So we really want to go camping this summer (once the server weather stops!) with Sierra and Jack. Just not sure how that will work out. I have been trying to look up camp sites that allow dogs in the camp ground as well as on trails and if you know any let me know please. I guess my biggest hang up is the sleeping, I have a small tent but we would all fit in it, my fear is that a. a larger animal will smell the dogs and get into our camp site or b. the dogs will hear all the night animal noise and want to break out of the tent and chase everything and we will never see them again. Options I have thought about would be keeping them in my Honda Element and let them sleep there and hope they do not destroy my car or bring there creates and keep them out side in front of our tent, or have them sleep with us and hope for the best? we do not have anyone to dog sit near by so leaving them home is not a option. Does anyone have any experience to share with me?

I wouldn't keep them locked up outside in their crates. That's just like food in a plate for a bear. I suggest keeping them in their crates in the Honda Element.

A huge concern with camping in Colorado is the smells around and near your campsite. Anything from the dogs feces, to the dog food, to your camp food can invite predators such as mountain lions and bears to explore your campsite.

Pretty much all outdoors camp sites are animal friendly. Just realize that the leash laws still apply in the national forests.

Both crates wont fit in the car that is why I thought of just leaving them in there but we would also be keeping the food in there as well so the bears and other animals will not come by, back in PA I had a mama bear and her cubs come by and take my cooler of marshmallows, twirlers and hot dogs, funny she did not like my veggie burgers or soy dogs! After that things get hung in a tree or kept in the car. By no means are we thinking of doing remote camping with them so things will be thrown out in trash cans around the site, and we will never take them off leash, neither of them listen to well as far as coming back to us. They under stand stay very well though

Can you get one of those "car gates" to put up for them? My suggestion would be to either let them sleep with you in the tent (maybe with leashes attached to them so they're easier to grab if something goes wrong) or to put both of them in the way back of the car with a gate barricading them off from the rest of the car.

Here's what I'm thinking of:

jbealer wrote:

funny she did not like my veggie burgers or soy dogs!

You don't say.

I have been thinking of getting one of those cages, they can be a pain to take for a car ride always fighting for the front seat if Ken is not with me, even when he is they still fight to see who can get to the front of the car! I would need one that went from the floor up since I have an open center between the 2 seats. Might go looking on line for one! Would at least be able to keep the food in the font.

Yeah... my aunt has one for when she takes my grandma's dog for car rides and it's great. It goes from the floor up.

Personally, we have a backseat hammock for Koda and he loves it

jbealer wrote:

So we really want to go camping this summer (once the server weather stops!) with Sierra and Jack. Just not sure how that will work out. I have been trying to look up camp sites that allow dogs in the camp ground as well as on trails and if you know any let me know please. I guess my biggest hang up is the sleeping, I have a small tent but we would all fit in it, my fear is that a. a larger animal will smell the dogs and get into our camp site or b. the dogs will hear all the night animal noise and want to break out of the tent and chase everything and we will never see them again. Options I have thought about would be keeping them in my Honda Element and let them sleep there and hope they do not destroy my car or bring there creates and keep them out side in front of our tent, or have them sleep with us and hope for the best? we do not have anyone to dog sit near by so leaving them home is not a option. Does anyone have any experience to share with me?

I agree with not keeping them crated outside, although most animals will avoid a campsite with a dog this time of year, there should be pretty of other food for them, and dogs aren't the easiest catch, but as Chad said having them crated is like free food. I think Tori's suggestion is the best, with the car barrier. Unless you tent has some kind of lock on the zippers it can be very easy for a dog to nose open. Our lab did growing up. We got woken up at 5:00 am to a barking dog in the camping area. We were like "Glad it's not are dog," Reached over to pet our lab, and he wasn't there. Even if the zippers are locked, it would take much for a husky to dig or chew out. Most tents are made of pretty then material.

Someone said camping? Oh, I have not gone in so long and can't wait to go again! I haven't tried it with Gunny yet, but I did have a golden retriever friend who was such an awesome dog and always took him camping. He always stayed in the tent and was good at it. Even in places where you have to watch out for bears.

I lucked out with a foreclosure house I helped clean up a couple of years ago. Came away with this still new in box...


It's really the only way we can manage a sleeping arrangement. The wife gets the cot, I get a mat and the dogs ball up around me. Works great.

The only major restrictions on dogs that I've seen revolve around "National Parks", and some hoity-toity campgrounds. State parks and National Forests are quite lenient in there dog rules with some backcountry wildlife areas limiting you to "draft and working dogs" (get an x-back and call it good). Now if you're talking front range camping, I have no clue.

We took Stella camping last year, and she slept in the tent with us without a problem. We made sure we had her bed with us, since she knows that when it's bedtime she goes to her bed. She did wake up really early with all the sounds, and though she didn't try to get out of the tent, she did bug us until we got up. Is your tent too small to put the crates inside? I know if we left Stella in the car to sleep, she would howl and whine all night. She likes to be close to us.

me and my dog thor go camping all the time, we call it random camping, we just pack our stuff and take off to the mountains with our trailer and pick a nice spot in the middle of no where, it's the best way to camp! With Thor i find that as long as i have him chained up and on his leash just for the first hour or so while he does his initial smelling and marking after that he is fine off leash all day for the rest of the weekend, not that i don't always keep my eye on him, and then at night i have a 40' lightwieght chain lead that know isn't going anywhere and he's never had problem yet. I don't think i would try this approach at a traditional camp ground though...

Well it looks like we will be going camping at the start of Aug my sis just called and told me the dates, guess I should look into a new tent, might set the one I have now up and put the four of us in it and see how much room we have first, maybe a camp out on the deck in the back yard as a trial run? It will be the four of us then my sis her husband my 4 yr old nephew and there 2 dogs 1 being a puppy. This should be an adventure! She is looking for something close incase something goes wrong with either the dogs or her son just does not want to camp and wants to go home.