My wife and I took our older dog camping about three years ago. Poor guy, we thought he'd love it. Instead, he has anxiety the whole time and the attitude of "what, we stopped on the side of the road and we're just staying here?!" We kept him in the tent at night with us and he'd usually sleep on one or the other of our lower legs. That was the part he enjoyed the most, actually, hahaha.

 Quote: Jennifer Mullen

How on earth could crates fit inside a tent?

We have a couple of ridiculously large tents for car camping. The one we usually use has room for two queen size air matresses side by side But it is actually super easy to put up, I can do it myself.

When camping with dogs and kids it really comes in handy!

We also have a backpacking tent, we can barely fit Nico in it.

In a pinch those dollar store glow necklaces do a great job of making dogs visible in the dark. I used one last weekend for Loki for when he went out to potty at night. Not being able to see him in the woods even for a second scares me.

I took Maya camping recently for the first time. We did car camping, so packing was easy. Night time was the challenge. I took her light-weight canvas crate and planned on having her right there by the truck. There was so much going on with sights and sounds, however, that she just couldn't settle. A million fireflies, a river near by, lots of little critters....it was all too much for my young, curious pup! I finally had her jump on in the truck and sleep with us.

Even if she hadn't been bothered by all the noise, the humidity caused a problem. The blanket I put down on the bottom of her crate was soaked from the dew, so it wasn't a comfy environment for her. If you'll be camped on grass and it's going to be muggy, you might want to consider placing something on the ground to protect your dog from the ground's dampness.

Another thing--she was freaked out at first by everyone's flashlights, especially the head lamps. I would recommend seeing if your dogs seemed bothered by that at all ahead of time.

Have fun!

You just toss air mattresses in the back?

Now I want a truck. I never thought of how it could be the floor for camping.

I've spent a good hundred or more nights in a tent with Casey. She absolutely loves it, except those nights where we got caught in a storm and had to wait it out.

My SOP includes the following:
1. She carries her own pack (made by Outward Hound), which includes a zip-lock bag of food, 2 quarts of water, and bowls for each, along with a rawhide bone or some treats.
2. She also carries her sleeping pad. I use one of these -- http://www.rei.com/product/781089 -- as it folds up neatly and can easily be secured on top of her pack. Her total pack weight is around 12 pounds. Since Casey weighs in around 55 pounds, I think this is a manageable weight.
3. She is always on a leash. 100% of the time, except at night when we sleep. I know that for the members of this forum, this is a no-brainer, but for others...
4. She sleeps in the tent with me.

I've only seen my dog well and truly exhausted twice. Once was the day we hiked from the trail head to a backcountry meadow in northeast Arizona. The second was the day after, when we hiked back to the car.

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

You just toss air mattresses in the back?

Now I want a truck. I never thought of how it could be the floor for camping.

Truck Mounted Tent

Check this out Connie! I wanna truck next too!!!

 Quote: JessicaKromer

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

You just toss air mattresses in the back? ... Now I want a truck. I never thought of how it could be the floor for camping.

Truck Mounted Tent

Check this out Connie! I wanna truck next too!!!

OMIGOSH!

This eliminates all the downsides to me!!!!!

I want that. The whole thing: truck, tent, that little covered part extending off on posts .... all of it!

When we go camping, I bring a crate for the dogs (but Quinn usually sleeps in the car with the back windows down). We always set up a sun screen to keep them cool and each gets a tie post for free time that is still controlled.

Obviously they are ALWAYS on leash and never alone, and I do bring a bark collar for the pup as he will try to talk to everyone if he can't reach you. It annoys me when other's dogs bark all day, so I won't let mine. I also make sure that their tags are on them (they are not when at home...) and up to date. I use both a tag with a name and my number and one from this company, ID Tag . Neat company where I can enter all sorts of info (feeding, training, medical issues, warnings...) and pictures regarding my dog and it can be easily accessed by whomever finds them. It also broadcasts to all of our local shelters (I checked...)

I leave the pups crate out of the tent, as the inside can get very hot during the day and I want them to have access during the daytime hours too. I have a plastic shield that fits the bottom half of the door of the plastic airline crate I use. It can be removed by snipping the zip ties and re-attached very easily. The reason is to block his view of the ground (and any creatures that crawl around (snakes for example) and prevent them from getting in there but still give good ventilation. We watched last weekend as a skunk walked within six inches of him and he kept snoring away.

A dog we were camping with had a really rough time. He went off his food, wouldn't drink and got more and more agitated as the weekend went on. He is a very good natured animal that ended up lunging and barking at anyone that walked by. Know your dog and how to read the stress signs. This pup did NOT have fun at all.

I love to camp with my dogs. They sleep inside the tent or pop-up camper (depending on what we use). I do keep them crated because they tend to wake up really early otherwise. The canvas foldable crates are great for this.

When I did not crate them, I did secure the tent zippers since they both can nose them open. I just used the leash and clipped it on the zipper "thingies". That way I could find the leash in the middle of the night if necessary.

Most campgrounds have your basic rules: clean up after them, don't leave unattended, no more than a six foot leash, no barking, etc.

Now...all that said, the one thing that I will not travel without: MY EXERCISE PEN!!

It sets up quickly to create a 4x4 area that my dogs can be put into and I don't have to hold on to them. They know that going in their pen means "relax" and are happy to take a good snooze. Otherwise, I have a hard time keeping them quiet before/after eating, etc. They also get overtired if I don't have it. I even set it up inside my minivan on my vacation last week so that I could put them in it and leave the doors open to keep cool when we were swimming and I didn't want Grace to drink the whole river.

Here are some pics of them in it at my grandparent's house in Northern Michigan (more like camping than you think lol...13 people, 4 dogs, and one toilet!!)

http://s14.photobucket.com/albums/a304/GermanShepLuv/Vacation%202009/?action=view&current=100_5224.jpg

http://s14.photobucket.com/albums/a304/GermanShepLuv/Vacation%202009/?action=view&current=100_5243.jpg

 Quote: Jeff Brosius

2. She also carries her sleeping pad. I use one of these -- http://www.rei.com/product/781089 -- as it folds up neatly and can easily be secured on top of her pack.

How do you secure it to the top of the pack? Across wide-ways or length-wise? If wide-ways, do you have problems on the trail w/it hitting/catching on stuff?

I backpack a lot with the dogs and they all carry there own packs (Ruffwear Palisades) except Teagan b/c of her hip dysplasia and back knee arthritis.

But they don't carry their sleeping pads, I do (I have a couple of foam ones http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524442094583&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302701645&bmUID=1246713450770 ). I've always just thought the pads would be a pain attaching to their pack and then on the trail.

When we're actually out on the trail, Luc and Neb sleep with me in the tent and Teagan, b/c of the tent sharing issues once I've fallen asleep (they're all fine when I'm awake), has the dog tent from REI (which seriously weighs more than my one-man tent and is almost as big, but why they couldn't have used some silnylon making it I don't know). I just stick the dog tent next to my tent and keep her on the tie-out. Or, if there's someone else on the trip (I like to solo) and they're in a second tent and like dogs, then she'll stay with them.