Travelling with Rover

Although our dog stays home, we meet many travellers with their dogs. It does limit visits to national parks (although some people do keep their doggy hidden in their car). Also a number of people we have spoken to have lost their dogs due to wild dog baits near the roadside, so keep the dog on a lead at comfort stops. We have friends who travel with 3 dogs (or rather - they are the driver and catering for the dogs tour of Australia); they have been to most key places, and have an outside shower on their caravan which is good for keeping the dogs clean.

My husband misses the dog so much when we travel, and is envious of others we see with theirs. If you would miss yours enough to spoil your trip, take him with you.

There are several publications on pet friendly caravan parks.

Motherhen

Hi P & J.

We regularly travel with our 11 year young, retired working lady - a smallish red cloud Kelpie. Yes, there are lots of places you should not go with a dog but one can generally find somewhere where it is not a problem - there are plenty of scenic non-Nat Park areas of OZ.
If by 'Parks' you mean CV Parks then do not worry; we have found that those CV Parks which do take dogs are, by and large, run by much nicer people than those CV Parks operators who do not allow dogs. Ask about dogs anyway even if the brochure/sign says "no doge" because we have found that some CV Parks will take dogs despite their signs IN NON-PEAK times. Forget abour Big 4 chain of CV parks!

You should/must have a cargo barrier fitted and keep the mutt behind it with room to move and lie down; keep the rear partition windows cracked open when travelling for fresh air (generally do not use the A/C on recycle) but if you have a determined, strong nosed mutt then wire the (sliding) window part-open so the mutt cannot wiggle it open and escape after master/mistress if left behind for a short while on a cool day. Otherwise carry a chain and tether the dog so it can snooze under the caravan/tow vehicle with adjacent water bowl.

Happy travels and "Woof, woof" from 'Luca'
Cheers from Martin B.

Hi there,
We travel with our constant companion - as many caravanners do - and it has its benefits as much as the downside of not being able to access National Parks.

We.ve just purchased a great book which will be very usefull called Camping guide to Victoria (and they have them for all other states) written by Craig Lewis and Cathy Savage - Boiling Billy Publications ( www.boilingbilly.com.au) and comparing it to our other many books on camping and in particular dog friendly or not info -this book seems to offer more sites and more information than other well regarded publications -so we plan to get NSW SA & QLD books as well - we bought this one at K-mart but they can be purchased through their website.

My other suggestion is to have your dog immunised for Kennel Cough and Heartworm (on top of the regular yearly booster) if you don't already. Take your pets immunisation record with you and if you really want to access a National Park for a couple of days - you could always board your pal at a kennel or often vets will provide such a service. Even in some of the bigger towns there are minding services - again the local vets is a great scource of info.

As well you meet lots more people (if your pet is not some ferocious looking type!!) As my eldest son says our white fluffy bundle is a young blokes best 'chick magnet' and in his younger days suggested to his mates they could hire out our then gorgeous pup for just that purpose. Naturally he was sent to the doghouse!!

Cheers,
Helen & my maltese pup Isobella (yip)

Hi Phil and Jen,
This is probably a little late for you but here goes....
We have 2 dogs, a choc Lab and a red Cattle Dog. Never before have they travelled with us over the Xmas break from Darwin to Adelaide but this time we figured we would give it a try as they will have to travel with us when we finally retire.
We travelled from Darwin to Bundaberg to Maroochydore where they had to be kennelled for a day while work was done on the BT, then down to Adelaide via Broken Hill and this leg included the loss of a wheel out of Moonie so they spent a night in a very understanding motel/hotel.
They are at present kennelled in Adelaide for a few days as we were in a beach side van park.
We will take them with us now as they proved to be no problem this time but I will point out a couple of ideas that might be helpful.
We purchased a dogtainer (metal cage) and put it in the very back of the Landcruiser and attached a battery fan to the side, we then rotated the dogs from there to the back seat that was shared with the grandson, and at night the 2 of them slept in the container covered by a tarp by the side of the van.
Also for a dog to go into boarding of any kind you need to have had them see the vet for a C5 injection and make sure they are wearing a current flea and tick collar of high quality (partic in sthn Qld and nthn NSW)
Hope this helps
Prue