My Golden Retriever is 9 and has slowed down quite a bit in the last year, sure he's not old but he's an individual. He doesn't seem to suffer day to day with aches and pains, he has very long legs though and often hurts them and ends up with a limp and slows down even more. We give him Glucosamine supplements every day, he has a memory foam mattress and when he's limping we give him metacam. We're always guided by him, he slows down lots in hot weather, so then it's only short walks for him several times a day. When it's cooler he manages longer.
I find when camping he only really sleeps at night, he's too nosey and busy during the day, whereas at home, he'd sleep for a large proportion of the day, so I don't expect as much of him camping as I would at home.
Take your dog with you and adjust your walks to what suits, I'm sure she/he'd be happier for it.
My parents have two rescue greyhounds and are at this moment in France. They got them from the local Greyhound Rescue and it is through them they found a lady who fosters grey hounds and they have both gone to stay with her for 1 week, in her home, not a kennel. My parents aren't camping, using b & b's but if they do go caravanning the dogs go too! It's just a thought if you ever feel it's too much and I think it's a much better alternative to kennels. Our German Shepherd hates the heat and looks proper miserable all day, but come the evening he livens up and loves a walk then.
What you could do if you know you will be going on long walks occasionally is find out about local kennels that take dogs for the day, then you will still have the dog with you around the tent.
we found this useful when we decided to go visit places where dogs were not welcome(animal friendly country my Armpit)
Well said Rochford, we talked about this on another thread recently, we always find and talk to local kennels, to see if they will take 'day borders' our Setters are 9 and 10 and we want to enjoy their company, but we want to be able to go out for the day, do some hills, visit shops without worrying about their welfare, day kennels are the way forward, sometimes we only leave them for a few hours, sometimes the whole day.
When we go away, we spend some time doing moderate walks together with both dogs but on other days, our fitter and very energetic 'younger one', who is 10 1/2, goes off on long walks with OH, while my old boy who is nearly 13, stays with me and chills out. It's a shame the dogs' different requirements make it neccesary for us not to spend our whole time together, but we like doing diffferent things up to a point anyway. Also there'll be younger pups to follow when the sad days come that we say goodbye to these lovely ones, so we'll look forward to better walks and more time together then. For now I'm just enjoying the other good things with my oldie who enjoys a massage and to play more than very long walks anyway.
As said earlier, just do what suits your dog but don't feel ashamed if you ever do need to use kennels. We have been lucky in that we usually have family to watch our dogs if needed but have used kennels for the odd break abroad and our dogs are fine. We have done our reseach and only used the kennel for the first time after recommendation. For some dogs taking them abroad, or somewhere in great heat could prove more stressful. We do take them though whenever camping in this country. we now have a young dog that is very good at travel and fine on a campsite (though a chewer at home!) so we are looking into getting a pet passport for sometime in the future. Unfortunatly we also have another whom we have just discovered has cancer in her leg and is unlikely to be around for much longer. we can take heart in the fact that she was camping with us only a few weeks ago as we always included her, despite the fact that she is a real pain to travel with, barking at cars, lorries etc for entire journies, whether ten mins or 5 hrs (only once!!!)
We recently lost our dog whilst we were camping (we went to emergency vet) although we beat ourselves up over it she died doing what she always loved, we slowed down our activities an awful lot in the last 12 months anyway with regards to her we spent more time just sitting round the campsite as she enjoyed watching the world go by rather than long hikes like she used to (we only took her on long hikes to tire her out!!)
Personally she would have died alot sooner if she had been in kennels and it was something we never contemplated and she'd never seen the inside of a kennel in her life (we used to get ex husband to dog sit). When she did come i'd always stay at the campsite whilst hubby took the daughter off not very sociable i know but we had a responsibility to the dog also. Only you know your dog best and what she'll cope with they are good at telling us they need to slow down and i'm sure at the first sign of a problem you'll do the right thing x
------------- "Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring -- it was peace."
--Milan Kundera
hi darrenb68! i just realised that they are all mostly sighthounds on here, we've never encountered any negativity towards our dogs when camping,we mainly get stopped and complemented on what a cracking bunch of lurchers they are, all lurchers are pleasing to the eye i think!
Thanks everyone. I like the idea of a day kennel, as we do like to do a decent walk while camping, but did feel bad dragging her along!
I'll investigate this next time we want to are researching where to go!
She doesn't actually get stiff often, it's just the look of exhaustion she has, and the fact that from the minute we arrive back at the tent, she just gets in her bed and sleeps, usually right through til the morning and longer if she could!!!
Rather than a day kennel also consider a pet sitter. Family members have used these for two family weddings, when the usual people were unavailble. Pets sitters allow you to drop your dog off at their home for the day (or night if you wish) and then pick up when ever you are ready. It's a bit more homely than a kennels esp for an old dog (and actually often is cheaper).
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: Camping with an old dog
