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Hello,

We are new campers and have just booked to go to the Isle of Arran at the end of July. We are a family of 2 adults, 3 children - 5, 3 and 8 months and 2 labradoodles - 1 minature (6 months) and one full sized aged 1 (38kg!) . We must be mad! Baby is non mobile so thats a bonus! We have a vango 900xp which is huge, we have confirmed with the site that they will allow that size of tent and they will so thats great.

I am a bit stressed about taking the dogs - both are very hyperactive and bouncy!! Infact Ioened the doortodothe school run this morning and the big one flew out the door and ran at top speed (significantly faster than my top speed) to the school gates! I have seen the tie out stakes which look good but I can just see the big one ripping it out - can someone reassure me he won't!! They both sleep in the same crate at night happily so I am sure that will be useful. They are happy to go in for short periods during the day too.

What do you do with the dogs whenyour doing something like swimming? Most places we will be able to take the dogs but for the odd hour it would really be useful to be able to do something with them but I don't know what. Do people usually just avoid these circumstances?

Equipment wise we still have lots to buy. We need a camping stove - I want one with a grill, some lights , a fridge or cool box - I really would like a fridge but not surehow affordable this is, a couple more airbeds, a hook up ermm thats all!

What do your children wear to bed?

I am really excited but absolutely dreading it at the same time!

Thanks in advance

HI

Re the dogs we have two greyhounds and we use the spikes and thery have never pulled them out and one is 42kg, but then they are very dopcile dogs so.

WE tend to include the dogs in everthing we do.

My dog is very small so can be tethered with ease - am not sure if the screw in type stakes would hold yours so would recommend trying it out in the garden. I was away a couple of weeks ago with another lady who posts on here and has 2 very large dogs - probably bigger than yours and she had the screw in the stakes which held them fine. A good tip I picked up on here is to put up windbreaks around the dogs( kind of a pen ) - not to keep them in you understand as a large or small dog for that matter could easily go over or under one. But to stop distractions - for instance other campers walking past your tent ( would your dogs want to greet everybody and try to say hello? ). Most campsites will only allow dogs who are kept on leads and under control at all times. I take my crate too but IF it is hot then tents get hotter than cars very quickly so be aware of leaving them in the tent if the sun is on it.

Have a look on Dog Friendly Britain website to find dog friendly places to visit and if you want a bit of time without the dogs perhaps look into boarding them locally for the day or a couple of hours.

As for the kids at night - are you getting EHU so that you can have an electric fan? if so then just pj's and a fleece which can be removed if they get too hot. If no heating then good tog sleeping bags with layers of pj's and fleeces, socks etc all can be layered up or down if they get too hot or cold.

Hope that helps

xoopsx

Thanks for the replies.

Yes we should have EHU. The site wouldn't let me actually book she said there was no need and promised me a hook up so I will ring in a couple of weeks time and check this is still the case.

I do have a big vango windbreak so I will posistion this around the entrance porch to help with distractions as I think that will be the big problem. They will of course be very tired as they will be having much more exercise than usual.

My husband is gettign extremely stressed about taking the dogs and thinks we should pu tthemin kennels but tbh it wouldcompletely ruin the holiday for me leaving them behind.

I willl buy some tie cables this weekend to try out.

Thanks again for your replies.

Hi Abi,

Sorry my post wasnt very clear - I was meaning to board the dogs on the Isle of Arran, so still take them with you on holiday but put them in for a couple of hours if you needed to. Again I picked this tip up from here so I have never done that but would look into it in the future as it can be a bit difficult with places not allowing dogs.

all the best

xoopsx

As someone who takes the dog camping we never ever plan on going anywhere or doing anything that doesn't include the dog. Its never been a problem so far as we always find pubs that allow dogs, we always go on long walks during the day, and at night we just stake him out in front of us, surrounded by a large Vango windbreak, and chill out. Making sure we take plenty of dog chews and bones always helps.

In 3 weeks we're going to Newquay with 6 friends and their kids, obviously at night they're going to want to go to places for tea etc and this could create a problem for us and as its the end of July there is no way we can leave him in the car. We have pre-warned them that we may have to go and do our own thing because of the dog which is unfortunate, but we knew what we were taking on when we got him. We'll still have a cracking holiday regardless

Hope you enjoy your trip.

Thanks for the replies.

My mum has just agreed to come too which leaves one of us available to dog sit whilst we take the children swimming which was the only thing we really wanted to do without the dogs.

I have just booked them in for kennels for 3 days but at £13  per day plus both need kennel cough vaccine at £25 each , its not worth the cost of nearly £90 for three days. I shall cancel it I think.

Most places are dog friendly on Arran - pubs etc so we should be fine ...she says.

Abi

We take our three dogs and the kids regulary.   The youngest dog is a springer pup and is completely bonkers but exceptionally well behaved when camping.  I think all the extra attention they get calms them down as you are with them all day. 

We also only do things that we can do with the dogs, long walks, days at dog friendly beaches etc etc but then I'm not a fan of theme parks and that sort of thing anyway.  There are plenty of pubs that will allow you to take the dogs in, though trying to eat a meal with three dogs glaring at you is'nt the easiest!!! but it can be done.  If we do want to go out for a meal we go in the evening when it has cooled down and leave them in their crates in the car, regular 10 minute checks to make sure they are ok is no inconveience and if its too hot to leave them in the car then I will be outside my tent BBqing in the sunshine anyway, not stuck in a pub!!!

 I also take two of the dogs camping when I take my son on our own.  Takes  bit of forethought to get the essential shopping in and trips to the showers etc but I dont find it impossible.

Hi Abi, I'm the lady Oops referred to with the 2 large dogs. At the moment I only have one stake so they are both tethered to it when I set up (will invest in another one before next trip as they tend to get tangled up!) So far (touch wood) they haven't pulled the stake out. I also put up windbreaks to form a pen once the tent is set up, just to keep distractions to a minimum. However, that that hasn't stopped the youngster (15 months old) from jumping on and over  the windbreak when Oops stopped to say hello! Lesson learnt, to tether the dogs away from the windbreak LOL. I dont tend to crate my dogs, becasue I only have one large and very heavy crate and there is just no room in the car.

I dont tend to do anything without the dogs, the same as others on here have said. It is more about the dogs and I getting away from it all. So lots of long walks.

There is a website for dog friendly pubs, it might be worth checking it out to see if there is anything on the Isle of Arran, if you fancied a night out.

Good luck and I hope you enjoy your holiday.

B

We take four dogs camping.

The corkscrew tethers will easily hold the largest of our dogs (34kg wolfhound lurchery thing). We always put them in crates at night, three of them are keen hunters and we don't want them digging throught the ground sheet to get out. We also have a carpet in the tent to protect the ground sheet from their claws.

One sites which allow it we also put a fence aroiund the tent consisting of steel poles and orange safety netting, we got the idea from attending agility shows. It's not particularly atttractive but does give a little more piece of mind.

Like many others we only take part in activities which we can take the dogs too, but it never seems particularly restrictive to us.