temps though.

[Neil]

Crate in bed of truck. Cover is only needed if moving at highway speeds in below 30 degrees, and I just duck tape the vents. I worry way more about heat than cold.

[deke]

kennel in the bed of the truck, throw a blanket or tarp over it if that will make you feel better. when we go camping or hunting we sleep in the bed of my truck, and the dog gets his kennel strapped to a picnic table or tree. Dogs handle cold way better then we give them credit, and heat way worse then we think.

[displaced_texan]

Kennel with something over it to block wind and a good sleeping bag.

[RickB]

Thanks all,

Dog did fine. He was in a wire crate in the covered bed of the truck. Covered with polar fleece I bought at a fabric store. Fleece cost around $20 (unlike a kennel cover). I put pink insulation board under his pad in the crate. He did just fine. Wife was a little cold, and I didn't get a turkey, but the dog did great.


Rick

[deseeker]

Thanks all,

Dog did fine. He was in a wire crate in the covered bed of the truck. Covered with polar fleece I bought at a fabric store. Fleece cost around $20 (unlike a kennel cover). I put pink insulation board under his pad in the crate. He did just fine. Wife was a little cold, and I didn't get a turkey, but the dog did great.


Rick

You might want to put the pink insulation board UNDER the crate and not inside the kennel, otherwise the dog MIGHT chew up the pink insulation board, swallow it, and have poop with pieces of pink insulation board in it :roll: I'm speaking from experience, only it was white not pink : If they eat enough of it, their poop will float in water

[sdsujacks]

Dogs handle cold way better then we give them credit, and heat way worse then we think.

I keep my lab outside year round, some people don't agree with it and think he gets cold. Anyways, those friends/families/neighbors say "he must be happy now that its starting to get nice out." My reply, and I'm serious with it, "his favorite temperature is 30 and cloudy or 15 sunny. He hates anything above 50 and sunny."

[deke]

Dogs handle cold way better then we give them credit, and heat way worse then we think.

I keep my lab outside year round, some people don't agree with it and think he gets cold. Anyways, those friends/families/neighbors say "he must be happy now that its starting to get nice out." My reply, and I'm serious with it, "his favorite temperature is 30 and cloudy or 15 sunny. He hates anything above 50 and sunny."

My first lab was an outside dog, during some freak snowstorms when it would get down into the negatives we would bring her inside. She would sit at the door and whine until we let her back out. She wouldn't go to her awesome kennel tucked back behind the house out of the wind, she would go find the biggest drift she could and plop her fat butt right in the middle of it. When we came out we would call her and all you would see is her head pop out of a snow drift, happy as a duck in water. After moving out of my parents house I have both my labs in my house, mostly because one is Houndini and I can't imagine him staying in the fenced yard for too long. But I never worry about him getting to cold, besides when we are hunting some frigid temperatures and he has to make some water retrieves and then sit still for a period of time. I just bring along an old hunting parka and throw it over his shoulders when he is in the blind, problem solved.