Bringing your puppy camping can be a great experience for both you and your puppy. Here are 5 helpful tips to help make camping with your puppy go smooth.
1. Get them used to being in the tent
Before you even go camping I think you should get your puppy used to the tent you will be using. You should set the tent up at home so they can get familiar with it. Before we took our puppy we set up our Coleman tent in the living room, put her bed and toys in the tent, and we got in the tent with her. Doing this will allow them to get comfortable and will help them stay calm through the night.
2. Bring a long leash
If you are going camping chances are you are trying to have a fun time, so why wouldn’t you want your puppy to have fun too? One thing you can do to make it more enjoyable for your puppy is bringing a long leash. If you don’t want to worry about your puppy going far or they don’t allow it where you are this can help a lot. I brought a 20 foot leash that I made out of paracord and an old harness. You can also attach the leash to a tree, a table, the car, or something else secure in your site. This allowed our puppy to walk freely around the site and made it so we didn’t have to constantly hold onto the leash.
3. Keep your puppy busy
Puppies only get into trouble when they are bored, so keep them busy and give them attention. Make sure to do things you and your puppy can enjoy: take them on a hike, throw a toy for them, take them for a swim, etc. If you can keep them busy they won’t get into trouble.
4. Bring Chew Toys
One of the things I wish we did the first time we took our puppy camping was bring things for her to chew on. She got into everything, we couldn’t stop her from chewing on everything she found. If you can keep them chewing on their toys then you don’t have to worry about them chewing on things they find. Another good thing to bring is bully sticks, that is a way to make sure your puppy is distracted.
5. Remember they are just a dog
Dogs are going to do what dogs do. Chances are they will want to dig, play, chase things, and everything else dogs do. It’s very important to not get angry at them, they are just trying to have fun too.