I’ve been camping with my dogs for 20 years and have camped with dozens of other dog friends.
When I got my first dog, I obviously couldn’t leave him at home alone for several days at a time, so I just took him with me. Although it was fun, the purpose was utilitarian.
Luckily, the trip went well and he was an expert camper himself in no time. He loved sleeping out under the stars with me.
When I adopted my second dog, who was so anxious and reactive she was on Prozac, I also simply took her camping with us without preparation to see how it would go. To my surprise, she did very well and enjoyed herself.
It was then I discovered what a great enrichment activity camping can be for a dog.
Camping is not for every dog though, especially if an owner is new to camping themselves, or dog ownership in general.
Over the years, I’ve come up with a list of dog skills and behaviors that will help guarantee a more enjoyable experience for both you and your dog.
I’ve also learned some of the dog personality traits that may indicate a dog is not ready to go camping.
Handy Skills to Teach Your Dog Before Going Camping
While it’s not mandatory that dog have these skills before going camping for the first time, they can help make the experience more enjoyable for both of you.
Coming when called
This is probably one of the most important things that your dog should know if you plan to take them camping – recall, which is coming when called.
I don’t advise every purposely letting your dog wander away from camp. Even letting them off leash when you are keeping them close is risky.
However, if you do, or a leash breaks, and your dog wanders off, a having a solid recall is your best bet for getting them back.
Knowing place and how to settle
Even if your dog will be secured to something with a leash, it’s handy if they know the place command and how to settle on a mat or bed.
It’s no fun for you or your dog if they’re constantly straining against their tether to get to something, are constantly whining, or are constantly on high alert.
If your dog knows the place command, you can ask them to lay on a specific target (usually a mat or dog bed) and stay there.
If they know how to settle, being on their mat will be a signal that they should just hang out calmly.
The leave it command
If you are cooking at camp with distractions, and in a smaller space, it’s more likely that you will drop something on the ground that you don’t want to eat.
Plus, there are toxic plants out in the woods.
Teaching your dog a solid leave it command can help prevent your dog from ingesting something that they shouldn’t.
Good manners
When you are camping, there is a good chance that you will have neighbors, so being respectful is important.
Many etiquette rules can be achieved through management. In other words, your dog doesn’t need to know anything specific.
Examples are, keeping them on a leash or tie out so they don’t wander into other people’s camps or harass wildlife.
Keeping disrupting noise to a minimum is important too, and training will help with that.
Teaching your dog a quiet command like “quiet” or “that’s enough” at home when you want them to stop barking can be transferrable to the campsite.
There are different sounds in nature than around your house that your dog may bark at. Common sounds are people talking, other dogs barking, babies crying, and and dishes clanking together.
Your dog is likely to become desensitized to these sounds naturally and start to ignore them as they have more camping experiences.
However, you can help set your dog up for success by exposing them to these noises when outside around your house by simulating these noises yourself or using a recorded sound from Spotify or YouTube.
Desirable Behavior Traits in a Canine Camping Buddy
I am a firm believer that any dog can go camping, and that dogs with minor behavioral issues like reactivity or anxiety should not be denied the expeirence.
If your dog have some idiosyncrasies that may cause misbehavior or stress in certain situations, it’s possible to select a campsite that will minimize exposure to these triggers.
With that being said, some dogs that are easy to camp with and tend to take to it right away have these personality traits:
No extreme fear or anxiety
If your dog is very reactive, extremely fearful of new, unfamiliar settings, or aggressive towards people, camping may not be for them.
While it’s still possible to carefully manage the environment so a dog with those traits can still go camping, it may not be a fun experience for you and/or your dog.
No noise phobias
Many of my friends take their dogs camping in the woods on the Fourth of July because they are scared of fireworks.
That can work if you select a campsite very carefully and choose one that is far away from any town and prohibits the use of fireworks.
Examples would be backpacking or dispersed camping miles into the woods on Forest Service land.
But one time my friend tried to “escape” fireworks with her dog, only to find that the tiny community near the campground let of fireworks that her dog could hear.
Some dogs are scared of running generators or diesel truck engines, both which are common in campgrounds.
If you think that your dog may an extreme negative reaction to noises they may encounter at a campsite, camping may not be for them.
Friendly and social
While good etiquette says that one should keep their dogs and children contained to their own campsite, accidents can happen.
A child or off leash dog could wander off and come into your campsite. Depending on the location of your campsite, kids may be ride bikes or skateboards by you.
Also, it’s common for a camp host or ranger to enter your campsite to see if you have any questions or verify that you paid.
While some interactions can be managed by temporarily putting your dog in a vehicle or walking to the edge of your campsite to meet people, your trip will go way more smoothly if your dog is friendly to other dogs and unfamiliar people.
A manageable prey drive
This is a personal challenge for me. My dogs are Dachshunds, which are scent hounds and bred for hunting.
Thankfully, only one of mine has an extreme prey drive. Even then, it rarely poses a problem for us… until it does.
The first time it was a real problem, we were camping in a campground in the high desert of California. The mice there were habituated to being fed by people or scavenging scraps from campers.
As we sat around the campfire, and my dogs were calmly laying on their camp chair, a mouse literally walked right up to them and stood there. It’s almost like it was dancing in front of them.
My high prey drive girl absolutely lost it and started screaming (yes, her shrieks sound like a scream), causing a scene and disrupting other campers. No distraction techniques we tried, like a training session, treat toys, chews, or an natural calming supplement, calmed her down.
We eventually resorted to giving her a medication with sedative properties because it was late at night and we had nowhere else to go.
We never went back to that campground, and try to avoid established campgrounds in the desert for this reason, but it was a very unpleasant experience.
No resource guarding issues
This is less of an issue if you go camping alone or only with people and dogs that you and your dog already know, but a dog that resource guards people, food, or toys can be difficult to manage in a group.
People who are not used to being around your dog, may not be aware of the need to supervise interactions or know your dog’s body language signs that intervention is necessary.
Resource guarding can be serious and result in a bite injury… and the last place you want that to happen is out in the woods away from medical care.
A go-with-the-flow attitude
Dogs that are very set in their ways, and who get upset when their environment or routine changes, may not make the best camping dogs.
I don’t keep a consistent routine around the house, I board Dachshunds in our home so they are used to new dogs coming and going, and we travel and camp a lot, so they are used to things constantly changing. No new situations faze them.
While exposing your dog to new experience can help them be more flexible, camping isn’t probably the best first experience for them.
I would start with a stay in a hotel or at a friend’s house where the sights, smells, and sounds are more familiar.
Testing Your Dog’s Camping Behavior
If you think your dog is ready to try camping, the next phase is actually testing the experience. There are two mains ways to do this.
Take a day trip
Typically, when dogs encounter people and other dogs on walks or hikes, it’s only for a brief moment – they pass you shortly. At a campground, your dog is constrained to one location and the neighbors “linger”.
To test out how your dog does with this constant presence, visit a campground or picnic area close to home – preferably one with other users near nearby but not too many – and hang out for most of the day.
You don’t have to set up a full camp, but consider doing a normal camp activity or two (like cooking lunch).
Camp in your back yard
Sleeping in a tent can be a weird experience for a dog. They will be “outdoors”, yet they won’t be able to see through the tent wall, and those night sounds and flapping tent walls can be scary.
To test whether your dog will snuggle in and go to sleep or vigilantly keep watch all night, poised and ready to bard, set up a tent in your back yard and sleep out overnight. If you don’t have a back yard, pick a campground as close to home as possible.
Then you can test out camping in your back yard, or go sit at a campground for the day with your dog, to see how they do with spending the day outdoors with you.
I will note that I have heard stranger night noises in my neighborhood than I every have out in the woods, so this may almost be a worst-case scenario sound test.
If your dog does well in both of these scenarios, then you are ready to try camping with them for real.
Final Thoughts
Camping is a great way to add excitement and enrichment to your dog’s life, as well as provide exposure to new experiences and teach them resilience.
Although it may sound fun and easy, and one, of course, is always welcome to just wing it and see how it goes (that’s what I did the first time), you can help ensure a fun and enjoyable experience with a little preparation.
A great camp dog needs to know a few helpful commands, shouldn’t have high anxiety (unless it can be easily managed), and has a little practice.
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