Dog Proofing Your Motorhome


2015-12-13 at 12-54-03-Dogs

Dog proofing your motorhome is quite a challenge when you have two dogs and don’t want them to destroy the interior.

Your dog or puppy will need a lot of time and support to help it get settled in your motorhome. If you plan on an extended or long holiday, it is a good idea to introduce your dog to the your motorhome in small stages then he or she feels comfortable in their surrounding.

This is how we introduced Mac n Tosh to Vin, our motorhome.

  1. Slowly introduced Mac n Tosh to the motorhome by letting them sniff around outside. Each day we would take them for walks and on the way, we would walk pass the motorhome, so they got familiar with exterior of the vehicle especially the tyres (we will explain more later).
  2. Decide where your dog’s bed will go and prepare their space, so your dog can have somewhere to go where he feels safe to rest and sleep.
  3. Mac n Tosh sleep under the dining room bench seat. We have a rubber backed bed/mat on the floor, which stops them from sliding around during transit but also acts as a protector if they have an accident.  In the evening we also give the dudes a blanket (same one we use at home), so they can snuggle down.
  4. Walk through your motorhome and puppy or dog proof everything!  Puppies investigate their everything with their mouths so move anything that shouldn’t have puppy teeth near it.  If you have any edges that look inviting to a puppy, protect them or remove them. Have a look around and try to identify anything that is likely to be hazardous to your puppy
  5. Puppies love to chew, so stock up on things your puppy can chew so that you can redirect your puppy from chewing things it shouldn’t be chewing.
  6. We discourage the puppies from jumping on to seats but it is inevitable they will try and jump, so we cover the seats with blankets. We buy quite a few of the smaller, lightweight blankets (plus they are cheap) then we can easily wash and dry.
  7. A collapsable water bowl is placed in the shower.  We always make sure the puppies have plenty water 24/7, so leaving the bowl in the shower area works well for us. If the puppies spill the water, it goes straight in to the shower tray and not on the motorhome floor.  It also means we’re unlikely to kick it with our big feet too!
  8. We have a simple stainless bowl with rubber feet for their food. We feed the dogs in the shower area too then if they make a mess we can easily clean up. It also means the dogs start to associate the shower area as their feeding area.  It becomes another constant for your dog especially during times of travel and uncertainty.
  9. As we mentioned at the beginning, the tyres become very important to your dog. The tyres are like your dogs favourite tree or garden bush…the one constant to cock a leg and pee!

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