RV livin' for the Border Collie

[Jexa]

Hey all!

 

I'll be living in a 5th wheel trailer for several months for work and will have one or both collies with me while my husband has to stay behind in MS. Anyone have helpful tips/tricks/products for the RV? For pups or humans? I'm thinking I'll need to find smaller, perhaps soft-sided crates...their big wire crates just won't fit. We're doing some cosmetic work to the trailer I'm excited about including taking out the dinette and putting in a small table where two chairs are now, so I'll have a bit more room, but two big wire crates take up a lot of real estate!

 

Theoretically the trailer will be parked and not moved, although it sounds like I will not be allowed to have a big outside footprint - adding temporary decking/fencing/etc is probably out.

 

Would love to hear your RVing with border collies stories!

[Jexa]

 

And a couple of recent photos for kicks

[toney]

I dropped the dinette down in our Class C Motorhome, built a raised dais of plywood and put three large wire crates strapped down (since I use the Motorhome for trialing). It fits perfectly in the dinette area and if I ever decide to sell the RV I can unstrap the crates and deconstruct the wooden platform and pop the dinette up for the next owner. I tried to upload a photo but it says it's too large.

[TxMom]

Not an RV person, but if you're adding a table I wonder if you can build it in a way that would allow a crate or two underneath it? Or under a bench or something. Maybe not even a standard dog crate, but an enclosed space with a door and ventilation.

[diane allen]

I've only been RVing in my 24'er for up to a month at a time. :-)

 

1) Bring/Get lots and lots of towels, blankets and/or sheets. "Things" happen and you'll not be able to get to laundry immediately all the time. Lots. Have laundry soap and Nature's Miracle handy. Oh yeah, and quarters for the Laundromat! And dog shampoo - either find a self-serve dog bath, or even use the "no water" shampoo. Just in case. And some large trash bags to hold the soiled stuff. (My dogs are house trained, no problem there. But dogs do be dogs sometime....one of mine barfed up his breakfast recently - he hardly ever does this! - in his crate while traveling. Good thing I had extra stuff to put in his crate, and that big bag to hold the "icky" stuff.

 

2) Give the pups some orientation time. Maybe spend a few nights in the trailer at home before you're "committed" to the longer time frame. See where they like to sit/sleep. I have two Ruff Tough crates strapped down (stacked) in mine, for travel.* The one who travels in the upper crate sometimes likes to sleep in the bottom crate; the other decided his place is under the table! Since it's only me in the RV, I've just put his bed under the table, and take my shoes off when I sit there. Or lean back against the wall with my feet up (yessss!), and he can have the whole "under table" space.

 

* My unit had a "big comfy chair" behind the passenger seat. I took it out (now in my living room!), and put the crates on that platform. It provided a good place to tie them down, and while the chair would be nice sometimes, I'm usually at the table or in bed! It's pretty easy to lift up the 30 pound dog and put her in the top crate for travel. (And sometimes I'll store food items I don't want them to get into inside the crate when we're parked!)

 

3) Figure out where they'll be fed and watered - again, an orientation time is helpful. I learned the hard way that one eating beside the crates could nudge her bowl into the step - BANG!! And then inaccessible - oops.

 

I'm sure you'll figure out more things as time goes by - but have fun! And hope these hints help.

 

diane

[Jexa]

Thanks everyone! The table we're adding won't be quite deep enough to stash crates under, but I bet I can put a piece of plastic/wood on top of the crates for more work/storage space. Toney- good to know you could fit 3 crates in the dinette space, maybe my 2 will fit without taking up too much room.

 

Does anyone know of a temperature sensor that you can check on your phone? We'll be living in the RV mostly over the winter and I'll be working 5 min away from the trailer so theoretically it'll be easy to check on them, but it'd be reassuring to check that the AC/heater is working on my phone.

 

How did y'all like cooking in your RV? I've heard the oven in particular can be challenging to use.

[diane allen]

1) Temp alerts. I have had this one for years. (Once again, I cannot post a link....WHY oh WHY?? Anyway, google dog show vans....)

 

I don't have to leave my dogs often, but it worked when I needed it. The web page doesn't seem to be "live" for the pager, so I'm not sure what's up with that. However, it did NOT rely on cell coverage. Some of the places I would have used it did not have reliable cell coverage. If you're where that's not a problem, there are a number on the market now that do use cell pagers. Sorry, no experience with them!

 

2) The oven in my RV is so small - I can't imagine what I could bake in it! Maybe a small cookie sheet? If yours is bigger....you might try on one of the RV groups. (There's a Yahoo group called RVK9 - might be good for a look.) I don't even do much on the top burner. Then again, I'm not "out" for months at a time. I *do* however use the microwave! ;-)

 

diane

[WickAndArtoo]

We live in a 5th wheel full time for work (we travel the country) with two dogs (one border collie one Aussie GSD mix). We have two full sized crates which DO take up a lot of room. We took out the kitchen table, put them where it was and covered them with pretty blankets and just use TV trays instead. It works great for us but may not be for everyone, some crates fit under the tables (our BCs crate did-it was a "large" plastic type...our extra large wire crate for our 73lb mix does not). For a while we just kept them in the living room but eventually wanted our space back.

 

We always look for rv parks that have a dog park so that I can take them for off leash exercise, we always have the park to ourselves unless we ask someone else to come so there's none of the normal dog park issues that most fear. Generally there is always plenty of room and walkways to explore and walk daily at each park we have stayed at (so far 5) so I am always able to take them on lengthy walks. You are in very close quarters most of the time, with dogs, people, squirrels, children, cars etc so plan accordingly. Overall people are usually very respectful regarding dogs and your space and usually the parks have many rules to ensure that you enjoy your time etc ... This includes people and their dogs... I.e. They are almost always leashed and cleaned up after and quiet.

 

Some tips I have for the dogs: exercise them first thing in the morning... You haven't seen zoomiees until you have seen them inside an rv .... Everything except the parks is leash only, and they mean it so it will be a lot of walking or visiting the park if you have active pups... Get ready for the shedding to seem like it multiplied because your in a smaller space... Seriously expect to vacuum at least once a day if that stuff bothers you. Expect your dogs in your face at every moment...they have nowhere to go and neither do you! Many of the parks don't allow tie outs or fencing so you will be developing a serious bond during this time lol. Do your dogs usually potty off leash, in grass, or in privacy ? You wouldn't believe it but these things can cause a real pain in a butt when you are standing outside on gravel after driving 35hrs strait and your dog (thanks Wick) refuses to take a poop or pee, sometimes you just want to go to sleep!!! If your dogs aren't allowed on furniture GOOD LUCK! Haha we tried that... It lasted all of one week... There just isn't enough room for that nonsense, trust me you'll trip on them five times trying to get to the pea sized bathroom and that rule will go out the window!!! Also the poop.... Try to always plan it for a walk so your able to just walk past a can and toss it right away... Or have some sort of cute decoration that is secretly a poop bag holder outside ... Otherwise you have to toss it inside (ew) since they don't allow garbage bins outside your rv. Now all of these comically ridiculous things are very worth it, I promise, we would never make it through the day if we didn't know the boys were waiting for us at home with sloppy kisses. living on the road alone in an rv can be very lonely and stressful so the dog hair and begging is seriously nothing in the scheme of things.

 

As for the human aspect: the stove and oven work fine, they have quirks ... They ARE smaller, you can only use one burner at a time usually, they are gas (you have to light the oven pilot every time you use it), and sometimes they cook slightly cooler or hotter than regular ones. They happen to double as kitchen counter so you generally have to move the cover every time you use it. But you can absolutely use it for everything you need. If you are on a 50amp system things almost never short out... But make sure you are on a 50 amp site... Or everything will short out. The hot water runs out quick so make sure you prioritize your day, like you want a shower? Do that first... You will not be able to shower, wash dishes and do laundry all in one hour...or two... Mostly one heated situation per hour is golden. The fridges can be touchy try to keep things evenly spaced etc, counter space, fridge space, etc make cooking somewhat annoying so We like to make meals that we can eat all week. ... Grilling healthy foods is an easy fix. The AC is so loud, like so so so loud and the rvs are like a parked car in that they become boiling in just a couple of minutes so you will need the AC on almost all the time in the summer. They also trap water and humidity so try not to leave sitting water, wet dogs, humid showers etc sitting around long. We have a dehumidifier (which was pretty pricey but worth it since we live in GA) for ours since we live in it full time. Oh and it's dark inside of them, and if you open the shades it gets too hot for even the AC to keep up, so you may want to decorate with light colors or have lights etc. and most importantly keep things minimal... Clutter is the enemy of these things!! If there is a single sock on the floor the whole place feels smaller than a match book lol so you'll want things that organize and mask ordinary items as decoration. Sounds really stupid but a bundle of fresh cut flowers does wonders.

 

I probably wrote way more than you wanted and lots of stuff that seems pretty obvious (sorry) but if one thing in here can help you endure life in an rv a little better than you would have then it was all worth it. I really want to end with one thing, life with the dogs in the 5th wheel is wonderful, yes we made a couple of changes in order to make it work ( crates and constant walks) but it has been a joy and a breeze over all. The pups are very happy and love exploring and then settling at our feet at night for a movie so I definitely say go for it!!!