We love camping, its so relaxing, but we hate having to dry out the tent when we get back. We have 2 large greyhounds and wonder if a caravan would be big enough floor space for them to sleep (they do need to sleep in the caravan). We will be having children soon (adoption). Is a caravan a good move forward or will there not be enough space. any one can advice on pros and cons of caravaning.
We have just made the move from tent to caravan for the reason you gave and because we want to go away a lot and don't fancy putting the tent up and then taking it down for just two nights stay. Last weekend was our third away in our caravan and we took our dog for the first time. He is a lab springer cross and just a year old. I must admit I was worried about bedtime.We laos have two children aged 3 and 5.
It was fantastic we took his bed and he curled up and went straight to sleep, all the extra walks during the day helped. One word of advice; be careful when you go to the toilet a black dog on a dark night isn't easy to spot! We could have fitted another dog or two in as well but it did get rather steamy in there so maybe crack a window :
The only problem was when I got up to use the loo stepping carefully over the dog, he got up to come with me and as he went past my 3 year old the dog gave him a massive lick on the face - a bit of a shock at 3am!
We used to take our three fairly large dogs away with us in the van no probs (now only have 2)
Have no problems, the only thing we have to get dry is the awning which a small porch is sufficient for weekends away so doesn't take much drying however essential with animals as at least they can dry off before coming in the van.
We go all year round even in winter and the dogs and Baby love it, We do love our tent too but the van is much easier for a quick getaway plus if the weather is bad for the week at least you can dry things a bit easier with a van (again useful with little ones)
Like the weather this year our tent has only been out once as we cancelled our camping trip in July and took the van instead, Glad we did as the weather was shocking all week,
Good luck with your adopting by the way and good luck with the caravanning
------------- Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.
Three kids and a lab. Would be room for 3 if needed along the floor once beds are all made up. Have to step around them in the night, but workable. We have a twin axle van so quite long inside. Would depend on your van how comfortable they would be. Some dogs sleep on front seats with covers on etc, and I know someone who uses the bottom bunk of a triple bunk layout for two dogs.
Look at vans and see which layout will work but certainly easy enough to get two dogs in a van with a couple of kids. Much more comfortable than tenting and warmer too on a cold night. With kids and dogs, I would get a porch awning at least so somewhere to store coats, wet things, shoes etc and wet dogs to dry off the worst before getting in the van or you will get a lot of condensation in the warmth as they dry off.
Go for it. Great experience for the kids and dogs and can be used no matter how cold it is for a break as you've got heat.
Children and dogs in a caravan are MUCH better than children and a hampster, Which is what we did one year. We put the hampters in its cage in the bathroom and the dam thing spent the whole night chuntering round on its wheel. OMG it kept us all awake. Spent several days coming up with ideas as to how to deaden the sound.
We've just come back from a very wet week with a 4 (nearly 5) year old, two 13 year olds (took DS friend with us) & 2 Cocker Spaniels.
We did take a pup tent for the 2 boys but on the nights it rained hard they slept in the van. We have a 5 berth so all 3 kids at the back, me & OH at the front & the dogs in the middle laying on an old sleeping bag they know is theirs.
The only problem we had was that as one of the dogs is black she was a little difficult to see in the dark & got trodden on by the boys a couple of times in the night (despite us trying to drum into them to switch a torch on. Hey Ho, good job she's a chilled dog).
Lots of people put their dogs in the awning at night but I think ours would whine all night if we tried, plus the youngest is a great escape artist - every time I plugged one gap she found another way to escape from the awning!
I do agree, my dog would never go in the awning at night. Family dogs should be with family but lots of people see their dogs as accessories not part of the family. I would be worried she's escape the awning or get stolen in the night. To precious a member of the family to risk that.
We made the change from tenting to a caravan nearly 2 years ago.
we love our caravan it is soo much easier than tenting, we can just load up, hook up and off we go.
space wise for the dogs you will need to have a good look around to find a layout that suits you. off the top of my head i would say a triple bunk layout could well do the trick because you could put the dogs on the bottom bunk or a 5 berth where you could give the dogs the back bedroom with your l/o in the bunk over head.
we have a 6 berth which has fixed end bunks, and a side dinette our westie has the side dinette made up ass her bed and our son is on the bottom bunk but depending on the age of the child you adopt they could have the top bunk leaving bottom bunk for the dogs!
there are a ton of possible sleeping positions for your dogs you really need to go and explore the possibilites before buying somthing unsuitable.
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Topic: Camping to Caravan
