Camping With Dogs

[GeckoTree]

I could camp with my dog for years on end we like it that much.

Signed

That Feral Hippie GT

[Ravyk]

Camping with dogs is great and I would love to do it more as well. One thing that I have heard of and observed is the risk of poisining. Most people take a soft muzzle so that their dog cannot ingest anything dangerouse, cooked discarded bones baits as there are a lot of 1080 foxbaiting and other nasties about. So when camping and not supervised closely I would apply a soft muzzle to protect your dog making himself sick or worse.

Lots of great bush campsites along the Murrumbidgee

You will find though, most the of the dog friendly camping places do not bait. I don't like the idea of soft muzzling a dog while away personally, but if you [the OP] do decide to go the muzzling option make sure you train the dog to wear the muzzle without it feeling like a punishment to the dog.

[Tempus Fugit]

I agree with Ravyk. A soft muzzle has the front open so the dog could still nibble on bait - unless it is so tight the dog will have difficulty panting. Personally for inland use I prefer a wire basket muzzle, while for the beach I use a plastic greyhound kennel muzzle - there is less to rust and they are reasonably sturdy. Have a look at this Austrian site - customer photos show a variety of breeds other than sighthounds eg aussie shepherds, BCs, huskies etc wearing greyhound muzzles. Allowing to dog to pant and drink while muzzled was my key consideration. I allow my dog to sleep in the tent at night at the beach so barking doesn't become an issue.

If you search, there are a number of videos you can download from the web on the subject of 'Training a dog to wear a muzzle' (apart from attack training).

As to tethers, I would only use the corkscrew type in firm ground. In my opinion they are too short to hold a large dog in sand. For sand, I found the 'Detangler' stake e.g. from 'The Vet Shed' to hold very well - I simply bashed it into the sand with a lump of driftwood. Later I just pulled it straight up and out.