The motorhome lifestyle is in itself quite an adventure which puts you outside of your comfort zone, but it can be further enhanced by taking our four-legged friend (or friends) globe-trotting with us. Below, I have collected the positive sides of motorhoming with a dog.
- At our workplace we no longer have to think about what our dog could be doing at home when it is alone, whether it is bored, did it turn our home into an apocalyptic battlefield in its boredom, or if it drove the neighbors crazy with its barking.
Since we are always at home, that is, in our motorhome, or just anywhere else, but always with our dog, this nerve-wracking insecurity and guilt that we left our dog alone for another big part of the day disappears.
- We can spend much more time together, not to mention that the number of hours spent outdoors (be it walking or playing together) increases dramatically, which gives joy to both the owner and the dog. Also, the increase in the level of activity brings new experiences and fulfillment everyone’s life.
We constantly receive that unconditional love and emotional support, that only our pets can give us. After a rough adventure, or if something doesn’t work out the way we expected, this kind of support can mean a lot, because our animals know exactly when we need an extra dose of love. Someone that has already had a dog that became part of his or her life knows exactly what this means.
La Miko (Pexels)
- With a dog, building social relationships is much easier. With those who are dog owners and also with those who just sympathize with dogs. From an outside perspective the motorhoming alone is an extremely exciting and interesting topic, but if we travel with a dog, we wake up other's interest even more. Of course, we also have to take into account that not everyone likes dogs (from my experience most of the people do). In this case it is important that the dog is well-trained (easy recall, obedience to basic commands), because this way we can prevent people from complaining that our pet has invaded their personal space
Cons:
The list above wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t mention the drawbacks or difficulties, which are also part of motorhome life with dogs.
In the beginning, when planning our journey, we should take into consideration the needs of our furry companion in terms of seasons and temperature. It’s better to avoid the hot summer months, because that’s not only exhausting for us but for our dog as well. It is also very important to keep in mind that it is forbidden to leave our pets in the motorhome under the heat, because they can easily overheat even if we leave the windows open. The dog should always be with us and if that's not possible, then it's better to trust someone to pay attention to it until we take care of our business.
It is also better to avoid extremely cold weather, although they tolerate it better than heat. Let's not ignore the fact that the traveling lifestyle puts an additional burden on the dogs that are not used to it and on those that are older, so let's not make their life difficult with extreme weather conditions.
-We also have to mention the dirt that our dog can bring in the motorhome after a muddy hike. In fact, if it was raining, we have to wipe their paws after every simple walk or trip. There are some cases when only a bath can save your motorhome from the muddy paw prints and stains. In sunny weather bathing can be done in a plastic basin outside. Just pay attention that when our clean and good smelling dog jumps out of the basin it doesn’t immediately start rolling in dust and mud (from my own experience), because this way we can get into a perpetual cycle where we can never absolve the cleaning of our dog and even we will need to take a bath, which all together takes a lot of time.
In the international context, there are so-called dog-washing stations set up specifically for this purpose, which offer paid services.
Basically, a clean and dry dog doesn’t smell unpleasant, but anyone who has smelled wet dog fur in an enclosed room knows what I’m talking about, so you should ventilate it abundantly while the dog is drying inside.
-There may also be a problem that is a key question in people’s lives as well, when it comes to long journeys: it is about medical care in case of diseases and accidents. Since we are constantly on the road, our dog can’t have a permanent veterinarian either. However, just as we take out accident insurance for ourselves, it is worth arranging it for our dog too, thus avoiding the significant financial burden of medical care that may arise during the journey.
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