Campervan Travel with Dogs

Chrimbo

Guest
Hi apologies if this question has been asked before.

Myself and my wife are looking to buy a VW style campervan for spending weekends away with our two Labradors now our girls have both grown up.

We’ve had a look at various options and will ultimately do a couple of hires before we commit bt we have noticed that there isn’t a convenient place for the dogs to be put whilst you are on the move. I did find a conversion company who can fit dog cages, but this removes a sizable amount of the limited space.

One idea we had was a portable crate, but I was wondering if there was anyone on here who travels with dogs and could let me know how you have solved this problem?
 
Yes we have travelled with our dogs but not in VW camper. If we only take the Collie then she fits into a cage under the table (A class). But if we take the two Germans with us then they have their own trailer :wave:
 
I’m sure there have been some threads about this before, do a search.
We have two dogs slightly smaller than yours. We use their harnesses and tie them to fixable parts of the motorhome, one to the table leg and the other to the handle by the door. Just important to stop them getting under our feet when we are driving and from acting as a missile in case of an accident.
Good luck with your van purchase and enjoy.
 
Tied to a table leg so as not to get in the way and restrained if we should have a smash.
 
We use a foldable dog type cloth covered crate for our border terrier he travels with no problem we then fold and put behind swivel seat ( the crate not the dog) when stopped we have a 6.3 m pvc
 
We built our transit Jumbo literally around the gand of 5 we had at the time (down to just 2 at the moment sadly)
Raised rear bed over storage and the "Dogpod" and able to load wet dogs (fresh from the beach) in from the rear and let them through into the living area when dried off a bit.





 
This is what we use - it wouldn't work exactly like this for you but maybe you could adapt the idea.

IMG_0059.jpg
 
Two labs in a campervan, sorry but that does not sound like a great idea.
My lab loved the water, when wet he stank like hell.
Apart from lack of space, and comfort issues this seems a bit like you are trying to do too much in a small space.
I would look at something a bit larger, say a larger van conversion.
 
Fisherman said:
Two labs in a campervan, sorry but that does not sound like a great idea.
My lab loved the water, when wet he stank like hell.
Apart from lack of space, and comfort issues this seems a bit like you are trying to do too much in a small space.
I would look at something a bit larger, say a larger van conversion.
Click to expand...

Fortunately they aren't Labs that love water ..... both are rescue dogs who spent their first years in kennels and the water gene hasn't been triggered - yet.

I'm trying to persuade SWMBO we will need something bigger so I'm hoping she will see the light once we give it a go .......
 
Thanks for the suggestions - I think we will start with a harness and see how that works.
 
mistericeman said:
We built our transit Jumbo literally around the gand of 5 we had at the time (down to just 2 at the moment sadly)
Raised rear bed over storage and the "Dogpod" and able to load wet dogs (fresh from the beach) in from the rear and let them through into the living area when dried off a bit.
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Click to expand...


That looks ideal once we make our investment - definitely up for some customising ...
 
There are other considerations such as where do they go when not travelling you cannot keep two dogs that size in a VW van it just does not work. We travel with Meg who is a small Labradoodle, her bed moves from under the table when travelling to the passenger footwell when we stop. Even she gets cabin fever and gets up for a wander round and a stretch.
 
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Just remembered what we used to do when we had one dog and a Mazda Bongo. During the day he was just in the main body of the van. At night we put his crate inside a small tent. He used to sleep in that. there was no room for him really in the van other than on the front passenger seat - hairs everywhere and dog breathe in your face in the morning.
 
I have a pop top VW (which I am selling).

There is only me and the dog - a large springer spaniel and frankly we struggled for space. The only place he could sleep was on the bed with me. During the day he monopolised the settee, leaving me to sit on the swivelled passenger seat. For travelling, he wore a harness which was attached by a short lead to the table leg behind the passenger seat - so he couldn't get to the settee.

I've now bought a bigger van. The seats are higher so he can't climb on. He has his own bed under the table behind the driver's seat and still has a harness and short lead - now attached to the back of the drivers seat so he can lie in his bed while travelling.

I reallty think you will find 2 people + 2 labradors is too much for a VW.
 
We have a gate between the driver and passenger seats which keeps our collie in the back when driving and keeps him in the front when cooking eating etc he has pancreatitis so is on a strict diet and a dropped bit of pie would cause a flare up of his condition so the gate works fine
 
In a VW fitted with rear seat belts your best bet would be harnesses attached to seat belts.
Our latest van only has 2 travelling seats (can't take passengers, yay!) so we have the dogs on harnesses secured between the front seat belts like Jo001, luckily they are only terriers.
 
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