WA <span class="highlight">Dogs</span> Camping & Going to a NP for the Day

Hi Rebecca

Which part of WA are you planning on visiting?

Hi Rebecca,

With respect ....... there will be a lot of areas that you will not be able to travel through in Western Australia ............ regardless of the size of your dogs and few areas outside the main cities that will have dog sitting areas to leave your animals in.

There is NO access to the Nambung N.P. with dogs, a club member who attended our recent Pinnacles Trip, was very disappointed when a small dog person alighted from a nearby vehicle and urinated on the wheel of the afore mentioned club member's vehicle .....

and it was also a topic of discussion on a recent club trip to the Leschenault Peninsular Conservation Park, where dogs are not allowed either, even though there were a number of dogs in attendance at a number of camp sites.

While I'm sure that these are VERY isolated incidents .............. we believe it is better to leave the dogs at home ................ than risk death by 1080 or eviction from an area ............

Pets should not be out in the great Oz ................ they should be at home.

Yes, I am/ we are, horrible nasty people ................ who teach 4WD'ers to leave their pets at home.

Regards,
Wayne & Sally.
Compact 4WD Club of W.A.

Hi Rebecca.
This not directly relevant as I’m in NZ, but the same general rules apply. I take my dog (G/Shepherd) with me every time I go camping, I don’t leave home without her.

The biggest risk by far is 1080, you really have to be on your guard for it. Teaching your dog(s) not to scavenge is the best defense. The next biggest risk is other campers, they will complain bitterly about your dog, then annoy you all night with loud music, drunken sing alongs and foul language. The onus is on you to keep your dogs away from them, sadly they rarely reciprocate. Because of this always camp in remote areas away from town H/Parks.

N/Parks are almost always a no go area. But having said that I have often had my dog in N/P’s. Never in main camping areas but around the edges and up side roads. Often with the knowledge of the local rangers, who tend to take a “no harm being done”, view of things. I certainly don’t let the dog run around the bush out of sight. In NZ we have right of transit access through a Park with animals. Not sure about OZ.

You can successfully travel with dogs, you have to think and plan a bit, as well as ignore the whiners. Wayne & Sally are just taking the easy PC way out.

CliveG

Hi Rebecca
Check out the Naturbase website which is the WA National parks site.
You will find that no pets are allowed in any of WA's NPs. sorry!!
There are lots of places you can camp with dogs though and the Camps 5 or 6 books will tell you which ones.
Hope this helps.

a lot of the larger regional centres would have dog kennels you could try or look in the local papers, will sometimes see dogsitters advertising.
Much as I would like to take a dog camping I would not do it in pastoral areas due to number of 1080 baits that are laid to control feral dog populations.
Sorry to all those who say my dog wont pick up a bait but have had to investigate several dog baitings where people have said their dog doesn't pick up baits. BS why is it dead, not something I would wish on anybody.

We take our dogs camping with us, and we live in WA (used to live in QLD). We aim for dog friendly places and avoid caravan parks at all costs.

Because there are so many places with 1080 baits in WA, and other animals often pick them up and spread them, we take precautions. I have purchased a full mounth muzzel for our dogs which makes it so they cannot pick up any food, but can still drink if they put their mouth in the water bowl. Our dogs wear them at night when they are tied up (so that just in case they happen to get off and wander, they still cannot pick anything up). I also walk the dogs with these muzzels on, when walking through the bush "just in case" they decide to pick anything up.

We are responsible dog owners, and we keep our dogs well trained and well behaved. We often leave our camper set up in a dog friendly camp site, and day trip to areas that are not dog friendly(such as National Parks etc).

At christmas time when it was busy everywhere, we decided to take the dogs with us in the car (not leave them at the campsite) and leave them under the car with water and shade while we went and did the tourist thing. As much as i hate doing this, i feel that these options are better for the welfare of my dogs ratehr than leaving them at "home". I cannot afford to "kennel" my dogs for 3 weeks let alone 1 week at $30 per dog per day ($60 per day for my 2 dogs). And i dont believe that i should burden friends and family with looking after my pets for such a period either.

My dogs have never harmed any wildlife or even come close.

My dogs do not bark at other campers, most people wounldn't even know our dogs were at our camper when we leave them to guard it while we go out.

I am not someone who agrees that dogs should be allowed in shops or cafes etc by any means, but i should be allowed to camp with my dogs and enjoy MY great country.

My dogs are a husky x and a bull arab x bull mastiff.